Floating Architecture For The Philippines

Pieter, Joran and Jurrian are the founders of the Finch Floating Homes Foundation. They are running a crowdfunding campaign to help them achieve their dream of providing good quality, flood-resilient housing for those who are most at risk from rising sea levels and the constant inconvenience and threat of flooding.

The Foundation’s dream is to build safe, flood-proof floating homes in Bulacan, a province located 50km above Manila, in the Philippines’ largest delta. Whilst living and studying in Bulacan, the three young architects were shocked by the twice daily floods, which create constant daily struggles and stress for the residents, including poor hygiene, ongoing subsistence insecurity and the constant threat of damage being done to their properties. All of these issues  are further aggravated by location, climate change, overpopulation and low quality housing. Alleviating people of these daily difficulties is the driving force behind the Foundation.

Coming from the Netherlands, a country that is largely below sea level, but pretty much never experiences flooding thanks to clever planning and engineering, twice-daily floods were obviously pretty horrifying to these three young Dutch men. Enough so, that they felt compelled to try and make a positive impact.

The trio have designed locally suitable floating housing that is well thought out and considers local residents’ needs and lifestyles. The design is resistant to both daily flooding from high tides and also to typhoons in the rainy season; it can house a Filipino family of 5 comfortably; and can also be located in rivers and ponds, ultimately saving land space and helping overcrowding issues. They also promise to use locally sources materials and labor as much as possible.

Their overarching goal is to build affordable and safe housing so that everyone can have dry feet. Their project will begin in Bulacan, but these guys have big dreams and hope to be able to work in the rest of the Philippines, as well as other coastal areas that are often affected by flooding and housing shortages such as, Indonesia, Vietnam and Bangladesh. We wish them the best of luck and look forward to following their success.

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