BANYUHAY (Bagong Anyo ng Buhay): Centering Unprivileged Neighborhood through Productive Architecture: A Proposed Self-Sufficient

Project idea

Upon studying the roots of housing backlogs and many emergencies in the Baseco community, the impact of urbanization brought drastic effects on the sustainability of communities and now compromising the future generation of the Philippines. The impact of urbanization also led the researcher to identify the lack of actions and unreliable provisions of the government. The effects of urbanization became complex, and with outdated plans and movements, the situation in urban slums will continue to rise and affect the lives of people. Underprivileged individuals are treated informally by formal cities, neglecting their importance, needs, and potential. Apart from that, the growing population of the Baseco community also revealed the powerful force of urban densification outgrowing the need for horizontal developments. The study will generate a design and planning approach of multi-cultural patterned response to the culture and values of the community which will be the basis for identifying sufficient spaces and needs. Also, it will aim to transform the urban image of the Baseco Compound through architectural empowerment and development that can enhance and create a greater sense of community by bridging important design facilities and generating major activities. In light of this, the study aims to create a centering community for the unprivileged by developing a self-sufficient vertical city, a solution that will benefit all levels of social, physical, environmental, and economic aspects of Baseco Compound in Manila.

The study is supported by the following objectives and strategies categorized based on the urban perspective of informality,
a. Social Aspect
i. Define and compare multiple cultures and values of the unprivileged community of Baseco, Manila that may be used as a basis in the research planning process.
• Strategy: Provide definable space involving the users’ habitual occupation, marking, shared understanding, and personalization.
b. Physical Aspect
i. Determine the population of the community considering variables that will be the basis of the development’s design criteria.
• Strategy: Identify proper building typology and spaces that can cater to the growing population of Baseco Compound, Manila.
c. Environmental Aspect
i. Determine the most proper and creative architectural approach, as well as methods for integrating the planning and construction system of the self-sufficient vertical city’s architectural principles.
• Strategy: Classify the independent approaches delivering environmental regeneration of the community to the development and vice versa.
d. Economical Aspect
i. Utilize various concepts that will help improve the quality of life of the unprivileged community of Baseco, Manila.
• Strategy: Consolidate the productive and effective activities that will boost human, environmental, and economic opportunities by valuing the chain of activities through architectural development.

Project description

Based on the record of the World Bank Organization, the biggest slum in the Philippines is the Baseco Compound or Barangay 649 Zone 68, found in the south district of Manila City near the outlet of the Pasig River. Baseco Compound or also known as the Bataan Shipyard and Engineering Company has a total population of seventy thousand four hundred and thirty-seven (70,437) individuals with thirty thousand four hundred and thirty-seven (30,437) total households based on Barangay 649 Census as of 2021. Baseco Compound became an attractive location for immigrants coming from Luzon and other surrounding islands. Therefore, the Baseco compound has been selected due to its main feature and current situation that make it one of the most critical and complex to approach a centering unprivileged community through a productive self-sufficient vertical city. Banhuyay (Bagong Anyo ng Buhay) centering unprivileged community through productive architecture, a self-sufficient vertical city will cater to the growing population of Baseco Compound, putting a focus on social, physical, environmental, and economic aspects while pursuing an urban way of life. The project is intended to create a mixed-use mid-rise vertical city socialized public housing project (a city within a city) as a solution for urban density, following the provisions under Batas Pambansa 220, a government policy that promotes and encourages the development of economic and socialized housing projects, primarily by the private sector, to provide adequate economic and socialized housing units for middle- and low-income earners. Corresponding to the identified main problem and minor problems of the current
situation of an urban community in the Philippines, the proposed development focuses on responding to the more advanced and fundamental needs of the targeted users. The
main activities to be addressed are supported by Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs as well as the relationship of the urban perspective of informality. The target user of the project is based on the estimation of poverty statistics of basic sectors identified by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). According to Republic Act 8425 or the Social Reform and Poverty Alleviation Act, the term "poor" refers to people and families whose income is below the poverty line and/or who are unable to afford to meet their minimal essential needs for food, health, education, shelter, and other necessities of life on a sustained basis. The marginalized sectors residing in Baseco Community. Additionally, the sectors will be categorized into three groups of target users which are primary, secondary, and tertiary users. The primary users will be the underprivileged residents or families in depressed areas. The secondary users will be the working population or families in developed areas while the tertiary users will be the potential contributor coming from external connections of the community, given that the study will also link internal-external development. The proposed self-sufficient vertical city of Baseco Compound is a reimagined centering community focusing on creating a mutualistic relationship between the built environment and the natural environment. It looks to reinvent urbanism through an integrative-productive planning approach enhancing the quality of life of the vulnerable. The project will function together with the housing arm of the local government unit of Manila with the participation of other key factors, partnerships, and housing load offices or agencies involved in low-income housing production and services for Baseco Compound.

Technical information

Baseco Compound (Barangay 649) is known to be the largest slum community in the
National Capital Region (NCR) based on the data transcribed by the World Bank Organization. The continuing growth of the population compromised the overall character of the community affecting its physical, social, economic, and environmental development. Therefore, to uplift and achieve a productive response to human needs and architectural requirements, it is necessary to develop a strategy towards centering unprivileged neighborhoods in consideration of the design of physical and non-physical elements of the community. This paper introduces a new design paradigm of socialized housing integrated with design solutions and strategies addressing the four realms of the community: social, physical, economic, and environmental. Moreover, the main proposals and built architectural approaches and strategies were based on the notion and constituting elements of the existing entity and lifestyle of the subject. Finally, in this paper by evaluating the cyclical design approach of productive architecture, a new comprehensive architectural design approach is proposed. The purpose of this research was to probe the new paradigm of using architectural design in planning a developed community that is physically, socially, economically, and environmentally dynamic and productive. The empirical investigation has been triggered by the societal issue of the Philippines when it comes to addressing the issues of informal settlements, housing backlogs, and obsolete design norms. The mentioned issues became the root of the deteriorating entity of informal settlements affecting their physical, social, economic, and environmental development. Productive architecture is vested in the four domains of the study which are also based on the existing situations of the prioritized community block in Baseco Compound, the Old Site (South) Block. The principle underlying this approach is that productive architecture is the combination of the four theories, namely, (1) social: multicultural modernism; (2) physical: architectural metamorphosis; (3) economic: circle economy architecture; and (4) environmental: regenerative design, that will benefit the five elements of ekistics (man, society, networks, shells, and nature). The objective and strategy of this research study have been met as they have been outlined. The aims of this research have been identified and related to the need for upscaling Batas Pambansa 220 and other design norms.

Documentation

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