“Designers have been using this for a long time, but I believe it is still a new idea in the Philippines – especially since we are adapting it to a traditional type of house”. “The modular system was the innovation,” he notes. That’s what Pinoys remember fondly about the bahay kubo”, reflects Forlales. “Laid-back afternoons at the front porch, sipping native coffee while watching the world (and the village neighbours) go by. Filipinos know the quintessential bahay kubo lifestyle, an often-romanticised cultural memory of simpler days and a more grounded way of living. Lastly, each CUBO is designed to encourage outdoor living with its front deck and a built-in bench. Forlales adds that the latter feature, when combined with the cooling properties of bamboo, can lower indoor temperatures by as much as 14 degrees Celsius. There are also big windows to maximise ventilation and natural light, along with a sloped roof that helps dissipate tropical heat. He points out the elevated foundation, which (depending on where you live) gives storage space or safety from floodwaters. Yet the CUBO CEO is quick to mention the architectural features that were lifted directly from the old school. Looking at these thoroughly modern abodes, one might be tempted to say that they bear little or no resemblance to the classic nipa hut. Just imagine how quick and easy it would be to shelter an entire village.” By the time we were done, they were still laying the foundations of the other structure. “It took us just a few days to assemble everything. “We had a client who ordered a CUBO unit to complement a concrete house that he was building,” Forlales recalls. Amazingly, the price is around SGD53,000 – an amount comparable to a midrange brick-and-mortar townhouse in the Philippines.Ĭonstruction time for CUBO homes usually takes less than a week. This unit is arguably the most modern bahay kubo ever, with a Smart IOT home hub (Amazon Alex acompatible), finger print-activated locks and integrated security cameras that guard the canopied front deck and other exterior areas. On the other end of the scale, the 63.5 sqm Sarangani Smart – a stylish flagship model – boasts luxurious amenities such as a fully-tiled bathroom with walk-in shower, three bedrooms and a kitchen with floating base and wall cabinets. Currently the most basic model is the 21.5 sqm Bulacan Starter which starts at PHP899,000 (SGD22,000). It only costs around SGD2,000, and building it takes a mere four hours. So efficient is the result that CUBO’s simplest unit – the tiny 6.5 sqm Batanes model (which has since been phased out but available upon request) – came with bathroom, kitchen and living areas, not to mention complete plumbing and electrical wiring. Then he implemented a modular design that made for highly customiseable plans. The 27-yearold designer felt that the bahay kubo offered a template that could result in cheaper, sustainable and easy-to mass-produce housing.įorlales looked to the same basic material that gave the nipa house its versatility - bamboo - but engineered to enhance its structural capacity and weather resilience. Earl estimates that only 200,000 houses are built each year – a shortfall that is no doubt influenced by the sizeable time, labour and materials costs of building conventional concrete structures. In the Philippines alone, surveys report a need for at least 6.5 million new homes to serve the growing population. A graduate of Materials Science and Engineering from the prestigious Ateneo University of Manila, he was pondering a solution to the housing shortage that besets much of Asia. Forlales’ knowledge of the bahay kubo runs deep – after all, he spent part of his childhood in one.
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