ALLAS, FREDERICK M.

ARCHT. INOCENCIO
B S AR C H IV-3

Republic of the Philippines

College of Architecture and Fine Arts

Department of Architecture
Polytechnic University of the Philippines
NDC Compound, Sta. Mesa, Manila

The Development of an Environment Centered Architecture:

A Proposed Naturopathic and Wellness Center

Abstract:
Our awareness of the value of resilience in architecture and community design emerged
through the application of criteria for sustainability to emergency management efforts as carried
out in three diverse sites: Ecology, future and economy.
This Naturopathic Center provides patients alternative healing in an environmental
approach both medical and architectural. It houses naturopathic facilities and personnel for
nature education and related recreation activities, as well as community meeting and gathering
space, the building enhances and encourages the relationship between urban development along
the waterfront and the natural environment.
A pragmatic research paradigm was use which included qualitative and quantitative
research approach. The structure uses building and environmental system such as soft energy,
bioswale, permaculture, xeriscape, rain water harvesting, and groundwater recharge
The three criteria for sustainability include: equity in the present and future, economy,
and ecology. These criteria were used to assess weather-related emergency management
activities typically conducted as a contingency before an emergency, the reaction during an
emergency, and recovery activities conducted after the event. Considerations included social
equity, economic costs, and ecological balance in prevention and mitigation efforts; agility in
response to weather related events; and sensitivity to environmental threats in reconstruction
efforts. The results of these analyses are instructive in developing sustainable architecture,
community design, and planning. The quality of resilience rather than resistance to events
prevailed in all of these efforts. With this change in perspective, architecture and community
design efforts become both more local in nature and regional in scope, less intrusive, and of a
scale and magnitude more appropriate for community-based cultures.