FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE AND FINE ARTS

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE AND ARCHITECTURE
Nicanor Reyes Sr. St., Sampaloc, Manila, Sampaloc

DESIGN 842

A RESEARCH PAPER ABOUT

HIGH-RISE RESIDENTIAL MIX-USE DEVELOPMENT

ATIENZA, JOHN JERONE R.

2015737891

TO BE SUBMITTED TO

AR.

FEBRUARY 1, 2019
 I. BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT

A. Defining a High-rise Structure

A building is an enclosed structure that has walls, floors, a roof, and
usually windows. “A tall building’ is a multi-story structure in which most
occupants depend on elevators [lifts] to reach their destinations. The
most prominent tall buildings are called ‘high-rise buildings ’in most
countries and ‘tower blocks’ in Britain and some European countries.
The terms do not have internationally agreed definitions.”1

In a basic context, high-rise building is generally defined as one that is

taller than the maximum height which people are willing to climb by using
mechanical vertical transportation2. Due to its soaring vertical form it thus
rather have a limited range of building function or uses it commonly being
used as residential apartments, hotels and office buildings. A type that
has recently appeared is the mixed-use building wherein it contains
varying amounts of residential, office, hotel or commercial space. High-
rise structure are among the largest built and their unit costs are
relatively high. Spaces like office building or commercial space requires
a high degree of flexibility. The International Conference on Fire Safety
in High-Rise building defined High-Rise as “Any structures where the
height can have a serious impact on evacuation”. In general high-rise
structure is considered to be the one that extends higher than the
maximum reach of available fire-fighting equipment.
B. History
In history, the names for high-rise building have always combined a kind
of admiration and reverence for magnitude of the feat with a kind fear
about the threat to human values implicit in operating on so large scale.
According to the Old Testament, after the flood, people water to make a

1
Challinger D. From the Ground Up: Security for Tall Buildings CRISP Report. Alexandria, VA: ASIS
Foundation Research Council; 2008:4.
2
As stated din Britannica.com, High rise Building, January 2015
 name for themselves by building a city called Babel with a tower soaring
high reaching into the heaven but never completed because of the
confusion in language, that they may not understand one another’s’
speech. The word skyscraper is an exaggerated term design to
communicate people’s awe and excitement about tall buildings. In
reality, its meaning has been change as time pass by. In 1890s building
of ten stories more than qualified as a skyscraper, but today the word is
rarely used in a building of 50 stories.

Throughout the history, tall structures were built across the earth
examples are the pyramids and towers, castles and cathedrals but it was
not until the end of 19th century skyscraper has been introduced. More
than 150 years ago, cities look and feel different from today. Buildings
that housed people and their businesses were rarely over the height of
a flag-pole.3

C. Basic Concept of a High-rise Building

Top

The tops of Tall Buildings, including upper floors and roof-top mechanical
or telecommunications equipment,signage and amenity space, should
be design, primarily massing and articulation, and secondarily through
materials,to create an integrated and appropriate conclusion to the tall
building form.

Middle

The location, Scale, and Orientation distances of the middle (tower) affect sky
view, privacy, wind, and the amount of sunlight and shadows that reach the
public realm and neighbouring properties. The design and placement of the
tower should effectively resolve these matters to ensure that a tall building
minimizes its impact on surrounding streets, parks, public and private open
space, as well as existing or future buildings on adjacent sites. Tower

3
New York: MetroBooks, Michael Friedman Publishing Group; 1999:II).
 placement and design also plays an important role in meeting sustainability
objectives.

Base

The role of the base building is to frame the public realm, articulate entrances,
and assist in the creation of an attractive and animated public realm which
provides a safe, interesting, and comfortable pedestrian experience. The base
building should define and support adjacent streets, parks and open space at
an appropriate scale, integrate with adjacent streetwall buildings, assist to
achieve transition down to lower scale buildings, and minimize the impact of
parking and servicing to public realm

II. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Too many people. Too little space 4 The Philippines has one of the
fastest growing population in Southeast Asia. From having 50 million
inhabitants ion 1980, the Philippines today is home to around ninety
million people in Manila only. Living place is becoming increasingly
saturated. This overcrowding is causing a range of problems such as
traffic. The poorly planned road layout of manila has been a problem
over a decade. Too much people are using private vehicles that the road
can’t keep up. With every passing second, there are more and more of
us. By the year 2050, the global population is expected to pass nine
billion people. In the Philippines, they are already running out of space.
The capital of Manila is one of the largest and most densely populated
cities in the world.5

The rapidly rising numbers raise concern on the overpopulation

problems in the Philippines, as this issue further strains already limited
resources, including the necessities of food and shelter.

4
Prospektophoto.net, Over Population: Mads Nissen (2006) (http://www.prospektphoto.net/stories/mads-nissen-
overpopulation-in-manila/)
5
The world’s overpopulation is a growing and complex problem. But for the residents of Manila the result is
quite simple. They are running out of space. Families live in home-made shacks built in cemeteries, or between
railroad tracks or under bridges. (stated by the Guardian; 2010; A warning against overpopulation)
One of the more economical and sustainable solution that were
proposed to solve overpopulation was to the creation of the vertical
cities. This is not only refers to residential properties but building spaces
that also incorporate retail, leisure, office, education, medical and
possibility of government services. The proposal for vertical cities looks
to help the reduction of pollution, easing traffic and providing better
resource management.

Going Vertical

Living horizontal spaces covers a wider area compared to living in

vertical spaces. To illustrate, a 250-square-meter lot may house one or
two families, but a 1,000-sqaure–meter lot where a condominium is built
will not only have four times the number of families, but rather that figure
multiplied by the number of stories that will be reserve for residential
purposes. Vertical developments will maximize each square meter of
each floor of a condominium, with multiple units per floor while also
offering space for common areas. Without the gardens or garages that
take up space in house and lot units, more individuals and families will
be able to occupy the space.

Condominium into Vertical Cities

In transforming the condominiums into a city with the inclusion of other

urban necessities in the space, such as retail shops, restaurants and
medical establishments. Complete vertical cities will reduce the need for
residents to go and travel in a certain distance to get to where they need
to go, reducing traffic and the number of pollution-causing vehicles on
the road.
 Vertical cities, ideally, will have linked structures to minimize the need
for a road network within the community. Mobility will be happening
above, an engineering challenge that has attracted the attention of the
best minds in the industry.

The Vertical Challenges

The challenges these super-tall building face are plentiful, requiring

enormous financial resources, sophisticated engineering skills, a
consolidated will amount all parties involved to make it happen and final
people willing to work, live, use and pay for them on a daily basis. 6 The
sheer size of such projects calls for the right mix of functions that can be
economically viable within such a structure, while the overall efficiency
of the building suffers from a large core of the building suffers from a
large core necessary to provide sufficient space for vertical
transportation/. Traditionally, the elevators needed to whisk us to the top
of our towers require heavy cables to work properly; something which
adds considerable to the building’s weight.

The sheer size of these projects, both in terms of floor space and the
many thousands of people using them each day, pushing them further
away from being seen as building and towards territories; city with a city,
a vertical city.

Hotels and apartments at high location within the building provide

magnificent views, but proximity to the ground has its logistic advantages
too. Consequently hotels and residential units can be found booth at high
and low segments. Subway station allow retail and other commercial
elements to find their place in the basement and first few levels above
ground, typically within a podium structure.

6
BBC: Story; Are we on the brink of the first mile-high building? Written by Andre Schimidt (October 11,
2013)
III. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The United Nations estimates that 55 percent of the world’s population

will be living in the cities by the year 2018, with more individuals and
families coming in from rural areas. The figures is expected to grow to
68 percent by 2050, with 90 percent of the increase happening in Asia
and Africa. The Philippines will likely to follow this trend. Mega manila,
which includes Metro Manila and the surrounding regions of Central
Luzon, CALABARZON, and parts of MIMAROPA, was estimated to
home to 38 percent of the country’s population back in 2010. The
percentage is widely believed to be much higher by now, and it will keep
rising as people seek the opportunities and conveniences of living
developed cities.

Vertical Cities will open up land for to other purposes, such a food
production and will minimize the need to create new roads to prepare for
the impending urban sprawl. However, the higher population density, or
the number of people within a square meter, should still be balanced with
a humane way of living. The purpose of creating vertical cities is to create
spaces where individual and families may comfortably live, so residential
units should not be cramped. Vertical cities should also still encourage
human interaction through the areas that will allow people to congregate
and socialize with one another, lastly, vertical cities should also promote
business opportunities, while providing a chance to appreciate culture
and arts.

The shortage of living areas in the Philippines, particularly in Manila, is

one of the symptoms of overpopulation. Establishing vertical cities may
prove to be one of the most effective ways of allowing more people to
share living spaces within smaller pieces of land, but it will not solve the
overpopulation issue on its own. Poverty has been seen as one of the
 results of overpopulation, but it is being argued that poverty is actually
the cause for the social problem. Some say that overpopulation is
stretching the country’s resources too thin so not everyone is able to live
comfortably and fall into poverty, while some say that poverty is leaving
families with no choice but to procreate and hope for a better future.
While the debate rages on from either side, both issues are becoming
even more prevalent in the Philippines. In any case, the truth is that the
issue of overpopulation will not simply go away with the creation of more
vertical cities. It will help, but such projects will require the support of
various sectors of the government and the community in the bid to silver
the overpopulation problem.

IV. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

In the journal published written by Jiuanlei Niu name Energy and Building
(Volume 36, Issue 12, December 2004, Pages 1259-1263)

“Almost in all the major cities in Asian countries, residential buildings

are characterized with high-rise and high density. Under this
circumstance, achieving comfortable and healthy indoor environment
with minimized energy consumption becomes a very challenging
engineering and societal issue. While the wide use of air-conditioning
helped to improve thermal comfort, health problems associated with
poor indoor air qualities have appeared more frequently. The increased
energy consumption is also a great concern in view of its impact on the
energy economics of the region.”

Drawn from some of the onsite measurements and surveys, and also the
author’s personal observation, some of the key issues are discussed in
his paper.

Asian Countries have higher population density, Coupled with rapid

economic development and urbanization in the past two decades, high
 rise residential building appear over the horizon as rapidly as
mushrooms after a rain. He stated “As the housing markets are
becoming more and more mature, the request for quality internal
environment and micro-surroundings has become key issues for both
the potential homebuyers and estate developers.”7 Green building, eco-
architecture and sustainable buildings have come into the daily
vocabulary of both building and designers and also homebuyers.
Therefore, he discussed some of the issues that are specific with high-
rise residential buildings in densely built-up environments.

He noted some key issues in designing a high-rise structure;

Building façade has drastic influence on the thermal performances of the
room. Traditionally, facing-south was the favorable building orientation
with a porch to provide shading in the summer, while eastern and
western walls are typically designed without windows, or attached with
adjacent buildings. But now with the typical tower design, an individual
apartment is likely to face merely one but any single directions. Also, to
provide a view to the occupants, large, convex-shaped windows have
become very popular, and in fact are regarded as the additional market
value by both estate developers and potential buyers. Consequently,
solar heat gains are becoming dominant air-conditioning load. It appears
that the way forward is to provide effective adjustable external shading.8
The adjustability may provide a compromise between retaining the
pleasant scenery view and reducing solar heat gain when required.
Examples are the intelligent façade as has been tested in the European
research originally conceived for office applications. Other technologies
like intelligent glasses may be beneficial, but their cost-effectiveness
may need further demonstrations.

7
A. Paassen, H.C. Van, Integration of intelligent façade and HVAC in low energy buildings, in: Proceedings of
the Third International symposium on HVAC, vol. 1, Shenzhen, 17–19 November 1999, pp. 1–11.
8
.W. Lang, Progress of energy efficiency standards for residential buildings in China, in: The Second
International Workshop—Energy and Environment of Residential Buildings in China, 14–15 October 2002,
Shanghai, pp. 137–141.
 Providing window vent; urban air
pollution and proximity to heavy traffic
may prohibit occupants from opening
their windows, and that will worsen
indoor air quality. Window-vents with
pollutant filtration function may be the
right solution. Several vent designs
became available in the 1990s, which
have the feature of constant air flow, by
self-regulating the opening degree in
response to the pressure differences.
Again these designs were originally
conceived for office building
applications, and their applicability and
cost-effectiveness, and acceptability in
high-rise residential applications all
deserve further investigations.

Provision of a balcony; it affects the time people spend indoors, and also
provides inter-connectedness between indoor and outdoor9. It also
provides the site for some activities like natural drying of washed
clothing, and airing of beddings and other indoor contents. In view of the
increased indoor air pollution, spending more time outdoors are
considered to be healthy for people. But the most recent practice, at least
in some regions, is not to provide balconies in high-rise residential
design for a number of considerations! One reason is that, somehow,
some of these activities like drying clothes are considered as being
‘unsightly’ and being associated with backwardness. When lived in such
buildings, people are forced to hang and dry their washed cloth inside,
even when machine-drying functions are available. In many cases,
electrical dehumidifiers are used for clothes drying in the bathroom. This

9
F.H. Shair Relating indoor pollutant concentrations of ozone and sulfur dioxide to those outside: economic
reduction of indoor ozone through selective filtration of the make-up air
 is an inconvenience in the first place. Secondly, this is energy wasteful,
and thirdly, this tends to raise the relative humidity of the dwellings,
which causes IAQ problems in turn. Therefore, the provision of balcony
is not only an architectural feature for residential buildings, but also
significantly affects the indoor air pollutant exposure of residents, as well
as the energy use.

The author discussed some of the issues that can be viewed as

problems and opportunities associated with high-rise and high-density
residential building design. High density provide opportunities for the
application of more efficient centralized system. High density modifies
the local microenvironment, which can be either favorable or
unfavorable, depending on outdoor weather impacts, and consciously
achieve health and comfortable living environment. 10

10
Joint Practice Note No. 1, Green and Innovative Buildings, Building Department, Lands Department, and
Planning Depart, Hong Kong SDR Government, Feb. 2001.
V. SITE

The proposed site is located along Roxas Boulevard in Manila City

overlooking the Manila Bay. It is a double frontage lot bounded by Roxas
Boulevard and Pasaje Del Carmen St. and M.H. del Pilar St. The site is
bounded by Malate Church across Pasaje Del Carmen St. and a
condominium across the M.H. del Pilar St. and Ramon Magsaysay Center
building on its north.

VI. APPLICABLE LAWS & ORDINANCES

BUILDING HEIGHTS IN THE PH:

1) LOW-RISE (from 1 - 5 storeys i.e. 4.0 m to 16.0 m, inclusive of an

average 1.0 m provision for parapet wall or roof apex; excludes maximum
allowance for a 6.0 m tall antenna/ steel tower on top of the structure (only
where allowed by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Ph/ CAAP);

2) MEDIUM-RISE (from 6 - 15 storeys i.e. 19.0 m to 46.0 m, inclusive of

an average 1.0 m provision for parapet wall or roof apex; excludes
maximum allowance for a 6.0 m tall antenna/ steel tower on top of the
structure (only where allowed by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Ph/
CAAP);

3) HIGH-RISE (from 16 - 60 storeys i.e. 49.0 m to 181.0 m, inclusive of an

average 1.0 m provision for parapet wall or roof apex; excludes maximum
allowance for a 6.0 m tall antenna/ steel tower on top of the structure (only
where allowed by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Ph/ CAAP); and

4) (taller than 60 storeys i.e. taller than 181.0 m, inclusive of an average

1.0 m provision for parapet wall or roof apex; excludes maximum
allowance for a 6.0 m tall antenna/ steel tower on top of the structure (only
where allowed by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Ph/ CAAP).

Laws to be considered:
PD 1096
(National Building Code of the Philippines)

Allowable Maximum Total Gross

Area

Building Height Limit

For Circulation: BP 344 (Accessibility Law)
Structural: National Structural Code of the Philippines
Fire Protection: PD 9514 (Fire Code of the Philippines)
Electrical: Electrical Code of the Philippines
Mechanical: RA 8495 (Mechanical Engineering act of 1998)

Considerations:

■ 1. Limit States Design Philosophy

■ 2. The Speed of Erection

■ 3. Loading

■ 4. Sequential

■ 5. Strength and Stability

■ 6. Drift Limitations

■ 7. Stiffness

■ 8. Human Comfort

■ 9. Creep, Shrinkage, and Temperature effects

■ 10. Fire

■ 11. Foundation Settlement and Soil-Structure Interaction

Diagrams

The design factors chosen for investigation in this project are:

Height, Structural system, Function, Slenderness, and Shape

Height

The building height is the first thing people are interested to know in a
high-rise project. Tall buildings fascinate people and in high-rise
projects, there is a tendency to design a building as tall as possible.
However, when designing a high-rise, the height greatly affects factor
such as economy, sustainability and views. Changing the height by a
few meters may have large implications and relations between height
and other factors tend to be exponential rather than linear.

Height Advantages

The taller the building, the better the views and daylight properties and
the better the chances are of creating a building with iconic value and
landmark status. The added population density leads to benefits from a
sustainability perspective.

Height Disadvantages

The taller the building, the more difficult it will be to provide elevator
access, fire safety and achieve good economy in the project. It will also
become structurally more complicated and is bound to become less
sustainable as a building and more difficult to construct.
Slenderness

Slenderness is a very important factor to consider in high-rise

construction. It is here defined as the base width to the height of the
building. Note that it is the width at the base of the building that is most
appropriate to consider when looking at slenderness. Tapered high-
rises, like the Burj Khalifa, appear to be slenderer than they really are
from a structural viewpoint

Shape

The variations on possible shapes for a high-rise are practically

unlimited. Here “floor shape” and “vertical variation” will be used as
simplifications to describe tower shapes. This is an appropriate
simplification as these two aspects are the most influential for the
building performance.

Floor Shape

Floor shapes in high-rises are commonly rectangular, but there are

many examples of circular, triangular and irregular floor plans in high-
rise buildings. Rectangular shapes are easy and cheap to manufacture
and it is easy to create functional and efficient floor plans from a
rectangular floor plate. Other shapes are less straightforward to design
but have other advantages. To achieve good capacity to handle wind,
sharp edges should be avoided. Softening the edges means that vortex
shedding will decrease and the building will perform better (Cammelli,
2016). Rounded buildings are therefore preferable compared to square
or rectangular from a wind perspective.

Very regular extruded shapes should be avoided to achieve good wind

performance. Large regular areas mean that vortex shedding will arise
continuously over large areas, which increases the effect. Avoiding
regularity is especially important at the top 1/3 of the building where
vortex shedding can potentially cause major problems
Structural System

The choice of what structural system to use depends on several

different factors. Building height, context, ground conditions as well as
human factors such as knowledge of engineers and local laborers are
some of the variables that affect what system is the most suitable for
the project.

The variety between different structural systems is limited in high-rises

compared to other constructions, because of their height (Wörner &
Nordhues, 2003). Therefore, there are many similarities between the
systems used and often principles from several different systems are
used in the same project.
VII. CASE STUDY
A. LOCAL
One Shangri-la Place Ortigas is a luxury twin-tower
residential development that stand atop of a six level mall.
Envisioned to add additional leasable retail space to Shangri-
La Plaza Mall. The development is a mixed use retail and twin
residential 60-storey building project with basement parking
levels. The projects was commissioned by Shang Properties
and design by Casas + Architects. Located across the 5-star
EDSA Shangri-La Hotel with a floor area of 45 to 160 sq.m
rooms. Offering Studio, 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom and 3 bedroom
units.
FLOORPLANS
TYPICAL PLAN OF 11th TO 32nd
TYPICAL PLAN OF 42nd TO 61st
FLOOR PLAN
FLOOR PLAN

B. Foreign
Hanhai Luxury Condominium
Hanhai Luxury Condominiums consists of 215,000 m2 built area
divided up into twelve high-rise residential towers with subterranean
parking. Two semi-public club houses and a nine classroom
kindergarten arranged around a central garden space, carefully sited for
solar exposure and views of the adjacent waterway. The residences are
organized by unit size, with towers containing 90 m2, 180 m2, 220 m2,
330 m2 and 650 m2 units each respectively the club houses inched
amenities such as café, tea house, gymnasium, locker rooms, pool area
and retail establishments. The main club house will also function as the
projects sales center on an interim basis. Coupled with the kindergarten
facilities, these elements provide many amenities on-site and all within
walking distance to the

residents.
Designed by Amphibianarc located in the intersection of Kinshui Dong
Road and Dongfeng Qu road, in the sub0center of Eastern Zhengzhou
New district CBD. The Design draws inspiration from the concept of the
‘cloud’ during the planning stage, we committed to creating an all-
intelligent ‘cloud’ community combined with all advanced technology to
redefine the emerging lifestyle to he internet age. The design team also
extends the concept of the cloud to the architectural design. The building
façade design uses a large area of dark glass that stand in sharp
contrast with the sleek white twerraces and balconies, highlighting a
spirit of dynamic lightness for the overhangs visually. The tower buildings
design features are extended to the design of the three facility building,
which also emphasize organic shapes and sleep lines.
 The residential units have been designed for the privacy and comfort
with ample opportunity for cross ventilation and multiple spaces with
good solar exposure. The large private terraces and small balconies
bring the natural environment to each unit and the terraces allow each
unit to expand the living spaces into the outdoors through the use of
large section of operable glass walls. This strong connection to the
outdoors and landscape help meet the goal of providing each residence
with the feeling of a garden villa in the sky. Special features for the larger
unit types differentiate the project with other ones of its kind and include
double height living spaces, double master suites, western and
Chinese’s kitchens, ensuite bathrooms and terrace swimming pools

TYPICAL TOWER FLOOR PLAN A TYPICAL TOWER FLOOR PLAN B