Bahay sa Buhay [from house to life]

Bahay sa Buhay is Tagalog for "from house to life." Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, is known for its poverty, with 85,000 families across the city categorized as squatters; those who build provisional homes and communities for themselves on land that they do not own. These informal settlements cause land-use problems for the city, uncontrolled public waste, water contamination, flooding, disease, traffic obstruction, and other issues. Yet these squatters are industrious, positive, and deserve shelter as much as anyone. Payatas, a community in northeast Manila, epitomizes the implications of squatting. Characterized by the 40 meter (130 ft) garbage dump that its residents live and work on, earning about 100 pesos ($2) a day if they are lucky, the need for proper housing and infrastructure for this settlement is dire and palpable. Due to the fact that standard urban housing models do not respond well to the particular needs of site and culture, this thesis seeks to discover a new vocabulary to more effectively house the world''s poor.