Oceanside Home, Cebu, Cebu Island, Philippines

Residential · Oceanside

Cebu Island. An oceanside house, built to face the storms.

A couple on Cebu Island in the Philippines had followed our work on social media for years before they called. The result is an open, energy-efficient family home facing the ocean, engineered for earthquakes and typhoons.

See the photos Talk to the architects

Oceanside Home, CebuCebu Island, Philippines

Cebu IslandOceanside, Philippines
21 kWSolar array on the roof
Triple-glazedEuropean windows
Seismic + typhoonStructural upgrades

A call from across the Pacific. A wish list with room for everyone.

The wish list was generous: an open plan with a double-height living area, a dining room, a formal kitchen and a so-called dirty kitchen for the hard work. Each owner wanted a home office. Upstairs, a principal bedroom suite and a gym in the gallery. And a guest bedroom and even a photo studio.

The house also had to stay cool in the tropical heat, so the design started with the building envelope and the systems that keep the inside comfortable.

Custom home design
Energy-efficient envelope
Whole-house ventilation
Seismic design
Typhoon resistance
Solar

The garden side, facing the ocean

The project

Open to the ocean, closed to the heat.

The double-height living room opens to the gallery above and to the ocean beyond. Triple-glazed European windows and an EIFS stucco system keep the blistering heat outside.

A whole-house ventilation system with dehumidification, a UV pollen filter and air conditioning creates a comfortable indoor climate all year.

Location: Cebu Island, Philippines
Program: Double-height living, two offices, gym, photo studio
Envelope: Triple-glazed windows, EIFS stucco
Energy: 21 kW solar array

See every photo

Living room with a view to the ocean — Ocean view from the living room.

Living room with gallery above — Living room with gallery

Kitchen facing the ocean — Kitchen with a view

Reinforced concrete frame during construction — Concrete frame going up

The design and construction team on site — The team on site

Detail · Structure

Built on the ring of fire, engineered for what comes with it.

The site sits on the Pacific “ring of fire,” so the house is exposed to earthquakes as well as very destructive typhoons. Both required significant structural upgrades, visible here in the reinforced concrete frame going up.

We followed the project from an empty lot by the sea through construction, working with the local team on site.