Architect Edgar V. Reformado is the first one to admit that “green” and sustainable construction is costly.

In fact, this is what his group, Green Architecture Advocacy Philippines Inc. or Green AP, will convey to the developers, architects and the general public when they hold the ManilaCon 8th Green Forum in September.

The theme of the forum, “The Cost & Cons of Going Green,” seems odd as it gives the impression that there is nothing positive about going green since there is no mention of its “pros” in the conference’s title.

But that is what it really is—initially—according to Green AP.

“It is really costly at the start. But you should treat it as an investment because the benefits will come afterwards from the cost savings and the positive impact to the community that green developments bring. It is like the more you spend, the more you save,” Reformado, Green AP’s chairman, told the BusinessMirror.

Green architecture, as the group defines it, involves the design of buildings that are environmentally sensitive, harmonious with the natural features of the sites, consume less energy, accentuate natural daylight, and contains materials that are ecological, recyclable or are derived from sustainable sources. It also means buildings that last longer and are easy to maintain.

From this concept, Green AP will be discussing one-by-one the cost and cons that investors, architects and the public should expect if they choose to go green and sustainable.

Reformado said it actually all starts with the site of the development and the local government units (LGUs) have a lot to do with this. It is not right, he said, to build a community in areas that were already identified as flood-prone, particularly those in low-lying areas, with unfit soil conditions, or are situated on top of a fault line.

The LGUs should not give permits to projects in these areas, and developers would just have to forgo revenue opportunities from them.

“They know already where the fault line and the flood-prone areas are. For example, there is a low-lying area near a river. If you do not allow a community to be put up in that site, there will be no casualties when flooding happens. But when you allow it, there will be a calamity,” he explained.

 

Building orientation

Next is architecture design, which should be innovative, promotes savings in terms of power and water consumption, and provides a better living condition to the occupants.

It begins with the orientation of the building. As much as possible—and even if the aesthetic value is compromised—all windows should not be facing east or west so the units will not be hit by direct sunlight. With this, less energy will be consumed in cooling the place.

The developers, Reformado said, should also be generous with the space so as to allow proper ventilation.

“Some developers would put parks, landscaping and a playground, and they would already say they are green. But when you look at the corridors, there is no natural light and proper ventilation because instead of giving more space for corridors, they turn them into salable areas,” Reformado said.

Budget and space, he said, should be allocated for cisterns for rainwater collection, which can be used for gardening, cleaning and even for flushing of toilet bowls, particularly in buildings that have double piping.

The roof, instead of being bare, should have gardens to lessen the urban heat island effect, which is estimated to cause up to 10 percent of additional electricity demand in cooling the building.

In designing the building, Reformado said investments should also be made for the use of image modeling software so everything, including the possible chinks in the design, can be readily seen right at the start to minimize costly remedial works.

Also to be discussed in the conference is the life-cycle assessment, which is the ultimate test in weighing the “greenness” of the materials used from their extraction, processing and disposal.

“We look at the materials. They should have a longer lifespan, recyclable and cost-efficient even if they are more expensive,” Reformado said.

 

Price difference

Although the “green revolution” is now starting to envelop the nation, Haresh M. Daswani, head of the environmental division of Manhattan Green Solutions, said the price difference for cost-efficient technologies that are friendly to the environment remains as a major stumbling block.

“It’s challenging only because everyone looks at up-front cost first. But we offer cost savings. Our clients are able to get their money back after a few months from their savings [in power and water consumption],” Daswani told the BusinessMirror.

Manhattan Green Solutions is the exclusive Philippine importer and distributor of eco-friendly shower heads, energy meters, hand dryers and urinals from the United States and Europe, which have been shifting to green solutions as early as 10 years ago.

“In the Philippines it’s only starting just now. But the key is still economics so our focus is quick savings and money back. Compared to Chinese brands, our products are twice the price of some products. But paying a thousand pesos more is just a drop in the ocean when you look at the savings after a month [of use],” he said.

Reformado said electrical and lighting engineers should also find out how to design economically, including the promotion of natural lights, and the use of lighting systems that consume low energy but with high luminance. Air-conditioning systems should be done right as it accounts for about 60 percent of electricity consumption in a standard office building.

Even the sorting of wastes during construction would entail a lot of man-hours, Reformado said.  But taking this step will allow the proper identification of the recyclables, thus, minimizing wastage.

So at the latter part of the Green Forum in September, after all the costs and cons have been discussed, Green AP will prove that going green and sustainable is still the better alternative as the benefits to the investors, the community and the environment are compelling.

 

Design contest

And while Green AP is spreading the beauty of green construction through its series of forum and seminars, local civic group My Shelter Foundation has just concluded a global design contest that seeks to show what a sustainable community is, particularly in a developing-country setting, like the Philippines, where the poor are more vulnerable to natural calamities that are being heightened by climate change.

The Design Against the Elements (DAtE) competition, launched by My Shelter Foundation in the aftermath of Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng in 2009 that inundated a huge part of Luzon resulting in over a thousand fatalities and billions of pesos in property destruction, attracted over 110 designs from all over the world.

Illac Diaz, executive director of My Shelter Foundation, said people will have better chances of survival if establishing communities with designs that incorporate alternative power, green roofs so gardens can be put up to provide temporary sources of food, and rainwater catchments, will be the focus of donors, private developers and governments instead of postcalamity relief operations.

“We are looking at more extreme weather in the future, so we need a more sustainable solution, like having more resilient types of communities, those that are ready to withstand the shock of these calamities. There is better chance of survival if this would become part of our system rather than just be reactive to calamities,” Diaz said.

To this end, My Shelter Foundation has tied up with the United Architects of the Philippines, Climate Change Commission, RP-United Nations White Helmets, the city government of Taguig, National Geographic Channel and San Miguel Properties, among others, in coming up with a global architectural design competition that is meant to find a solution to the problems and threats presented by disasters caused by climate change.

San Miguel Properties shouldered the international promotions and prizes for the competition, with the grand-prize winner getting $10,000. The best design will also be used by the company in putting up a prototype community at a property owned by the city government of Taguig.

Diaz said the prototype community to be developed by San Miguel Properties will have a maximum per unit price of P400,000.

“It is a humanitarian competition and designs will be available through the legal platform called ‘Creative Commons’ and will be made available for use to all cities of developing countries, not just Taguig,” Diaz said.

The entry entitled “Eco Village Project” submitted by The Winter Office of Denmark won the top prize. It presented a universal, easily constructible and disaster-resistant eco-village suitable for all vulnerable parts of the world, especially those with consistent flooding.

According to the project’s presentation, the envisioned village consists of several housing facilities that are built on dunes on a safe height level, all of which are made of the same, repetitive units.

The units are lifted up from the ground with a minimum concrete construction as a prevention of their destruction during floods. The rest of the construction is made of bamboo. If the bamboo is to be ruined by extraordinarily severe wind or natural disaster, the concrete base remains and the bamboo part can be rebuilt easily using indigenous materials.

The dune is built as a cascade element of unpolluted soil, with vast plain elements. The land on the plains of the dune is suitable for planting, particularly organic crops, and will be used by the inhabitants to produce their own needs, and should there be an excess, the market as well.

The housing facilities, dunes, plains and community facilities are linked together with bamboo bridges. During the period of floods, the bamboo bridges remain as a safe communication element, leading the inhabitants to the safe spots, as well as a transportation mode for food, water and other supplies.

The units within one housing facility are linked together in a linear manner, thus, giving the same conditions in each one. Each housing facility has several staircases leading to the inner hallway placed between the units and the dune. The hallway is used for entering each unit, as well as passage to the outer space of the dune, through one private staircase for the entire building.

Each housing unit consists of the ground floor on the same elevation as the hall and a gallery above, with total per unit floor area of 33 square meters. Upon the entrance of the unit is an open space living area connected to the kitchen and bathroom. The staircase that leads to the gallery is positioned immediately next to the entrance. The gallery is used only as a sleeping area.

 

Bamboo as preferred material

Following the concept of using recyclable, renewable and indigenous materials, the housing facilities are made almost entirely out of bamboo, except the concrete base, which is a disaster-resilient element.

Bamboo is the preferred material because it is present in huge quantities in the Philippines, cheap, easily constructible, replaceable and eco-friendly.

Following the idea of sustainability on all levels, water supply is solved through water accumulation. This is done through water filters in the ground of the dunes, which collect rainwater and turn it into drinkable water.  The collected water is distributed to each housing unit. Wastewater produced will be channeled to the ground and accumulated in a cesspool.

According to the judges, the entry demonstrates sensitive site planning with due consideration given to sustainable landscape design to minimize flood risk with the use of porous paving, water canals, swales and roof water collection. The living units are planned as clusters around a central green space, which will help foster good community ties. The construction method is simple with steel structural framing and lightweight walls. Each unit is raised on a deck above the ground to keep the floors dry.

With the start of the typhoon season in the country, the public are again inevitably reminded of the devastation caused by Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, and to fear for a repeat of a tragedy at those magnitude is natural for Filipinos, since the country is in the path of about 20 typhoons yearly, with their intensity getting stronger, blamed by many to global warming.

For Green AP and My Shelter Foundation, having green and sustainable designs is already a major step in mitigating disasters. It is now up to the government, the developers and the public to embrace them and implement them.

“We should design according to nature and consider the environment and wellness of the people,” Reformado said.