The design of Primavera Residences made use of simulation software such as this, which factors in the path of the sun throughout the entire year as well as wind velocity up to strengths experienced during typhoons. Because of the investment in design, as well as its uptown location of 110 meters above sea level, Primavera Residences is considered a very safe location for a home and business.

Conversations with some of the survivors of the two most disastrous events that occurred last year allowed me to get some insights about the future which is not so defined now with all the sudden changes happening around us.

Climate change – the wrath of nature – is finally showing us its reality.

For the longest of time since I started writing about business in our region, the buzzword had been sustainable. Now we add green, eco-friendly. We ask these of our activities, our engagements, but do we ask this of our homes?

According to Italian Architect Romolo Nati, chief executive officer of ITPI Corp., which pioneers green architecture in the Philippines, people used to be like the animals who construct their homes based on the resources available in their environment and according to the characteristics of their area. This is what their aim is in promoting sustainable real estate development in the Philippines.

Having constructed the first eco-friendly building in Mindanao, Mr. Nati explained that with proper planning, construction and maintenance costs of buildings could go down. More importantly, these buildings could withstand extreme weather conditions because they are precisely built to perform during these natural hazards.

Consequently, ITPI  has strategically decided to invest more on design, and on the needed software, to be able to strategize their constructions.

Through the software, designers of ITPI can easily input data to do shadow projections of buildings considering the path of the sun throughout the entire year, for example. The positioning of the buildings can also be maximized to increase or decrease wind velocity in anticipation of the strong typhoons now expected to batter the country. Even the number and size of blinds that they would need to cool a room can be computed through the software.

I remember some survivors of Typhoon Yolanda sharing how their entire roofs were lifted off by the powerful wind. They narrated how they saw their neighbors’ houses tossed around to finally be dashed to pieces. Structures they once thought were safe – schools, churches, government buildings – were similarly battered, adding to their confusion and fear.

I could not help but think that it could have been us after all. With typhoons now passing through Northern Mindanao, it could easily have been us. And the million-dollar question is: am I – are we – ready? We don’t only act when the problem is already there – we plan. We strategize.

The developers of Primavera Residences were cited by National Geographic this year as New Philippine Business Leaders, primarily because of the international recognition given to its best-in-class passive cooling design and other sustainable architecture features.

The condo building is ready for occupancy. No need to wait years to move in or set up your business. To find out how to invest in Primavera Residences, click here.

Ms. Primavera 2013 Tia Alde inside one of the units at Primavera Residences, an internationally awarded green building in Cagayan de Oro

Although cities are only 2% of the entire world’s land area, most of the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming are from these urban concentrations. But of course, it would be this scenario because after all, the industries are in the cities, you would say. But there’s more to that.

Lured by the promise of urban economic growth, migration to the cities from the rural areas is increasing. By 2030, it is estimated that more than half of the world’s population will be living in this small space.

As a result of this, there is a large boost to real estate development. From the horizontal expanses of countryside lawns, people are living in now vertical buildings that try to put in as many persons as possible in as little ground space as possible. Many of these structures, unfortunately, were built just for the convenience of the occupants – not mindful of the environment they were built on. As a consequence, buildings located in hot areas compensate for the heat with several air conditioners. Buildings in perpetual darkness compensate with electric lights. So here are your great greenhouse gases emitters. And that’s on top of the industrial activities.

What can be done about this?

Well, there is the rise of green architecture in the Philippines, for one. As the need for eco-friendly architecture in the country is identified, design companies have started to look at the prospect of sustainable real estate development. What is sustainable? It is something both economical and will be able to weather the years.

In the first eco-friendly building in Mindanao built by ItalPinas, the designers made sure that the buildings were in harmony with the environment they were built in. Ventilation relied on the natural flow of air – air tunnels and a hollow center allow for a breezy interior, giving its residents the option not to use air conditioners.

The same designers also are envisioning to create an urban space that not only harmonizes with nature but actually copy the design of nature pretty much like how inventors had modeled the plane after the bird. Structures will be designed so that they will not be resisting the dynamisms of nature but will be able to adapt to the forces that would attempt to batter them.

While the buildings might not be as grandiose as those developments patterned after Italian villas or French palaces, what these buildings promise is their reliable performance.

And it is actually what urban centers need – buildings that will weather the thick and thin just like the determination of their occupants.

Do you know that Cag de Oro has one of the foremost examples of green architecture in the Philippines? Find out more by clicking this link.

Many cities are now vulnerable to flooding because of climate change. Cagayan de Oro City itself has experienced extreme weather conditions. How do we prepare or adapt to climate change?

We then thought traveling in the rain was romantic. Our group had just finished a photo shoot in the province of Bukidnon and was cruising down to Puerto. Cut off from the rest of the world for five days enjoying the serenity of the less explored nature of the mountainous province, we were shocked by what nature’s different temperament had wrought on our beloved city. During our absence, the incessant rains, the drops looking harmful and whimsical on our windshield, had slowly submerged the city.

Although Cagayan de Oro and other Philippine cities are not among the top 20 cities vulnerable to flooding in the list released by Nature Climate Change, what we have been through is quite easy proof that a watery future is not too impossible.

The Macajalar Bay on the north and at least two large rivers passing through the city, this is the reality of Cagayan de Oro. The more intense rains – and for the first time, the passage of storms – brought on by climate change were probably not anticipated when the city was developing and now it is caught in a complex of structures vulnerable to the natural disasters.

As what multi-awarded Italian architect Romolo Nati, a lead mover of eco-friendly architecture in the Philippines and developer of the Primavera Residences, the first eco-building in Mindanao, said, there is now a need to build structures that are in harmony with nature. Buildings properly designed can actually withstand nature’s wrath by going with the flow instead of counteracting the forces – pretty much like the pliant bamboo versus the sturdy molave in the classic Philippine literature. While the swaying bamboo is able to recover after a strong wind, the resisting molave is uprooted.

Urban planning has to come hand in hand with innovative architectural designs so that the entire structure and flow of the city is harmonized. One eco-friendly initiative addressing one aspect of climate change is not enough because everything is interrelated.

Click this link to know more about the safest place in Cagayan de Oro.