Form Follows Privacy

One feels wholly unwelcome walking down this street in Barangay Don Manuel in Quezon City.

- Judith Torres

Tall, fortress-like concrete walls topped by barbed wire and electrified barriers line both sides of the road, protecting unseen houses from prying eyes and intruders. Driveways and drop-offs are invisible, hidden behind heavy-duty steel gates. Trees and plants are almost nonexistent. There is the occasional clump of weeds growing out of a crack between the sidewalk and the street, and the electric posts that interrupt one’s path on the pavement.

Judging from the cars that come out of the gates, the neighborhood is well to do. And based on the roofs and the second or third-story façades peering over their concrete face shields, the predominant architecture in the area is contemporary Mediterranean and Chinese. The structures are crammed edge to edge on narrow lots, making one wonder how their inhabitants breathe.

“They all have glass windows facing the street, but all the windows are closed,” An Bermejo points out as we stand out on the street, gazing at our surroundings.

Designing a house at this site was a new challenge for Bermejo and partner Benjee Mendoza, the principals of BAAD Studio Architects, which has made a fine practice of designing tropical homes on large lots in verdant valleys with tree-lined streets. But BAAD Studio has succeeded in creating an oasis of good looks in the middle of this featureless, unfriendly, and ultra-defensive environment.

Façade as gate

Instead of designing a beautiful house and hiding it behind a wall, BAAD created a handsome steel mesh and wood façade, which serves as a three-story ‘gate’ for the home. Opening this façade on the ground floor leads one down a driveway to basement parking. A flight of steps takes alighting passengers up to the living room.