According to Engr. Mapa, the series of dam structures with biochar production and solar farm, as well as the constructed wetland wastewater treatment facility, as well as the decentralized water treatment system will cost a total of P100 million for a coverage of eight to 10 barangays with a total population of 10,000.
This is far cheaper than the cost of on-going water projects for Metro Manila and Cavite, which range from P450 million to as much as P26 billion.
Minimalist building design
Consultant Engr. Manuel V. Mapa is also pushing for the adoption of a minimalist building design that will be able to resist the stresses of an Intensity 8.0 earthquake as well as typhoons with wind velocities in excess of 200 kph.
The proposed reinforced concrete building, single to 4th level with loft and without elevators, mainly relies on the innovative configuration of two load bearing reinforced concrete walls crossing the X-and-Y axis lines of the building.
“The simple design is based on architectural brutalist proletarian concept,” he said, with the minimalist design utilizing a reinforced concrete flat roof slab with adequate waterproofing that would provide structure stability and be lesser in cost.
He added that the current practice in most residential construction, including public buildings, is the use of roof trusses, wood or steel with GI sheets/tiles, which are costly compared to traditionally built roofs.
Due to design of quadruplex configuration of structure with bearing or gravity walls along the X and Y axis of the building at 4 units per block, the equal sharing of common four walls and other components, e.g.,
columns, tie beams and footings, means savings of at least 50 percent of the construction costs as far as the rough-in and basic structural components are concerned.
With the savings derived from innovative design configuration, any local government can initiate housing projects for farm lots of 500-1,000 square meters in rural areas with low land cost. This would help address country’s sustainable food sector and housing needs.
Furthermore, the utilitarian design for a single or medium-rise prototype will stem the rising cost of housing and reduce the impacts of seismic occurrences and typhoons in the Philippines.
Under the proposed scheme, individual unit owners have land allocation with each entry point a portion for their own exclusive use. This scheme is suitable for rural areas with a lesser cost of land ownership.
As a group, the kibbutz-type set-up can go for optimized food production and earn revenue from a solar farm or wind farm connected to the existing grid.
Each unit in the building will either be a townhome type of 72 square meters, a condo type with loft of 56 square meters, low-cost one-storey of 32.5 square meters, or school building with classroom of 49 square meters each.
Estimated building cost will be as follows: P2.9 million for the townhome type, P3.3 million for the condo type with loft, P850,000 for the low-cost one-storey house, or P3.2 million for the school building.
The cost for each of the four units will be P956,000 for the townhome, P419,000 for condo type with loft, P212,000 for the low-cost one-storey house, and P400,000 for the school building classroom.
It should be noted that the cost per square meter for each building will be comparably low, ranging from P5,243 to a high of P10,157, which is very favorable for the owner.
Engr. Mapa believes that, if adopted, this minimalist design would not only save scarce resources but also free it for other vital needs of the community.
