How our architecture buildings respond to the climate in the Philippines

There are many factors that affect architectural design. However, in the reading ‘House form and culture’ by Amos Rapoport, two major forces have been discussed. They are culture and context.

Climate is an important factor of designing a house, as it ‘affects human comfort’, stated by Rapoport. Also stated by Rapoport, ‘the house is a container whose main purpose is to shelter and protect its occupants and contents from animal and human enemies and those natural forces known as the weather’. Climate is the result of the temperature, humidity, precipitation, ventilation, and the amount of light. In order to achieve comfort, the factors listed previously will need to be balanced in such a way that the body is neither losing nor gaining too much heat. This balance will also depend on the climate. Rapoport concluded that there are three general types of climate: hot dry, hot humid, and cold. But how exactly do buildings respond to these three climates? The answer is through form, materials, and devices.

Since Philippines is near the equator, and is a tropical country, the climate is hot humid. This means heavy rainfall, high humidity, intense radiation, and little seasonal variation. The solution to this type of climate would be to try to maximize shade and minimize heat capacity. This may be done through passive cooling. Passive cooling is a building design that controls heat gains and heat dissipations to improve indoor temperature of a building, using low energy consumption. A method of passive cooling would involve ventilation. This is a natural cooling strategy that uses air to

remove heat and provide cooling inside a structure. Other solutions would include: maximizing shade (roofing), large spaces (minimum interior walls and high ceilings), and building configurations should allow as much wind to hit the surfaces as possible.

So how do UP Arki buildings correspond to the hot humid climate? In my opinion, the design is elaborate in terms of adapting to the climate. For building one, the building is slightly raised above the ground. This makes the floors cooler, and may prevent flooding in the building due to the rainy nature of the climate. The interior of the building is spacious, and interior walls are almost non-existent. This will allow a natural flow of ventilation within the building, and will result in removal of heat. Furthermore, the lower floor of the building has openings on either side of the building. This will allow cool air to flow through the building. It is a technique of passive cooling called cross ventilation, and will only work if there is an inlet and an outlet of air. In addition, the ceilings are high, which allows warm air to rise and keep the floors cool. High-level windows, also known as clerestory windows, are present in the design of the structure. This is a useful feature of ventilation, called stack ventilation, which involves having openings lower to the ground (inlet) and high-level clerestory windows that will allow hot air to escape (outlet). The building has numerous amounts of windows. In fact, I would say about 60 percent of the building is made of windows. Again, this feature aids cross ventilation for the removal of heat. Moreover, deep overhangs are used to maximize shade. This is useful in terms of a shelter for rain and the strong sunlight. The purpose of the deep overhang is to prevent heat from the radiation otherwise hot air will be blowing inside the building, which increases heat capacity, and causes discomfort. On top of that, the ‘shed’ type roof is a good response to precipitation since it allows rainwater to run off the roof onto the ground. Another thing I have noticed was the color of the building. Using light colors will reflect sunlight, in contrast to using darker colors that absorb sunlight and heat. Lastly, the landscape around the building consists of many trees that shade the building from sunlight, and it may also draw in breezes, which enter the inlets of the structure.

As for Arki building two, I have found a few good things, as well as bad things. The hallways of the buildings are roofed, which acts as a shelter from rain and shade from the strong sunlight. Classrooms windows are large, allowing air to enter when opened. There is also Awnings, again, the block out the sunlight and keep the coolness inside the building. There is an open middle are, where there is a garden. This allows natural ventilation to cool the inside of the building. Like building one, there are simple interior walls to allow air to flow inside of the building. The bad things, however, may include that the roofs and ceilings are low. This minimizes space, therefore minimizing flow of air. Furthermore, the staircase leading to the underground level is directly under the gutter. This creates an inconvenience for people inside the building if it is raining. Finally, the Awning windows are shut due to the air conditioning units, not allowing air to flow into the classrooms.

Overall, I think that Arki building one corresponds quite well to its context and the climate. Unlike other buildings in UP, this building seems to have more features responding to the hot humid climate of the Philippines. Of course, materials such as wood may be used instead of concrete to cool the structure even further. However, this may be inappropriate, firstly due to the economic factors, and price of wood, and secondly it would be contrasting with building two and its other surroundings. Building 2, in my opinion, do have features responding to the climate. However, there are a few bad features, which may be improved.