About two weeks ago, I received a heartwarming comment regarding my post on my travels during Black Saturday of 2008. I traveled to the northern part of Negros Occidental and visited some local spots. One of them is the Dome House of Escalante City. Let me share my entry:
Escalante City is located in the northeastern tip of the Negros island approximately about 95 kilometers away from Bacolod City. With its close proximity to the island of Cebu, the language of the locals is mixed Cebuano and Hiligaynon with the majority on the former.
In 2005, the city enjoyed some limelight in national and local papers as well as in many travel and general interest television programs. It became host to the first earth bag shelter system in the country. This is the “sole” purpose of my proverbial travel itch: to finally see the dome “houses”.
A House and Not Houses
The 95 km bus ride took me about 1.5 hours and PhP85.00 to finally step on the official city streets of Escalante. I took some time to look around before going to my destination. I went into their public market. The market impressed me. It was the cleanest public market I’ve been into in all of my documented and undocumented travels.
After buying some bottled water, I hailed a tricycle and asked to be taken to the site where the dome “houses” are situated. I opted to speak Cebuano because all personnel in the store where I bought water and the persons I have overheard in the public market were conversing in Cebuano. The driver looked confused and asked me for further description in halting Cebuano. I discovered he speaks Hiligaynon. And so I switched language and asked him again, this time giving description of the “houses” – with domes as roof rather that the usual galvanized iron. With the spark of recognition, he said he knew of only one house that fitted my description. I insisted that I am referring to a number of houses, a village even, with such dome structures. He responded that he knows of the recent housing projects but knew nothing of what I am referring to aside from the single house he knew. In order not to keep the debate any longer, I asked him to take me to the house he is referring to.
Much to my chagrin, the driver was indeed correct in saying that there is only one structure with a dome in Escalante. The house stood with its faded paint and with ferns sprouting in its now parched dome near the hall of Barangay Fe, just beside the national highway leading to the city proper. I instantly recognized it from the television shows I’ve seen where Illac Diaz (the proponent of the dome house) was shown coming out of its door unto the gravel yard.
“House of the Future” Becomes “House with Structural Failures”
With the hype it was into in 2005, in my mind I assumed that the project of the earth bag shelter or dome house was successful and was eventually proliferated into a village of dome houses. I was embarrassingly wrong. The house now is a picture of a structure crying out with impending structural failure.
The domes are parched, with layers of cement slowly flaking off and the exposed layers becoming brittle through weathering. Cracks in its walls are visible even at a distance with signs of water ingress reaching its iron structural frame due to the presence of rust stains outside of the walls. Add to the demise these factors brought is the rich presence of ferns growing on top of its domes. The natural acids in the roots of these pteridophytans may contribute to the progressive cement disintegration of the dome structure.
Kelly Hart of earthbagbuilding.com was pointed by a reader (probably the one who collects pictures of dome houses and draws inspiration from the philosopher Rumi) of my blog to this entry. She is involved in documenting earth bag buildings all over the world. She has then re-written her original project page about the Philippine clinic to include some of my observations, with the hope that others would be aware of the potential pitfalls with finishing earthbag domes.
So what went wrong with the first earthbag building in the Philippines? You may want to check this site .
This project has been once again a victim of the “ningas kugon” attitude (fiery at the start but easily gives up) that afflicts most Filipinos. After all the publicity and media hype, no follow through was made to check whether this project has really served its purpose. There was a school in Siargao Island that was also built using the same concept as this project. One may wonder what happened to it. This writer also wonders what the hype and publicity has generated: better public imaging of the persons and organizations involved or an innovative housing solution…
i remember this post Mark, and your pictures. it is nice to know the history of how it was made before, and a sad state of how a noble dream turned out to be, but i must say the pictures look very interesting, especially what you have captured. it is like having a garden on top of your house.
I think Miss Beth, the post on Black Saturday was the very first one you had commented on…
A sad state indeed… There are really houses with gardens in their roofs. But the roofs are made of special materials and not similar to the pack used for roofing of this earthbag shelter…
This was a very interesting post. I have never seen such a thing. I went to the other site to see the building of one…what a good idea this was. I would love to paint the inside of one of these.
Thanks Balisha… Yes, this dome house is such a noble idea. And it would be lovely to do the paintings inside its walls…
yeah i remember it featured on tv but i forget where it was built. not until i read this. sa may escalante pala. the farthest in the north that ive been to is victorias.
so sad to know about what happened to this project. that’s true. good intentions but maybe it needs more testing. but the good news is, there’s room for improvement. a prototype will at most have failures but the final outcome is a basis of the prototype’s improvement.
i hope that they will continue this project.
Thanks Dong. Perhaps it is another way of looking at it. There’s much room to grow. It is my hope too that the lesson learned in this project will be applied to upcoming ones to make them better.
i thought you found the original copy of the picture. hehe… it’s interesting to know the origin of the dome houses but it’s sad that there was no further studies done to improve them. but i like how you capture the dome houses despite the ruins.
Thanks Er…Hehe, this is the same pic in the original post, low res and I just added my blog’s address.
wow ang ganda…para kang nasa fantasy land! yun lang ang masasabi ko kasi di ko alam pa kung ano ang tumira dyan,hihihi…di ba mainit yan para sa pinas?
Haha! Dwarves ba? It was used as a barangay clinic…
This was just a prototype…
how sad na hindi to naging successful
Kaya nga eh…
sayang…
hm, sikat ka na kuya Crooks! i’ll be visiting the link!
Thanks Alexander Rojas… Hehehe… Hindi naman, may malasakit lang…
jason likes this
“parang facebook lang”
hahaha
addd mo ko faCEBook
ganda ng bahay
gawa ba yun sa itlog??
Hamster, hindi ka talaga nagbabasa… hehehe… Kain lang ng spam ang hilig… Sige, hahanapin kita sa fesbuk…
oi nagbabasa naman ako no.
nagaktaon lang na bagsak na ang mata ko kagabi kaya
kahit
pagod na ko
basta makapagparamdam lang dito kuya cool..
nakakatats ba?
AHEHEHEEHHEHEHE
Ahahahaha!!! Aminin mo na nagpaparamdam ka lang palagi… di na nagbabasa maski sa ibang bahay… hehehe… defensive mode ka ha…
heheheh si kuya cool o
inaaway ako
hehe
bata hahahah
OO nagbabasa talaga ko paramis
Sige na nga pagbigyan… hehe…
Since posting an update to the Escalante clinic project on http://www.earthbagbuilding.com, based on your observations and fine photos, I searched to net and finally found an email address for Illac Diaz, the Filippino visionary who initiated that project. I sent him an email advising him about the deterioration of the domes and asking about what might be done. He has not responded yet.
Thank you for the concern Kelly… I just found out that there is another earthbag structure initiated by Illac Diaz in Siargao Island here in the Philippines. It was intended as a classroom. I have no idea however whether the structure in Siargao has deteriorated, same as in Escalante… I would be glad to know of his response…
Thanks again…
ayun, nakakalunkot naman nangyari..akala ko naman ay okey na itong project na’to
hmmmm..nawalang ng budget o nawalan na ng interes ipagpatuloy
I share the same sentiments Sandi… I hope that Illac Diaz will soon respond to Kelly Hart and do some updates…
this is a pretty interesting structure.
Yeah, interesting indeed… Thanks for dropping by…
sikat na sikat ka na talaga tokayo.biruin mo,nandito ka nga sa site na to.
http://earthbagbuilding.com/projects/clinic.htm
awww..sayang nga yung dome houses.nakita ko pa yan sa tv before..panget na pala hitsura ngayon
Illac Diaz?his name sounds familiar. artista yata sya dati?
Hindi naman tokayo, medyo nacurious lang ako dito…
Oo, artista sya dati… pamangkin siya nina Rio Diaz at Gloria Diaz ayon sa mga write-ups na related sa dome houses…
oo alam ko ‘to, na feature na ‘to sa TV nang makailang ulit.
nakakalungkot, ganito na pala kalagayan nito ngayon.
ang mahalaga, nag try yung taong nasa likod nito, para maghanap ng alternatibo at murang tirahan.
yun nga lang ang kinahinatnan,
di pa naman huli ang lahat, konting research pa
That’s another view of looking at it…
But then, dapat may follow through, if indeed kung ang cause nga ay magakaroon ng murang tirahan… Hindi dapat tumigil sa isang one shot deal… 
it still look interesting though!
Yeah, I agree… Thanks for dropping by…
gee muka na po siyang bagong luma… hehe…
nwei, cguro kelangan ng rehabilitation ng dome na yan.. thou muka pa naman siyang makatotohanan.
Hehe… Natutuklap na kasi ang bobong niya at tinutubuan na ng fern, kaya parang structural failure…
Tama ka Yhen, kailangan niyang mai-rehabilitate… Salamat sa pagdalaw…
musta po? naku huling huli na ako…back read muna ako.
Okay lang kapatid…
Salamat sa pagdalaw, alam kong busy ka… Hehehe… 
diba kai iliac diaz yan, daming parangal nyan noon tapos ganyan na ngayon hai.
Tama ka Alvin, sa kanya nga ito in coordination with some other organizations… Wala ngang follow through ang project na ito…
bumalik pa naman ako wala ka pa pala. hehehe
Sorry, busy masyado sa trabaho…
Wow, so many interesting and compelling parts of this post. First, the geography itself. I had to run to my globe. Second, the fascinating flow of language. I cannot imagine being able to sense a situation and to apply the right language. Third, the buildings and the whole history behind them. Fourth, the passion inside you that drives you to visit such places. Bravo again.
Wow, so many interesting and compelling parts of this post. First, the geography itself. I had to run to my globe. Second, the fascinating flow of language. I cannot imagine being able to sense a situation and to apply the right language. Third, the buildings and the whole history behind them. Fourth, the passion inside you that drives you to visit such places. Bravo again.
Sir i’am interested to your project your dome i get hooked up to your proposed project when i’am watching jessica soho i’am wondered and interested to it if ever u want to continue ur ambition to build a new set of homes i want to be part of it this i think can help to the enviroment and our whole nation , i’ am adelbert de jesus 19 yr old graduate of 2 yr aircraft maintenance, , if ever u want just txt me 09062876882