SAN PEDRO, Laguna—A Filipino inventor has reengineered school building construction, offering classrooms that can be built in a month and are flood-proof, structurally-sound and heat-resistant.
Gary Vazquez calls his technology Vazbilt Version 2—an enhanced version of his modular housing system that uses prefabricated posts and panels and massive screws. It allows for easy assembly and disassembly for expansion or relocation.
“With Vazbilt Version 2 used in school building construction, there would be no more suspension of school classes because of high temperature,” Vazquez said during a tour of his demonstration site at his three-hectare Field of Dreams/Inventions N Innovations Center in this town.
“The interior of the traditional school building becomes a natural oven. In Vazbilt Version 2, air-conditioning is no longer needed because the air is free-flowing,” he said.
Vazbilt Version 2 uses giant screws for the building’s foundation, instead of traditional concrete and steel. The floor is elevated to allow air, water or moisture circulation. “It is floated, actually, with a minimum of 60 centimeters. And we can go up to 1 meter high,” he said.
The prefabricated frames are easily assembled, while the walls are made of insulated panels, instead of heat-trapping concrete hollow blocks.
The system employs a double-roof design to cool the interior by allowing the hot air to escape upward. Instead of air conditioning, the classroom uses a misting system, complemented by a high-pressure electric fan, also invented by Vazquez.
Vazquez said the misting system also helps prevent the spread of dengue.
He said he developed the new construction technique because of climate change. “Concrete absorbs heat, and in the evening when it’s cold outside, the heat is resonating inside. But during the day, cold also comes out. So the energy cost is high,” said Vazquez, who won a 15-year legal battle with a property developer over his Vazbilt system.
“With my experience of building 5,000 houses, I know what we need. So I started collaborating with friends of mine,” he said.
“Before it was only me, I didn’t want to share it with anybody. But, you know, after a while, when you get older, you realize you gain more products and you go faster on development when you collaborate with other geniuses. Which is what I did. I invited my friends who are on steel and lightweight concrete. So from there came out Vazbilt Version 2 using light steel, beams, panels and everything,” he said.
“And the walls that we are using are lightweight and insulated. Still, it is the same way of assembling the house the Vazbilt way. We are able to build the house faster because we are no longer putting up foundations using conventional concrete,” said Vazquez.
“We’re using the screw type. What used to take about 21 days for the foundation now only takes one day. You build it fast and the house or classroom is even climate change-ready and earthquake-proof,” he said.
“We follow the standards, the structural requirements of the government on building,” he said. “With concrete, you get the concrete jungle effect, you start to absorb heat. And when you absorb heat, you start to use a lot of energy.”
Vazquez is also using Vazbilt Version 2 for home construction, which he says takes 1 month to 45 days.
His insulated house design places electric sockets higher from the floor to prevent electrocution during floods and make them more accessible for senior homeowners.
Vazquez, the first Filipino inventor to achieve commercial success, boosted the Philippine intellectual property landscape. His win in the Vazbilt patent dispute led to a surge in applications for IP and patent rights.