A Children’s Home for Bohol
Engineering Good is supporting Little Heroes’ Dreams to establish a children’s home for 50 orphaned and abandoned children in Bohol (Philippines). The running costs of the home will be funded by income generated from a private school for 400 students and a mix of commercial establishments, such as an eco-hotel, restaurant and organic community garden.
In October 2013, Bohol was devastated by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake. The former Ancillae Christi School, run by the local organisation Handmaids of Christ the King, was badly affected and had to be closed. Several other natural disasters have struck Bohol since, and will continue doing so in the future. This is the challenging environment that they face.
Little Heroes’ Dreams has partnered with the Handmaids of Christ the King with the aim of supporting these children in need. Together, we are implementing a new children’s home, school and commercial facilities. By plowing back the revenues from the school and commercial facilities into the running of the children's home, we aim to pilot a model that will be able to sustainably support the orphaned and abandoned children. This is our core objective.
As architects and engineers, we understand that to meet the project objectives in this challenging environment requires an appropriate solution. This must be tailored to the local conditions, and be resilient and responsive to the environment. We are committed to improve the lives of these children by creating a place where they are able to lead lives of dignity and opportunity.
We are leading the architectural and engineering design, construction planning, and implementation of the facilities. This includes a children’s home, school, eco-hotel, restaurant and supporting services. Construction of these facilities will start from late 2017 on a plot of land of around 5,000 m2.
We are translating Little Heroes’ Dreams vision into an optimum development from a holistic point of view. To achieve this successfully, the team is following a set of design paradigms and sustainability strategies.
In August 2016, we visited Bohol to get a direct understanding of the local conditions, existing construction practices, and community views and aspirations towards the project. Among other activities, we conducted a participatory design workshop, involving the sisters who will be running the project, local teachers, and community members. We also assessed potential sites for the project, considering their suitability in terms of earthquake and flooding related risks, soil conditions, available area, location and land price. Read more about our visit here!
In February 2017, we visited one of the children’s homes currently supported by LHD in Antipolo and one of our implementation partner BASE's current projects in Payatas. This visit helped us to establish the project requirements and understand better BASE’s bamboo based system.
With all this, the concept design is on-going. See our concept sketches below:
Who is making this possible?
Our team of committed volunteers hail from a wide range of backgrounds in terms of skills and origin.
Project consortium
How can I help?
Whether you are in Singapore, Philippines or anywhere in the world, if you would like to volunteer with us we have an opportunity for you. Visit our volunteer openings here, or contact us directly letting us know how you would like to help.
If you wish to support the project you can make a donation.
Are you the hands-on type? Is your organisation wondering what to do for a meaningful team building event? We are organising trips to the sites for you to collaborate with us on the construction. Contact us if you would like to find out more or make an exclusive trip.
If your company is interested to sponsor part of the project, get in touch with us at partnerships@EngineeringGood.org.