Marvin Tolete Architects

27/09/2026

🚨✨ Final Day to Vote

Today is the last day to vote for our project in the NCCA Haligi ng Dangal Awards 2026 People’s Choice Award If you haven’t voted yet, we would truly appreciate your support. One email is equivalent to one vote. Thank you to everyone who has supported, shared, and voted 🙏

Project Description:

The project is a family home designed for a young couple working abroad who wanted to
build their dream house on their newly bought property. Intended as a place to relax whenever they return to the Philippines, the home also provides a comfortable environment where their growing family can live, play, and create lasting memories.

Since the site is prone to flooding, the house is elevated to a safe level for protection.
Inspired by the traditional bahay kubo, the design emphasizes efficient planning, ensuring that no space is wasted. Its steeply pitched roof, influenced by both the bahay kubo and bahay na bato, eliminates the need for gutters and downspouts, allowing rainwater to drain naturally while reducing maintenance and extending the lifespan of the galvanized roofing.

The design prioritizes thermal comfort through passive cooling strategies. Wide roof overhangs shade the walls, while bedrooms are positioned away from direct afternoon sun. A six-meter-high living area, together with stairs and corridors, helps disperse accumulated heat. Louvered roof openings create natural ventilation within the roof cavity, reducing heat transfer to the interior. Cross-ventilation and strategically placed windows maximize airflow and daylight, minimizing the need for artificial lighting, while energy-efficient LED fixtures reduce power consumption.

Despite its compact 125-square-meter interior, the house accommodates four bedrooms, three toilet and baths, a double-height living area, dining space, kitchen with island and pantry, storage, and a service kitchen that also functions as a laundry area. Built-in wardrobes inspired by Marie Kondo's organization principles maximize storage efficiency.

A restrained monochromatic palette, balanced proportions, and surrounding greenery create a timeless appearance that highlights the people living within. With an avant-garde design, the architecture looks beyond the present—embracing a vision that moves confidently toward the future. More than a house, the project is a resilient, climate-responsive home designed to provide comfort, functionality, and meaningful family experiences for years to come.

24/09/2026

🛖📥 3 Steps to Vote for Nipa Hut 2.0

We are honored to have Nipa Hut 2.0 included in the NCCA Haligi ng Dangal Awards 2026 People’s Choice Awards. You may cast your vote to our project until Sept. 27, 2026, at 12 midnight. One email per vote. Your 1 vote would be highly appreciated and would mean so much to us.

Please vote and share 🙏

QR/ Google forms link for Level 2 Voting in comment section ⬇️

21/09/2026

🚧 CONSTRUCTION UPDATE

Project: Bioco House
Location: Umingan, Pangasinan
Floor area: 343 Sq. m.
Description: Plastering, Concreting, Painting works, and Ceiling works

18/09/2026

📣🥇 We are honored to announce that our project Nipa Hut 2.0 has been nominated for the NCCA Haligi ng Dangal 2026 People’s Choice Award. Mabuhay ang Arkitekturang Pilipino! 🇵🇭

Support by liking our project here:
https://www.facebook.com/share/1DizwUYU9w/?mibextid=wwXIfr

16/09/2026

🏆🎉 We are glad to announce that our project Nipa Hut 2.0 has been nominated for the NCCA Haligi ng Dangal 2026 People’s Choice Award. Please tap the photo and hit LIKE to cast your vote. Salamat at mabuhay ang arkitekturang Pilipino! 🇵🇭

Project Description:

The project is a family home designed for a young couple working abroad who wanted to
build their dream house on their newly bought property. Intended as a place to relax whenever they return to the Philippines, the home also provides a comfortable environment where their growing family can live, play, and create lasting memories.

Since the site is prone to flooding, the house is elevated to a safe level for protection.
Inspired by the traditional bahay kubo, the design emphasizes efficient planning, ensuring that no space is wasted. Its steeply pitched roof, influenced by both the bahay kubo and bahay na bato, eliminates the need for gutters and downspouts, allowing rainwater to drain naturally while reducing maintenance and extending the lifespan of the galvanized roofing.

The design prioritizes thermal comfort through passive cooling strategies. Wide roof overhangs shade the walls, while bedrooms are positioned away from direct afternoon sun. A six-meter-high living area, together with stairs and corridors, helps disperse accumulated heat. Louvered roof openings create natural ventilation within the roof cavity, reducing heat transfer to the interior. Cross-ventilation and strategically placed windows maximize airflow and daylight, minimizing the need for artificial lighting, while energy-efficient LED fixtures reduce power consumption.

Despite its compact 125-square-meter interior, the house accommodates four bedrooms, three toilet and baths, a double-height living area, dining space, kitchen with island and pantry, storage, and a service kitchen that also functions as a laundry area. Built-in wardrobes inspired by Marie Kondo's organization principles maximize storage efficiency.

A restrained monochromatic palette, balanced proportions, and surrounding greenery create a timeless appearance that highlights the people living within. With an avant-garde design, the architecture looks beyond the present—embracing a vision that moves confidently toward the future. More than a house, the project is a resilient, climate-responsive home designed to provide comfort, functionality, and meaningful family experiences for years to come.

AR-008: Nipa Hut 2.0

15/09/2026

🏢🧰 Commercial Zoning Classification

Commercial zoning classification refers to the designation of land primarily intended for business, trade, and commercial activities, such as retail stores, offices, restaurants, banks, hotels, and other establishments that provide goods or services to the public. In general, commercial zones may include different classifications based on the type, scale, and intensity of commercial use permitted, ranging from small neighborhood businesses to larger commercial centers and mixed-use developments.

📘⚖️ National Building Code: Simplified & Illustrated

14/09/2026

📎⭕️ Clip House: An Elevated and Sustainable Home

This architectural concept presents a modern elevated residence designed to combine contemporary aesthetics, sustainability, and resilience. Inspired by clean geometric forms and minimalist architecture, the home features a distinctive curved façade balanced with expansive glass walls that maximize natural light and create a seamless connection between indoor and outdoor spaces.

The residence is elevated above ground level to enhance protection against flooding, making it well-suited for tropical environments. A rooftop water tank ensures a reliable water supply while maintaining a clean architectural profile. The ceramic-coated roof helps reduce heat absorption, improving energy efficiency and indoor thermal comfort throughout the day.

One of the home’s defining features is its viewing deck, strategically oriented toward the surrounding mountain landscape. The building’s orientation also responds to the natural movement of the sun, allowing residents to enjoy breathtaking sunrises from the east and colorful sunsets to the west. Large overhangs provide shade to glazed areas, minimizing solar heat gain while maintaining panoramic views.

The site is enhanced by lush tropical landscaping, including mature palm trees and ornamental greenery that soften the modern architecture while contributing to a cooler microclimate. Secure perimeter walls, controlled gate access, and a comprehensive security system ensure privacy and safety without compromising the visual appeal of the property.

Designed with a low-maintenance philosophy, the residence incorporates durable materials, efficient planning, and sustainable design strategies. The combination of passive cooling, natural daylighting, elevated construction, and environmentally conscious features reflects a commitment to resilient and responsible architecture.

Overall, this project demonstrates how modern residential design can successfully integrate functionality, sustainability, climate responsiveness, and timeless architectural elegance, creating a home that is both visually iconic and highly practical for contemporary living.

🫟🎨 Conceptual Design

12/09/2026

🔎🏠 Residential Zoning Classification

Residential zoning classification refers to the designation of an area primarily intended for housing and other uses that are compatible with residential communities. It regulates the type, density, size, and character of buildings and developments permitted within the zone, with the aim of providing a safe, orderly, and suitable environment for residents. Depending on the specific zoning classification, permitted developments may include single-family homes, duplexes, multi-family residences, and other neighborhood-supporting uses, subject to applicable setbacks, building height, lot occupancy, parking, open-space, and other zoning and building regulations.

📘⚖️ National Building Code: Simplified & Illustrated

11/09/2026

🏕️🧭 Location of Property

No building shall be constructed unless at least one of its sides directly adjoins or has clear and accessible connection to a public space, yard, or street.

📘⚖️ National Building Code: Simplified & Illustrated

11/09/2026

🛝🌳 Parks not malls

RESEARCH | The rapid urbanization and domination of concrete landscapes in cities diminish children’s access to natural environments and traditional outdoor play. These sedentary and technology-driven activities raise concerns about the potential consequences for child development.

This study aims to explore the lived experiences of teachers in a child development center (CDC) in implementing nature-based play (NBP) and how urbanization and decreasing green spaces in developing countries impact NBP. Using multiple case studies in the Philippines, the study interviewed teachers from a child development laboratory and applied narrative analysis.

Results showed that the teachers perceived NBP as a form of play that happens in the natural environment, involves natural elements, is unstructured, and aids in learning. Moreover, NBP is accorded a crucial role in all domains of early childhood development, including physical activity, cognitive learning, as well as social and emotional development. However, weather disturbances, safety concerns, increasing teacher workloads, and the expansion of urban infrastructure reduce natural and green spaces and challenge NBP implementation.

Findings provide recommendations for more inclusive development by incorporating green spaces in urban planning and design, as well as community participation in NBP for more holistic and resilient child development.

Authors: Hannah Raven S. Gutierrez (Department of Human and Family Development Studies, College of Human Ecology, University of the Philippines Los Baños), Juliana Selina A. Agoncillo (Department of Human and Family Development Studies, College of Human Ecology, University of the Philippines Los Baños), Trisha Mae U. Catapang (Department of Human and Family Development Studies, College of Human Ecology, University of the Philippines Los Baños), and Casper Boongaling Agaton (Department of Community and Environmental Resource Planning, College of Human Ecology, University of the Philippines Los Baños)

Published in the Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education

Read more: https://ovpaa.up.edu.ph/research/nature-based-play-offers-a-holistic-approach-to-child-development-but-faces-barriers-such-as-reduced-green-spaces-in-urban-areas/