Rain Rain Don't Go Away

I love the Philippines and (just about) everything that goes with it.  Including the weather.  We Filipinos always complain that it is too hot and/or too humid.  I must concede, when it gets bad, it gets really bad.  But we take for granted our close-to-neutral climate.  Compared to four season regions, we never really experience extreme cold nor heat.  Yes, it gets wet.  But really, if controlled properly, the rains can be wonderful.  The kind you want to sleep in for the day.


So I will say it again.  We take our climate for granted.  To a fault, designers and architects--professionals who should be most conscious about the weather, tend to forget where we are exactly.  We "are inspired" too much (read as copy) by popular trends in style and design, mostly by Western influences, that we let aesthetics dominate all design considerations.  Functionality and practicality tend to suffer just so our projects "look like that awesome house/building we saw in that magazine."  

I have been practicing architecture for almost 10 years now.  I've worked for among the best designers (at least to this author's opinion), and have run my own firm for some time as well.  And throughout my experience, I've worked on a number of projects that were guilty of looking too good -- that's all they had going for them.  In no time, problems arise.  Problems such as heat build up, leaks, poor ventilation, quickly deteriorating materials...a list that is a result of ignoring climatic conditions.  We have to face the fact we are in the tropics.  The sun is harsh.  Rainfall is significant.  Houses and buildings are like the human body.  Health is beauty.  No amount of make up will save a sick body.


I am not saying that architects and designers should avoid modern trends.  Nor am I saying they should allow their designs to be limited by our tropical climate.  On the other hand, being mindful of this basic consideration should push their creativity even further.  We should take advantage of the new possibilities in design brought about by current technologies, new materials, and ever changing lifestyles of people.  We just need to keep in mind that we can't make the sun change its intensity.  We can't make the rain just go away.