CBFT powers social enterprise center

THE community of Bagong Silangan in Quezon City welcomed the Vincentian Social Enterprise Center that showcases economic empowerment and alternative building technologies.

A collaboration between Base Bahay Foundation Inc. and Vincentian Missionaries Social Development Foundation Inc., the 71-square-meter (sqm) innovative bamboo-based facility is the former's second special Cement-Bamboo Frame Technology (CBFT) structure, which will open doors for more job and livelihood opportunities for the community.

The structure, with eight stalls, each with roughly 8.41 sqm floor area, is a blueprint for sustainable architecture, highlighting the potential of bamboo structures to seamlessly integrate within urban landscapes.

The center's distinctive design features a long gable roof supported by wing-like diagonal struts that extend from the studs to the roof frames, blending aesthetics and functionality.

According to BASE President and Hilti Foundation Asia Liaison Maricen Jalandoni, the center will help the community «provide food on the table for their families» while showing how CBFT is a proper response for «the global housing gap, climate change, and socio-economic challenges faced by our country.»

BASE, a nonprofit organization initiated by the Hilti Foundation, provides alternative building technologies that enable a network of partners to build comfortable, affordable, disaster-resilient, and environment-friendly structures with social impact.

BASE has built over 1,200 homes in 15 communities in the Philippines, over 400 homes in four communities in Nepal, and two model houses in India. It also has six bamboo supply facilities across the country, and another is currently in the construction phase in Mindanao.

The center is part of a larger program by BASE to construct bamboo structures within the community in Quezon City. These structures will complement the existing 50 housing units and the recently completed community center, which will serve as a post-harvest facility.