Bringing you the latest updates on architecture, planning, engineering and design from Palafox Associates and Palafox Architecture Group, Inc.

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April Issue | 2016

Palafox Newsletter

Milestone Projects

QUALITY LIVING IN SCENIC CEBU

Pocket parks between residential buildings provide breathing spaces that also create a sense of community and promote an active lifestyle.

The proposed Modena Town Square integrates places to live, shop, dine, play, and worship in a masterplanned community. With around 1,500 residential units, the plan calls for a range of housing styles and sizes. A variety of building heights, from six- to 12-storey garden apartments, would ensure a better flow of natural ventilation. At the same time, it allows undisrupted views of the mountains in Minglanilla to the north and the Cebu Strait to the south of the development.

Envisioned to be a fully functioning community, the plan also has provisions for mixed-use commercial zones for shopping and dining, clubhouse with swimming pool, and a chapel. These are strategically located at the heart of the development, making it easy to access for residents at any point within the vicinity. Read more.

Entry marker Garden apartments

Off the Press

Retail architecture in a larger urban context. Integrating the design of individual stores to its immediate surroundings through the art of place-making. Read more.

Palafox Architecture Group included in BCI Asia's Top Ten Awards 2016. After Palafox Associates claimed a spot in the top 10 architecture firms for nine consecutive years, Palafox Architecture Group receives its first citation in the list. Read more.

Spotlight

Disaster-resilient school design for an indigenous community in Casiguran, Aurora

Children of the Agta community in Sitio Dipontian pose on the site of their new school during the groundbreaking.

After super typhoon Lando made landfall in Aurora last October 2015, thousands of families were displaced. Billions of pesos were lost to damages in agriculture and infrastructure, which affected the whole country. Such a scenario remains a reality for an indigenous community in Sitio Dipontian in Casiguran, Aurora.

Fastenopfer or the Swiss Catholic Lenten Fund, a Catholic NGO in Sweden and DKA Austria, tapped Palafox Architecture Group to design a school for the children of the Agta community. The school is envisioned to be disaster-resilient and sustainable. Its four-sided or quarto aguas roofing provides resistance to strong winds and also acts as a catchment for rainwater harvesting. The collected rainwater will be kept in a storage drum and distributed through a water line connected to the toilets for flushing as well as to perimeter faucets for cleaning and watering of plants. The school may also be used as an evacuation center. Read more.