Cube and a Half

Approved sketches of the new and finally, FINAL design!
Cube 1:

A VIEW FROM THE STREET


A VIEW FROM THE COURTYARD, which separates Cube 1 from Half Cube. Cube 1 is the main house, with living and dining rooms, kitchen, maids' quarters on the ground floor and the master's suite on the second floor.





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Was it worth it?

We finally agreed on the design (the one I posted before this entry). Benjie, Mama and myself went through several discussions on the details of the design and even had a couple of sessions with Fabian, our contractor. We proceeded to having the design cost estimated by Fabian. When he reverted back to us two weeks later, I was a bit surprised.

While I admit that I am not updated with the running cost of building a home, I was working on certain clear and fair assumptions: labor would be cheaper in the province, design was as simple as a modernist structure can get, and therefore the materials would be relatively cheaper. I had also pegged construction cost at a fair P10,000/sqm., way below Manila standard. The cost was above what I had expected yet Fabian and Benjie reminded me that I should be including the roofdeck in the total cost of the floor area. The roofdeck was something Mama wanted as it has become a fad in the province. Personally, I feel that a roofdeck is good only if you have a great view of the sea or some landscape, which my mom’s neighborhood doesn’t have. But we threw in a roofdeck nevertheless

I stepped up back a bit and reviewed the design: was it worth the cost? MORE HERE...

Penultimate Floor Plans

Here are the floor plans of the house design I uploaded earlier. The ground floor as a different access from the second floor, as we had agreed. This would address security issues for my mother's living space.





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Penultimate?

We finally settled on this design, which I thought solved several problems, part of which was to accommodate a bed and breakfast that Mama had wanted. Our school offers courses on Hotel and Restaurant Management and Mama was thinking of putting up a lodging place for students to put to practice what they've learned. My concern would be the security of the private space that Mama and her household would occupy. So this design is very similar to the old house wherein the residential space is located at the second floor, with the commercial space on the ground floor. Of course, part of the brief was to have a modernist looking structure, which I think was achieved in this design. Another element requested by Mama was a roofdeck. 

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The new (and hopefully final) Site.

Plans were changed once more based on inputs and we decided to have the structure run along the west end of the property. This way, the remaining area of the property, adjacent to the old house would allow for possible future commercial expansion.  This would also maximize the use of the rear end of the property.  So we set out to do some more(!) design studies for this layout.

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Study 4: Residential/Commercial (front end of the property)

Then there was a discussion: what if the structure ran perpendicular to the road, alongside the front end of the property? That way, Mama's living space would be on the second floor, and the rentable space on the ground floor, very much similar to the present set-up at the Moore Residence.  The upside to this is that revenue from the commercial space will offset the cost of the building more quickly.  There was also the impression that my mother would be safer if she had easy access to the road, in case some emergency situation happens in the house.  But then,  the Feng Shui expert told me that given the year, a structure built that way favoring the North and South sectors should only start construction next year.  Then my friend Caloy, barged into a discussion with Benjie regarding the property and simply offered his point of view:  a house running alongside the street doesn't look gracious enough.  A structure that has a little privacy is more genteel.  The powerful combination of the Feng shui master and Caloy did the trick.   Again, I scrapped the design.

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Study 3: Everything considered (Rear end of the property)

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Study 2 : Inspiration from Pawson (for the rear end of the property)

Alvin and I were aligned on a design that served as our initial inspiration, the country home of artdirector/stylist/image maker Baron Fabian. The ‘barn’ was designed by our favorite, John Pawson, the father of Minimalism. We thought Fabian’s house fit the rural context, structure-wise, its lines and materials simple and yet its soaring ceilings evoked a certain drama to the interiors.But. One of Mama’s item in her wish list was a roof deck, which has become a trend for newly constructed homes in the province. Baron’s house used simple iron sheets as roofing, which didn’t allow for a roof deck. So, we had to rethink the design.

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Study 1 (Rear end of property)

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Site Map

The property is in the shape of a letter L,as in Leah, my mother’s first name. My grandfather had acquired the piece of land from surrounding neighbors, except for the piece of quadrant on the northeast, currently the site of the only gas station in town (the others have followed modern zoning rules that limit their location to the town’s outskirts).

The existing house stands on the corner of the property, approximately 10m X 18m. This particular spot is ideal for commercial space as Moore Street runs perpendicular to the property and leads to the downtown area. 

The empty lot occupies two thirds of the property at approximately 600sqm.

There was so much discussion among family, friends, and architects on where exactly the new structure should be built.

First off, there was no clear agreement on whether the whole abandoned area should be purely residential and leave the Moore residence to eventually be developed as commercial space or keep the option of providing expansion for commercial space on the empty lot. I was reminded that the stretch of the property’s frontage was 44 meters to the south and 10 meters to the east (facing the commercial area). That had a lot of potential for commercial space.

So we agreed on having Mama’s house by the rear end (north) of the property. That would provide her with privacy and at the same time, allow the front end of the property flexibility for future commercial ventures.

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