GOOD

BUILDING
DESIGN AND
CONSTRUCTIO
In the Philippines
N

Design Principles
To meet
the cultural,
social, and physical
requirements of the residents,
and to provide a safe dwelling
to shelter them from the hazards
that may impact from their environment,
a house must be properly designed.

Design Principles
In order
that the house
provides for all the family
needs, and keeps them and
their loved ones and belongings
safe, the following aspects of a house or
a structure must be considered in the
design:

Design Principles
A safe house must be based on a
strong foundation and therefore this
must be given primary attention.
House structure is like the skeleton
to the body. If it is strong, it protects
the whole house.
Drainage plans are essential to good
house design.

1. FOUNDATION
A safe house must have a strong foundation.

The ground under the building has to

bear the weight of a house.
Is the building built on sand, rock, clay?
Soil for a good foundation that can
carry the weight of a house must be
well drained so that it is dry and not
waterlogged.
Design Principles

1. FOUNDATION
A safe house must have a strong foundation.

Waterlogged soil can become

liquefied in an earthquake.

Design Principles

Example of bad foundations

This house is being built in a swampy,
waterlogged area. As the foundations
and the foundation trench was dug, it
filled with water so the builders
dropped dry sand and cement into it
and then the first row of blocks were
located on top of this mixture. These
foundations in permanently wet soil are
inadequate and will also be weak when
impacted by any external hazard.

Example of bad location

This house is located on a river bed,
close to running water, where it is
very vulnerable to flooding. Not only
the house, but also its contents are
vulnerable to destruction due to
heavy rains. Houses should not be
built in such obviously vulnerable
locations, or if they are, they should
be designed to resist the hazards of
their location.

Example of liquefication
Example of a well built and well
structured house that was not quite
finished when a major hazard struck.
The house was structurally good but
the foundations were poor for this
location. Due to a major earthquake
the foundations suffered from
liquefaction of the ground, and due
to the weight of the house, it
subsided unevenly into the ground.

2. Coherent Structure
If the structure is coherent and strong, it
protects the whole house.
A regular structure
An integrated structural ring beam around
tops of doors and windows connected to
columns
An integrated structural ring beam around
top of walls connected to columns
Triangular gable end walls must be
structurally supported

Design Principles

A regular structured building

This regularly structured building is
able to withstand the impact of
hazards. Notice the structure of
columns and floors which are all
joined to each other in a regular
format. Overhanging parts of the
building are all well supported by
continuous columns to the
foundations.

Good structural design

This illustrates good structural design
principles for a hollow block or brick wall
building with a reinforced concrete
structure. A complete structural frame
around the building is tied in to the
foundation, the walls and the roof
structure. Doors and windows have a
beam over them to carry the weight of the
wall above and to strengthen the columns.
The top of the walls is also tied together
with the columns, by a second reinforced
concrete ring beam, and end walls are

Good structural design

This is a well structured house that follows
all the above design principles. Notice the
good foundation, the good structure
framing the building, and the 2 ring beams
connecting all the building elements at
the top of doors and windows and at the
top of the walls. Gable end walls are also
strengthened with reinforced concrete.

Bad structural practice

This is an example of bad structural
practice. This house has no structural
columns and no ring beams to hold the
structure together. There are no columns
at the corners, or within the walls, and
there are no ring beams at the top of
doors and windows or at the top of the
walls. This building will have little
resistance to being destroyed by any
impact from nature, like an earthquake or
a storm.

Poor Structuring
An example of poor structuring of a house. The
columns are very poor, with concrete poured in
stages after the walls were built up, and the
concrete has not fully covered the steel so that
the reinforcing will rust. The columns are too
small and the steel is too close together. The
concrete was not tamped to ensure good
compaction. Columns should not be made to fit
within the thickness of the wall because there is
not enough room to properly cover the column
reinforcement with concrete. This kind of column
does little to give a house structural strength. It
would have been better to have a proper column

Poor Structuring
Not good structure. Another example of a
house which has too little structure to
brace the walls against lateral forces. This
is a common construction fault with hollow
blocks. Columns are inadequate, too
small, and poorly constructed, and there
should be a reinforced column between
the door and the window. The window and
the door have inadequate structural
support. When the forces of nature strike
this house, it will progressively deteriorate

Good Structural Practice

A good pattern of reinforced concrete
columns and beams to strengthen all
aspects of the building including support
to strengthen the triangular gable end wall
so that it will not fall when a lateral force
strikes the building. All end walls of this
nature need a reinforced column to
strengthen them, or they are liable to fall
when the building is subjected to a major
lateral force. It also has a reinforced
concrete beam to top to all walls.

Connection of wood to concrete

It is essential that a wood frame structure
mounted on a concrete frame/brick stub
wall must be fully anchored together. A
bracket, as shown above left, made of
noncorrodible metal, must be cast into the
bearing structure to provide a structural
connection for the whole wall
through to the foundation. The wood
column must be bolted to the bracket as
shown, and the bracket must be fully
secured into the concrete as shown on the

3. Joining walls to roof

structure
join walls and roof to strengthen each other

Column reinforcement should protrude

from the top of concrete columns and be
bent around roof trusses for structural
strength, or roof trusses should be
strapped with metal ties to the wall
structure.
Exposed metal should be painted with rust
proof paint to prevent corrosion.

Design Principles

Binding roof trusses to

building structure
Roof trusses should be constructed over
columns, and for a concrete column the
reinforcement should protrude at the top
and be bent over roof trusses to join the
roof structure with the wall structure.
Metal straps or plates can be used for this
role, particularly where the building
structure is made of wood.

Good Roofing example

This is an essential detail in areas subject
to
earthquake and to winds, to keep the roof
on the house when a natural hazard
strikes the structure. Such exposed steel
should be painted with rust-proof paint to
minimize corrosion.

Good Roofing example

Steel roof trusses are connected to
columns through welding of truss
members to column reinforcing steel and
purlins are welded with ties to roof
trusses. This will hold the roof firmly on
the house in storms or other hazards from
nature.

Bad Roofing example

The roof structure is good, but no
connection is made between roof trusses
and the building structure. The roof is
resting on the top of the house walls and
is subject to moving with high winds or
other forces of nature.

4. Tying walls to building structure

Walls tied to columns protect them from
falling.

Walls must be tied into the building

structure so that they do not move
separately when the forces of nature
impact them.
Wall ties should be hooked into the
wall structure.
Design Principles

Good Tying Practice

An illustration for a wooden frame
building, where metal ties are used to tie
wall materials to the main structure of the
building. Steel wall ties are to be at a
maximum of 40cm spacing.

Good Tying Practice

A good example of wall ties cast into
columns to connect the walls with the
building structure. Ties are to be at
maximum 40cm spacing from bottom to
top of the wall.

Bad Tying Practice

This is an example of what happens when
walls are not tied to columns. The main
part of this building (2 floors on the left)
withstood the forces of nature striking it,
but the one floor extension collapsed. The
columns could not help resist the force of
nature on the walls of this house extension
because of the lack of ties between the
walls and the columns. The one floor part
also lacked a strong structure.

Bad Tying Practice

Another example of what happens
when the walls are not tied to the
columns. The wall panel on the left is
moving away from the column because it
has not been tied into the column.

5. Roof truss ties

Flexible but strong roof trusses enhance
safety.

The joints of wooden roof trusses need

to be bolted together and tied with
metal straps to provide flexibility but
not collapse under the forces of nature.
Metal roof trusses must be welded
together, welded to purlins, and welded
to wall reinforcement for strength.

Design Principles

Good Tying Practice

This illustration shows the metal straps
tying together the different elements of
the roof structure at this joint in roofing, so
that they will be held together when
affected by extreme forces of nature. A
metal plate may also be used.

Good Tying Practice

This illustration shows a strap or plate
across the joint at the apex of the roof
structure. This is always good jointing
practice. Notice also that for a wooden
roof structure, wooden blocks should be
used for support of purlins, not a single
nail through the purlin into the truss.

Good Roofing Practice

Good roofing practice with metal roof
trusses, where the roof is strongly
connected to the reinforcing in the
wall columns by welding, and the
purlins are welded to the roof trusses
with small brackets to make a strong
roof
structure.

6. Cross bracing of roof and

walls
The walls and roof need bracing against
lateral movement

In order to resist lateral forces, walls

and roof structure need cross bracing
at all levels, particularly if it is a
wooden structure.
This is a major principle in the
construction of traditional houses.
Design Principles

Good Bracing system

Example of a cross bracing system for the
walls, roof, and also for the columns under
the house for a wooden house structure.
The cross bracing system provides
strength against lateral forces so that the
building does not collapse sideways but is
held together. This is a system used in
traditional houses and needs to be
continued in modern houses.

Good Construction Practice

Traditional Batanes houses, which have
stood through many storms and
earthquakes, are well structured and
supported, with good corner columns, and
have good arches over doors and windows
to bear weight down their sides. The solid
stone wall on a good foundation provides
resistance to lateral movement.

AGAIN...

7. DRAINAGE PRINCIPLES
Drainage plans are essential to good housedesign.

A high rainfall area requires a drainage plan for roof

water to a common drain. Levels of the drainage
system need to be included on plans so that rain
water flows away and does not form puddles that
breed insects around houses.
Drains should be covered or bridged where necessary
to allow access over them for people and vehicles.
Drains should have a V form at the bottom to reduce
accumulation of water if levels are incorrect.

Design Principles

8. HOUSE ELEVATION AND

LOCATION
Safeguards house and contents from flooding, landslides,
flashfloods.

The house floor should be elevated above the

surrounding ground level, and extra height is
needed in vulnerable situations such as
locations close to a floodable waterway or a
swampy area, or in a tsunami or wave prone
area near the sea. Extra height is best provided
through stilts.
Houses must be located away from places
subject to landslides where soil may move down
a steep slope, debris flows
where soil
gravel
Design
Principles
and rocks may be washed rapidly down by

Good House Elevation

This house is being built in a low lying
area vulnerable to flooding. Concrete stilts
are being cast on pad footings to raise the
floor level of the house so that it will not
be flooded or subject to dampness.

Good House Locations

Build on a
Build away
ridge not a
from a stream
These illustrate principles
depression
bed for locating
houses
in safer
places so that house and
with
trees
to
contents
will be less likely to suffer
stabilize
slope
Build on a
Build on a
bank above a
riser

disaster.

higher ground
near the sea.

Bad House Locations

Over noncompacted
filled soil

Build in
landslide
areas

Over river
Over
bed or
In flood
sanitary
Examples of places
where it is
irrigation
areas
prone
areas
waste
dangerous In
to volcanic
build and
where
houses may
ditches easily landfill
be
destroyed.