In the midst of the city’s reconstruction after the disaster, I traveled to Tacloban to assess a building that could be renovated into a refuge in the event of future storms. This was my first time walking through the aftermath of a deadly natural disaster and witnessing its effects in person. I experienced a paradoxical mix of heartbreak and awe as I heard the harrowing stories of local survivors. “The flood came all the way up to the second floor of this house” recalled my friend and local resident Fortune Remigio. What a life-changing experience, enduring the raging wind and rushing waters of a typhoon. I was inspired to help in any way I could, so in partnership with local humanitarians, I co-designed a space that would accommodate church gatherings, living quarters, and emergency shelter when the next typhoon came.

Within a year of completing the design, the local community came together to construct a new gathering space and refuge that was comfortable, healthy, and structurally sound. I had to go back home to the US to finish my studies, but a few years later I returned to the site of the building that I had designed. It was still there and strong as ever. I came to find that it had stood the test of multiple typhoons since the one in 2013 and kept people safe in times of crisis. Returning to the Philippines after ongoing disasters awakened my fixation on the concept of resilience and the built environment. When communities come together to find local solutions to challenging situations, the genius of sustainable architecture knows no bounds.