Dream Design Brief

As architecture students, there are some design briefs that are more compelling than others because of the extra challenge they pose and the great potential fun exploring various solutions, avenues and crazy ideas.  One such design brief is for a small mobile space that stretches the imagination because of the given limitations.   

My mom took me to see a Carry Boy mobile home that she was thinking of buying for her beach farm.  My immediate reaction is that it was a bit claustrophobia-inducing, was totally not suitable for the warm, humid weather in the Philippines and was way out of this world too expensive.  If I could make my own design brief, it would be for a compact mobile home for the tropics that won't break the bank vault and most importantly opens up to the elements.  To convince my mom, I gathered pictures from the internet from luxury African tents to artsy modern mobile homes just to show the range of what could be done.

My mom has another requirement for a portable bathroom and the ones I found are not really pretty but they give a good idea of what's out there.

Many years ago (more than thirteen), my uncle who is into pyramids and triangulated structures, commissioned me to design and build a "tent within a tent" that he wanted to be a sample unit for his island resort.  Back then, I used Corel Draw to illustrate my design.  

The base is made from used tires filled with sand.  The inner tent is made of velcro and mosquito net that allows the user to cover panels with opaque streamers for privacy.  The outer tent rests on a bamboo frame from where the inner tent also hangs.  Finally, the whole structure is covered with "trapal."  The tent under is completely porous so air circulates while the "trapal" provides protection from rain. 

The bathroom was utter fun to make:  the toilet is made out of orange traffic cone; the shower is made of snorkel and plastic palette floor drain; a pair of used car side mirror serves as the mirror.  The bathroom is located right outside the bedroom but under the same big covering. 

The wonderful (almost unbelievable) thing is that we were able to actually build this fronting a lovely beach in Batangas.  I have an album full of pictures that unfortunately I can't find anymore. From the bamboo main frame, we hung fascinatingly shaped dried creatures from the sea.  I remember begging for used streamers for the wall materials that fasten onto the frame.  Looking back, it's amazing how the contractor was able to sew the huge velcro skeleton of the interior tent.  

 The bathroom walls were made of panels of used parachute which gave it a colorful glow from inside.  This photo is from the draft brochure I made about the tent.  

After collecting these inspiring internet photos and unearthing an old design I made for my uncle's tent recalling the exuberance of youth, I started designing a mobile beach home for my mom to fit her requirements.