Ode to Earth: Inside the family farmhouse of the architect Gelo Mañosa in Calatagan

According to the architect, he did two experiments in designing this residence. One is the wind-catcher attached to the primary bedroom, which looks like an ordinary door at first glance. The air that comes through this narrow door flows through a 15-metre tunnel beneath the earth mass, which cools the air and then funnels it into the primary bedroom. “By the time it comes into the house, the temperature has already dropped by about two degrees,” he says. This mechanism substantially minimises the use of air-conditioners.

The second experiment is another pod a few metres from the primary bedroom.  “This one, the entire structure is covered in earth. So it keeps the rooms cool when it’s cold, and warm when it’s warm,” he elaborates. “So when we close up the house for weeks, daylight bounces into the rooms.” The “indirect radiation” from the daylight keeps the temperature inside the room warm. “Then when we return, we open it up and run the air conditioner one night, and then the next day, it stays cold.”

To implement his architectural experiments, Gelo Mañosa and his team had to reshape the land, leveling a section and strategically moving soil to form a broad mound toward the back of the property. This mound served as an unconventional roof for the casitas and cleverly doubled as a natural privacy barrier. Around the property, Gelo and his team placed plants and trees that were endemic to the area. “We did the landscape over time. It did not happen overnight. If we did it instantly, we would have spent millions buying plants. So we started propagating [plants] at the farm at the back [of the property],” Gelo says. The elevated soil also protects the entire house from strong winds and typhoons.

Unlike many sustainable houses, the Mañosas’ weekend home does not use solar panels for electricity. “It’s not a primary home, so investing in solar power didn’t make sense. If you’re using it as a primary home, then yes. But if you come here just once or twice a month, it’s not practical,” he explains. He adds that electricity cost is not the primary issue in the area, but the quality of electricity. “The [power supplier] gives us dirty electricity all the time. Here, electricity fluctuates from 180 up to 260 watts and so the appliances get busted easily.” To address this, he invested in a centralised automatic voltage regulator, which provides the entire property with clean, consistent power. 

In contrast with the Mañosas’ place in Manila, which uses a rain harvesting system to recycle water and salt-chlorinated water for the swimming pool, the Calatagan home uses filtered deepwell water to keep wild animals away from the pool. “[With salt-chlorinated water] it becomes a watering hole for every lizard, snake and frog because it’s water that they can use. The salt is not strong enough to make the water undrinkable for them. So [if we use salt-chlorinated water] we’ll get every critter you can think of, bayawak, rats, snakes, even migratory birds–they’ll all come here because it’s a watering hole. 

The Mañosas also love the idea of recycling, as seen in using refreshed furniture pieces from Amanpulo. While constructing the farmhouse, they were concurrently redesigning the luxury island resort in Palawan, which was discarding much of their furniture. So Gelo Mañosa thought, why not keep some and refurbish them “to give it a second life”? And so they did. The refurbished beds, headboards and nightstands found their second home in the Mañosas’ primary and guest casitas, with some tweaks to fit the space. 

But more than being sustainable, the living space is first and foremost a home. Each spot is carefully planned to suit the lifestyle and activities of the family, and to keep mementoes he got from his parents’ house. On the walls of the sitting room, for instance, hangs signed scale models of some of his late father’s iconic projects: the Balara pool house, Pearl Farm Beach Resort in Samal, the Coconut Palace, and his father’s own home. Above them is a taxidermy of a huge tamaraw that former Manila Mayor Tomás Earnshaw gifted to the older Mañosa. Generous plush seating allows the family to gather together.

On the second floor is a game and mini gym area, which becomes an extra sleeping space when guests visit. Like the rest of the house, the second level has a high-vaulted ceiling and windows designed with a stack effect to help cool air come in and push hot air out.

The couple also loves cooking and entertaining, so a working kitchen is essential. “I only have one kitchen [here], a functional one,” he says, showing the simple kitchen cabinets made of thick plywood with coconut inlay and solihiya accents. Local marble was used for the countertop. “I did not do any kitchen cabinet systems for this place because, if it gets damaged, we’re in Calatagan, it’s easy to repair.” Adjacent to the kitchen is an eight-seater dining area adorned with pieces from Mindanao such as the two Panulong salvaged from the debris of a devastated house in Marawi.

The pool deck is designed so guests can opt to lounge by the couches or enjoy merienda cena al fresco, while the others can dip in the pool or enjoy cocktails by the poolside. There is a provision for a bar and grill set-up perfect for cosy barbecue nights. Beyond the pool area is a slope going up to an empty grassland initially used to feed the farm animals, including a horse, which Gelo sold a few weeks before the interview. “That’s big enough to be a football field for our son, but now my wife wants to make it a pickleball area,” he says. 

For a seasoned architect like Gelo, it is easy to think that building a sustainable home like this is effortless. However, he emphasised that like his other projects, constructing and designing their personal space is not one without a challenge, especially that it is located outside of Metro Manila. “You’ve got quality assurance issues because skilled labour is very short. You’ve got delivery issues,” he says. And because delivery costs are pricier, everything needed to build the house exponentially becomes more expensive.

Another problem they encountered was that the water supply in Calatagan is predominantly brackish, which means it cannot be used to mix high-quality, strong concrete. “We had to bring in our water during construction,” Gelo says. The property also suffers from multiple cracks caused by the earthquakes caused by the Central Mindoro Fault, which have become more frequent lately. 

“Building a home in Metro Manila and outside of it are completely different. You must have local knowledge on things you can or cannot do…You always need redundancies. You need a backup to the backup,” Gelo avers. While the Mañosas feel content and happy with how their farmhouse turned out, the architect thinks there’s still a lot of work to be done, including creating a yoga retreat. “I’ve been toying around with that idea because Kat is a yoga teacher,” he says. The home was a labour of love, built slowly over years. Now, the Mañosas want to create memories with their loved ones, and revel in the stillness of time in the countryside. For them, there’s no rush. 

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