The concept of the facility draws its inspiration from a bamboo woven basket, which is one

of the representations of rural elements such as the simplistic living, the abundance of natural
methods of resource acquisition that are akin to zero emissions, and the natural aesthetic elements
where all architecture, even green architecture, draws its inspiration from. The basket connotes
that it contains fruits, vegetables, and other livelihood elements. It is strong and durable as it is
derived from tightly woven bamboo. During earlier times, the basket was a symbol of life and
abundance.
In lieu of modernism`s urban typology of a sociological construct, such as a more diverse
and complex organization of units and individual persons to achieve a more self-sustaining
community, of which the urban realm concept is one of its cornerstones, the conceptualization of
a highly flexible and sustainable building that fosters community involvement and development,
not just in terms of technology, but mostly on sustainability and culture, will be a better chance of
making a stronger community bond. That is what is found in a basket. It is flexible, not rigid, but
it is durable because of each bamboo strip that bonds durably with each other through a weave.
The overall design concept is entitled the `Unification of the Community and its Rural
Elements into a Single Form and a Single Space, within a Single Lot, through Bamboo`; hence, it
is inspired by rural imagery, represented by the bamboo basket. In viewing the building from eye
level, one would see that the building has the shape of an open basket (during normal weather
conditions) and a closed one (during calamities) that seems to be mounted on a living bamboo. It
also imitates the mountains, the rice fields, and common vegetations like bamboo which is found
in a rural community. The building`s roof represents the mountain which is the highest landform.
The roof is streamlined through coordination with roof pitch or angle of the different modules
mounted. Each module has a three compartments: the topmost is where devices that harness energy
are installed, such as solar panels or smaller windmills. The second compartment is where
vegetation is located, simply for food production or agriculture, and even oxygenation of the
building. The third compartment is located below floor line. This compartment is where water
bottles are recycled to serve as a floatation mechanism for the building. These methods are some
ways of getting the individual communities and the individuals to coordinate and develop a strong
bond amongst themselves. In addition, this rural landscape concept is extended further to involve
community participation in the construction of the structure, since one possible cause of a negative
impact of construction is the high carbon footprint which involves machinery, prefabrication in
factories which leaves a high carbon footprint, and the isolation of the construction site from the
community.
Since the lot itself is mostly surrounded by residential buildings, it must be better that
prefabrication is done in each smaller communities or barangays, poblacions or districts using
locally-sourced materials such as bamboo. These smaller groups would have to build their own
prefabricated `module` which is the unit itself that will be later utilized by families during
calamities. It is like the building is a rural flatland (a bed like a truck trailer without a mounted
container) in which each group or individuals could build and mount their own module and
customize its interior wall design (but during calamities such as typhoons the external skin would
be made from weaved bamboo mounted on bamboo poles).
On its structural design, the foundations are made of concrete and the entire structural
system is made of bamboo. The foundation is hollow in the middle to allow for planted bamboo
to grow its roots. Through this, it will strengthen the soil which helps in earthquake resistance.
Then bamboo columns are inserted into these concrete foundation. These columns carry the entire
weight of the building, since bamboo is a good substitute for concrete, and is more earthquake
resilient than reinforced concrete.
The facility would also harness energy from the sun, aquifers, recycled water and recycled
papers and combustible solid waste materials. Aside from installation of solar panels, the building
would utilize energy from water through steam generators, of which the steam is derived from
recycled water that goes through the boiler. The biodigesters would produce water through
biofilters and the filtered water collected would revert back to flushing systems, distillation
compartments, or back to the boiler to be used by the steam generator.
In terms of sanitation, water distillation and disinfecting will be applied. It is through
focusing light energy on water to boil it and kill pathogens and other contaminants that can recycle
water for drinking use. Also, each module has its own convertible sanitary `box` for waste disposal.
Lastly, the building has economic benefits, the ground floor would have a portable mini-
fitness room for bike generators. When users of the building physically benefit from the
equipment, it also produces electricity that charges the batteries. Agriculture production through
vegetable bamboo cultivation integrated in the building would produce profit for the community.