Corner lot house design in the Philippines: two streets, more coverage, less privacy

A corner lot has a street on two sides, and that changes the house more than any other single fact about the lot. It is allowed to cover more ground, it gets more light and air, and it has two public faces to design instead of one. It also has less privacy and more traffic going past the windows. Our custom house design service starts a corner lot house from those trade-offs, before any room is drawn.

What the building code allows on a corner lot

The National Building Code (PD 1096), Section 708(a), lets a house occupy up to 90 percent on a corner lot, against 80 percent on an inside lot. On a 150 m² lot that is 135 m² of footprint on the corner, 120 m² inside. The same section asks for the house to stand at least 2 m from the property line, subject to the Civil Code on light and view.

Two cautions come with that figure:

• The decree does not define a corner lot. A lot on a bend, or with a street at the front and the back, is a question for your building official.
• The 90 percent is the most the code allows. The setbacks, your town’s zoning and the open space a house needs for light and air usually leave a smaller footprint. The lot coverage calculator works it out for your own lot, with the corner lot option.

Windows on two streets

On an inside lot, the Civil Code keeps windows that look straight onto the next lot at least 2.00 m from the line, and side views at least 0.60 m (Article 670). On a corner lot, two of the four sides face a street. Article 672 says those distances do not apply between buildings separated by a public way or alley at least 3.00 m wide, subject to special regulations and local ordinances. So the street sides of a corner lot are where the big windows can go, and the two sides shared with neighbours keep the usual limits. The easements guide has the whole table.

Which street gets the front door

A corner lot gives you a choice most lots do not, and it is worth making on purpose:

• The quieter street for the entrance. People arriving on foot, and the gate, sit better on the street with less traffic.
• The busier street for the carport, if it is the one the car comes from, so the car is not driven past the front door every day. Keep the driveway well back from the corner itself, where drivers turning in cannot see it.

Privacy

Two street sides mean two sides that strangers walk past. The houses that work on a corner lot usually:

• put the living areas on the street sides for the light and the bedrooms on the neighbour sides or upstairs;
• use the coverage the corner allows to build a small enclosed court or garden on the inside of the L, away from both streets;
• lift windows on the busy street above eye level, or set them behind a deep eave or a planted strip;
• keep a fence or wall low enough that the house still has light and air. Your town or subdivision may set a fence height; ask before designing it.

Sun and heat

Because two sides face open street, a corner house gets more sun on more walls. The side facing west takes the hard afternoon sun, and on a corner lot it is often a street side with nothing beside it to shade it. Deep eaves, fewer and smaller windows on that side, and a carport or service area as a buffer all help. The climate guide and the roof guide cover shading and roof overhangs.

Corner lot or inside lot?

A question families ask before they buy. On the corner you get:

• more footprint allowed under Section 708(a);
• more daylight and cross-ventilation, with two open sides;
• a choice of entrance and of where the car goes.

You also get:

• less privacy and more noise and dust from two streets;
• more wall to keep cool, and more fence to build;
• a house that has to look finished from two directions, which takes more design.

Neither is better for every family. The guide to choosing a lot covers what else to check before you buy, and a consultation for future home buyers looks at a particular lot with you before you commit.

Designing your corner lot house

A plan drawn for an inside lot rarely fits a corner, because it was designed to face one street. Our custom house design service works out the entrance, the car, the private side and the shading for your lot, then draws the house to the coverage and distances above.