Products of its Circumstance: Homegrown Housing

Abstract

My thesis, "Products of its Circumstance: Homegrown Housing," addresses the intricate layers of a teeming, congested conurbation of sixteen cities collectively known as Metro Manila -a megalopolis shaped by 350 years of Spanish Colonialism, 50 years of American colonialism, generations of intensive rural to urban migration, and rapid privately driven urban development (virtually unchecked by government oversight), each of which has contributed to a more than century-long housing crisis. Private developers' proht-driven models routinely sever connections between citizens and their cities, often sacrihcing substance for spectacle. This project navigates the challenges of this urban condition, recognizing every citizen's right to safe and adequate housing. This thesis, an architectural response to the complex circumstances shaping Philippine Urbanism, began as an exploration of found objects and personal curiosities that in themselves embody and thus illuminate the close relationship between Philippine culture and the built environment. This study provoked an architectural response: a vital infrastructure that serves as armor and trellis, a design approach that takes its cues from established patterns of collective living, while catering to a persistent desire for greater personal security. By catering to the housing needs of marginalized groups, this infrastructure emerges as a catalyzing force, balancing cultural values and safeguarding a fiercely protected core of communal living against the post-modern city's pressing forces of fragmentation. It is also a potential exemplar of a homegrown urban Filipino residence, marking a significant step towards an inward-looking and locally spirited dwelling.