Project: PK House
Architects: 8X8 Design Studio Co.
Location: Calatagan, Philippines
Area: 2.5833 sf
Year: 2023
Photographs by: Bien Alvarez
This weekend retreat in Calatagan, Batangas, Philippines, blends modern design with traditional Filipino architecture. Inspired by the ‘Bahay Kubo’ stilt house, PK House is a three-story structure with a rooftop deck offering stunning views of Balayan Bay and the mountains.
The first floor features a large open space called a “Silong,” perfect for socializing. The second floor, called a “Bulwagan,” houses the living areas. Finally, the top floor offers a private sanctuary in the Master Bedroom.
Large, overhanging eaves on the roof provide shade and create viewing platforms to take in the beautiful scenery. Built with a steel frame, PK House is a modern take on a traditional design, perfectly suited for the tropical climate.
Located in Calatagan, Batangas, Philippines, PK House was designed as a tranquil weekend home. The site is located about 3 hours via road from Metro Manila and features a hilltop topography. The property is bounded by vantage views of Balayan Bay to the East and South views, with a mountain range to the West. Having a lot area of 3 hectares, PK stands in the center of the lot as a pivot for future developments and to benefit its peak vantage of surrounding views.
PK is an acronym for Project Kubo, having the ‘Bahay Kubo’ as the root essence of the Project. ‘Bahay Kubo’ is a type of stilt house indigenous to the Philippines. As a brief description, Bahay Kubo is a thatched roof house lifted in stilts by wood posts. It functions to be lifted to have the base area as the ‘Silong’. This is a utility area traditionally intended to store tools, harvests, and livestock. It also serves as a breathing space to cool the lifted main house, which is called ‘Bulwagan’. The ‘Bulwagan’ is the central space of the house, which offers open and flexible spaces for living and sleeping areas. The house is then topped by a thatched hip roof that cantilevers to the perimeter as a tropical shield.
PK is a contemporary iteration of the Bahay Kubo’s profile. It features a Silong space on the ground level that offers an open-air communal space, the Bulwagan on the second level, and isolating the third floor for the Master Bedroom.
The Silong on the ground level was designed to be a multipurpose space for gatherings of larger groups. It is configured as an open layout, featuring a 9.0-meter-long Iron Wood Table at the center, surrounded by lounge nooks, and the main kitchen as a gallery for social gatherings. At its East and South edges are the pool deck and a firepit courtyard. These extend the communal area of the Silong to its exteriors and are bounded by a lap pool and hot pool on the east end. These spaces and components were composed as a series of experiences upon entry of PK and highlighted the end view of the tension edge pool extending to the sea horizon.
The second level features the Living Area enveloped in operable glazing panels to its North, East, and South views. This space is wrapped with a perimeter deck to allow for vantage points to view the rich scenery of the seaside and mountain range. The perimeter decks are cantilevered platforms that serve as protective eaves for its lower level.
The third level configures the Master Bedroom as a singular interior space and highlights to welcome the sunrise view panning from the sea horizon. It features a wooden Inoki bath to the northeast corner and is enveloped by a Turnable Glazing System from Vitrocsa. These are operable to slide and stack aside, integrating the interior space to the perimeter deck and having a full perception of the third-level plane as an expanded space.
PK is topped by a roof deck space as a scene for intimate open-air gatherings with a Barbecue Bar. As the apex of the structure, it allows for an overall view of the surrounding Calatagan nature.
Designed as a three-level structure with a roof deck, it was built with steel framing to streamline the construction process. Having a seaside orientation, the process involved intensive sandblasting and protective seals of all steel members to prevent corrosion. These levels were cascaded and layered to create a tapering upward profile, simulating a silhouette of a pyramid, as an iconic presence on the site. These cantilevers function as a climatic response in protecting the interior spaces from extreme tropical heat and harsh weather conditions. The overall composition of components of PK House was orchestrated to achieve a porous layering of spaces while fully addressing the tropical climate of the site.
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