Developer in search of house design to withstand strong typhoons, quakes

AFP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Property developer Ortigas & Co. challenged the country’s architecture students on Tuesday to design a house and school building that can withstand winds of up to 250 kilometers per hour and an intensity eight earthquake.

The 83-year-old company issued the challenge as it launched, together with the Department of Science and Technology and Habitat for Humanity, a two-month long search for such an architectural design in a contest dubbed “Build Forward.”

The top five designs would undergo a wind tunnel test supervised by the DOST mimicking conditions at the height of Super Typhoon “Yolanda.”

The winning design will be used by Habitat for Humanity in constructing about 30,000 core houses in Yolanda-ravaged areas in the next three years.

Ortigas & Co. real estate division general manager Joey Santos said the nationwide contest was open to architecture students in the country.

They should design a house with a floor size of at least 36 square meters complete with two bedrooms, a toilet and bath, kitchen and living space.

The construction should be finished in a month and a half with a budget of P200,000.

The school building should have four classrooms and one toilet and bath. Each classroom should be at least 63 sq. m. wide.

The construction should be completed in two months with a budget of P1.2 million.

Santos said the materials should be locally sourced and readily available.

“We have seen the needs of the people change from the day we started developing some of our subdivisions back in the 1970s. Today, as seen in the devastating effects of Typhoon Yolanda, Filipinos need something radically different, which is climate adaptive infrastructure,” he said.

The deadline of submission of entries is on March 28. Interested parties may register online at www.buildforward.com.ph.

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