Houses and People

I really enjoy biking around my village during afternoons, feeling the breeze on my face and my thighs straining to move my mass around the blocks gives me a sense of independence despite my rather "unindependent" state... living with my folks and all.

I remember my high school days, I usually went home on the second trip of our bus service, the  second trip also doubles as a late run for students who live in ayala alabang, during these jaunts around the village, my jaw would drop in awe as we passed by the huge, stately, neo-mediterranean homes. I would tell myself that I would someday own one in this village... so that my kids wouldnt have to take the frickin second trip to some distant no name subdivision in Paranaque...

That was 5 years ago... now, with my architectural/design training, Ive realized that a lot of the houses in ayala alabang arent actually well designed, a lot of the houses are "chop-suey" designs which try to mix various elements which really dont go together.

Heck, you dont have to go to aav to get this picture, just around my village, a lot of the houses are at best, an eclectic mix of elements, and at worst, are just plain ugly.

But then again, who am I to dictate good taste and aesthetics on the owners, I guess if the homeowner decided thats what he wanted, then so be it, its his house. But my view on this is that a house should stand for who the person really is. If the house is a stately Euro-Mediterranean mansion, my read on this is that the owner is a successful person, who likes what everyone else likes, a conformist, with severe colonial mentality, who does not understand that a lot of the design elements involved are completely pretensions of  designers and craftsmen...

See... we have this philosophy in design, that the material should be used and should look as it should be... and not meant to look like an imitation or a fake of another. In other words, exposed the real nature of the material and the work... Don't fake it, don't use it for something else...  G.I. Roofing should look like G.I. Roofing, and not like clay tiles, Concrete should look like concrete, it shouldnt be moulded or painted... etc. etc. etc.

Anyway... I'd love to expound further... but mark this down, If I'm going to design a house for anyone, I want my design to embody who that person is... I want it to be an honest portrayal of all the good in that person, so that the person feels complete ownership of the house, as if he was the house itself... unlike now, where people usually end up with something dictated upon to them by a society with severe aesthetic and cultural disfunctions.