The question facing designers and homeowners today is not just what style of house they want to live in, but how to leave as minimal impact on the earth as possible. Call it green design, or sustainable or renewable design — this, in essence, is building with a conscience.
How long will the earth’s resources last? How long can man continue to build and still leave something for future generations? How do you avoid damaging ecosystems in sourcing building materials? These were some of the questions that faced the 87 graduating students of the Philippine School of Interior Design (PSID) as they worked on their theses — the final products of which are 21-square-meter booths displaying their talent in design — now on exhibit at the Athena Building in Eastwood City, Quezon City.
With the theme “EARTH Designs (Environmental Applications, Research and Trends in Habitats),” the students were compelled to do research on the most efficient and workable materials to use in their booths.
The school partnered with the World Wildlife Fund-Philippines, headed by president David O. Valdes, which sent resource speakers to talk about “making the most of the planet’s resources and promoting energy-efficient technologies in our daily lifestyle” as the students planned around the green concept.
PSID professor and batch adviser Nicky T. Jardenil explains, “Sustainable design is now the thrust of the design field. Sustainability takes into account the entire process, from where you get the raw materials to the design of the space. Are the sources sustainable? If you’re using wood, you ask yourself whether this species of wood can regenerate faster than the others, like narra which takes 20 to 25 years before you can cut it.”
This year, the students submitted theme proposals, one of which was the suggestion that they do a “Sinner or Saint” theme, revolving around the seven deadly sins and seven virtues, but that was vetoed for lack of substance. “Other suggestions were also along those lines — but none of them was research-based. We wanted something with more substance. ‘EARTH Designs’ came out very challenging for the students because of the parameters of sustainability. The theme actually forced them to think out of the box and create something out of nothing in most cases.”
The 21 booths show various interpretations of sustainable design ranging from recycling old pieces such as furniture; repurposing scrap bottles, glass, metal and wood; to the more general rationale of “lasting several lifetimes” behind using very expensive Philippe Starck pieces such as those in the P2-million bathroom.
Bringing it down to a more reachable and practical level in these times of collapsing banks and uncertain economies are booths that make a conscious effort to bring down the costs of building with the use of old furniture and supplies. One group, for instance, used corrugated boards as a finish and salvaged GI sheets that were discarded in a machine shop because they were already rusted. The students took the GI sheets and highlighted the rust by pouring vinegar for oxidization and then coating the sheets with polyurethane to protect them from corroding any further. The result: a treatment that makes the space unique.
Another booth also made use of beer bottles to simulate the ventanillas of the traditional bahay na bato. The amber color of the Pale Pilsen reflects light in a pretty way and in real-life application the wall would be opened to let the air in for cross-ventilation.
In terms of energy savings, most of the booths now use LED lights and energy-efficient fluorescent (the new ones no longer make you look green!) instead of ordinary bulbs and halogen, which consume more electricity. Windows and skylights, apart from opening up the space, also eliminate the need for artificial lighting during the day. Water conservation is another way to build around the green concept: some designs provided for the collection of rainwater to be used to water plants or for bathwater.
While “green houses” in industrialized countries tend to go more high-tech in construction by using solar panels and filtration systems to recycle water, Nicky says the simplest and first step in sustainability in a third-world country such as ours is to simply recycle and repurpose old furniture — one less new piece bought in a store is a couple of trees and a lot of energy saved.
“Whatever you can recycle, recycle it,” he says. “Besides bringing the cost of construction down, you can also help save the planet.”
So, is this year’s show better than previous ones? Some booths are better, some aren’t. There have been really good designs in past years that are hard to top — like last year’s one and only nursery and the kitchen tribute to Lor Calma a few years ago.
With this year’s sustainable development theme, you can see that some groups really planned around it, while others — beyond the obligatory skylight and picture windows to save energy — need more convincing that green is the way to go…even if in real life it is harder to do.
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“EARTH Designs” runs at the Athena Building in Eastwood City, Libis, Quezon City, throughout October.