A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Design in Interior Studies Adaptive Reuse in the Department of Interior Architecture of the Rhode Island School of Design.

The adaptation and preservation of a 300-year old Spanish Colonial Church in the Philippines into a flood evacuation center through a methodical incorporation of resilience in sustainable architecture and communal gathering programming. Challenging the existing paradigm of coastal provincial architecture in the Philippines by proposing a more integrated evacuation center that adapts to sea level rise and climate calamities - how a social and cultural landmark can co-function as a resilient and human-scale evacuation area across the coastlines of the Philippines. 

The Philippines is an archipelago of 3,641 islands with 80% of the population dwelling along the coast. As a result of climate change, vulnerable coastal communities are situated at the forefront of intensifying typhoons and sea-level rise. Almost half the fatalities in flooding are due to people being stranded, and though there may be evacuation centers, these are usually inaccessible or unequipped for proper deployment. The majority of these make-shift evacuation centers are in churches, schools, gymnasiums, and other community centers. 
In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan struck the southern part of the Philippines with a five to six meter storm surge; in just three days it took more than 7,360 lives in one city alone, displaced four million citizens, and affected around 16 million Filipinos nationwide.

If we continue at today’s rate of carbon emission, population density, and global warming, 30 years from now, we will likely have 0.6% fewer islands in the Philippines, and about three times more typhoons. It is urgent to shift the existing paradigm in urban design and architecture towards coastal resiliency and environmental awareness, particularly when it comes to evacuation planning and mitigation. 
Much of the country’s cultural heritage lies in these coastal towns, as they bear deep roots to many Filipino communities and livelihoods. This thesis aims to challenge the existing paradigm of coastal provincial architecture in the Philippines by proposing a more integrated evacuation center that adapts to sea level rise and climate calamities. The focus of the study will be a church in a small coastal town, as churches have historically provided physical sanctuary alongside salvation to Filipinos, the third largest Catholic nation in the world. Churches are also one of the most common building typologies in coastal provincial towns, and they are often located at the heart of the community. The proposal will focus on the overall context of the selected site, St. John the Baptist Church, San Juan, La Union. The design will be based on FEMA standards as well as research gathered from multiple case studies of disaster mitigation from across the globe. An independent roof structure will provide a human scale space for short-term vertical evacuation facilities. The intervention demonstrates how a social and cultural landmark can co-function as a resilient evacuation area across the coastlines of the Philippines.