Bluprint Special - Nr.3 2015

SPECIAL ISSUE 3 2015 | PHP19 9

UNBUILT DESIGNS

+ Future Projects by

tHree FiliPino Finalists oF tHe 2015 World arcHitecture Festival CARLOS ARNAIZ ARCHITECTS WTA ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN STUDIO VILLEGAS-ROXAS CONSULTANTS 1/0 design collective • Alexander Mayoralgo • Aoanan Arkitektos Studio • ARCONiC • BUDJI+ROYAL Architecture + Design Cadiz International Architects • Daryl Abaygar, Bryan Gabaldon, John Patricio and Nelson Roquero • Edson Cabalfin • Ge Joson and Miguel Ricalde • HANDStudio • Jayson Mata and Jelda Cabardo • Javier Design Studio Manila • Kurt Yu, Angeli Luna and Ruel Fabia • L.A. Poco Architects • Leandro V. Locsin Partners • MB Architecture Studio • OOZN Design • Pen Works Architecture & Interiors • SpaceFabrik • Sudarshan Khadka • TVA&P • urbanshift studio • Zubu Design Associates

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INSIDE Special issue 3 2015

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Editor’s Note

Costa Rica Congress Hall by CAZA

FIRST PRINCIPLES 14

Built, uNBuilt, Built Tobias Guggenheimer starts from the very beginning by asking, “What is the essence of architecture?”

TOWNSHIP 18

REvitaliziNg a HistoRic DistRict by Edson Cabalfin

68 HElsiNki musEum by Daryl Van Abaygar, Bryan Andrew Gabaldon, john Andrew Patricio and Nelson Roquero 70 tHE Rizal cENtER by ARCONiC Architecture and Design 72 talukaB by Kurt yu, Angeli luna and jose Ruel Fabia

INFRASTRUCTURE 20

sHEaREs islaND by OOZN Design

MIXED-USE 22 24

tHE FoRt towERs by Royal Pineda of BuDji+ROyAl Architecture + Design sERvita civic cENtER by CAZA

HOSPITALITY 26 28 32 34 36 40 42 44 46

siBol by Ge joson and Miguel Ricalde BamBoo tElls by jason Mata and jelda Cabardo soutH laguNa PRimE by Angelo Ray Serrano and jC San luis of 1/0 design collective taNikala by yonni Habulan and Maricris Ngo of HANDStudio cElEBRity HotEl by Ed ledesma of leandro V. locsin Partners RaiNtREE HotEl by Royal Pineda of BuDji+ROyAl Architecture + Design JEBEl Jais mouNtaiN HotEl by Cadiz international clouDscaPE by WTA Architecture & Design FJ HotEl by Zubu Design Associates

R ECREATIONAL 48 viEwFiNDER cluBHousE by l.A. Poco Architects & Associates 52 Rizal tHEatER by Micaela Benedicto 54 sagay: tHE tuBBataHa maRiNE liFE saNctuaRy by Villegas-Roxas Consultants

I NSTITUTIONAL 58 costa Rica coNgREss Hall by CAZA 64 solomoN guggENHEim musEum by T.i. Vasquez Architects and Planners

O FFICE 74 76 80

volumEs tHat sPEak by SpaceFabrik cRystalliziNg Roots by SpaceFabrik tHE silHouEttE by Cadiz international

ASSEMbLY 82 PoPE PavilioN by CAZA 84 sitio malaya by Sudarshan V. Khadka jr. of ii.ncite

RESIDENTIAL 86 88 89 90 92 96 98

tHE caNtilEvER HousE by javier Design Studio Manila tHE s HousE by jose Vicente Aoanan yEllow FaRmHousE by Oscar j. Peñasales RamP HousE by urbanshift studio 14 PEtER stREEt by Sudarshan V. Khadka jr. of ii.ncite PRoJEct NEPal by Sudarshan V. Khadka jr. of ii.ncite How woulD you likE to sEE youRsElF livE? by Alexander Mayoralgo

MEMORIAL 100 How woulD you likE to BE REmEmBERED? by Alexander Mayoralgo

FUTURE PRO jECTS 102 a HomE oF maNy mooNs by CAZA 108 tHE uRBaN Block by WTA Architecture & Design 112 ama BaNk FiNaNcial cENtER by Villegas-Roxas Consultants 114 claRk PoDscaPEs by Angelo Ray Serrano and jC San luis of 1/0 design collective 120 sources

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EDITOR’S NOTE

From left Senior Photographer Ed Simon, Editorial Coordinator Andi Arines, Associate Editor Adrian Tumang, EIC Judith Torres, Managing Editor Miguel Llona, and Group Art Director Patrick Kasingsing (Photographed by Floyd Jhocson of Studio 100)

collected represent the aspirations of their authors to create delightful and innovative solutions to identified needs, might not their schemes also herald emerging trends in Philippine architectural design? Is this ridiculously wishful thinking? Maybe not. In addition to 35 unbuilt designs, this issue includes four projects that are being or about to be built. Three are finalists at the World Architecture Festival this year: a house, a mixeduse development, and a bank office building, all in the Future Projects category. Designed by Carlos Arnaiz, William Ti, and Connie Roxas respectively, they show a higher level of design than most of us have come to expect in our context. The fourth future project is the winner of the Bases Conversion Development Authority contest for the design of a 25-hectare mixed-income housing development in Clark Green City, Pampanga. Designed by Angelo Ray Serrano and JC San Luis, the plans are idealistic—just the kind you expect to win theoretical competitions but not get built. Perhaps these are signs that we can get our hopes up? In producing an issue like this—or for that matter, in practicing architecture—there is no room for cynicism. A defeatist outlook is suicide! Most of the designs of any successful practice go unbuilt. Many of the architects included here are still young, and their unbuilt designs are practice for better designs yet to come. For me, this issue represents hope we can build on. To show you how crazy hopeful we are, next year, we will do this again, and go a step further—34 years into the future, to be exact. One of the hopes about our country that I hold onto to keep me sane is by the time my children’s children start families of their own, the Philippines will be a safe and livable place, right up there with the world’s most progressive states. That insane conviction was galvanized in 2012 when HSBC predicted that in 2050, the Philippines would be the world’s 16th largest economy. At the time, the IMF and World Bank ranked us 43rd out of 188 countries. Today, three years later, they rank us 39th and predict we’ll be in 29th place by 2020. Price Waterhouse Coopers for its part recently forecast that by 2050, we would be within the world’s top 20 economies. Right about where Switzerland and Saudi Arabia are today. Feeling hopeful yet? So next year, we want to challenge architects and designers to envision our homes, schools, churches, government buildings, parks and famous landmarks in 2050—a visioning exercise for our country! Excited? You should be! While heady with hope, let us in the meantime enjoy these visions of an alternate reality, one that we could well surpass if we would all start pulling together—sooner rather than later!

Forecasting the Future through Unbuilt Designs We said last year we’d do this again, so here we are once more, mining the iceberg of unexecuted architectural projects for intriguing examples of what might have been. One might uncharitably view this as a collection of losers and aborted dreams. But some of the unbuilt designs on these pages are glorious losers that I’d take any day over many mediocre winners that now mar our built environment. I like to see this special issue as a collection of visions that one day could be. “Could Be” is the name of an awards program that the Washington chapter of the American Institute of Architects created in 2009. It was the height of the global economic recession, and many building projects had ground to a screeching halt. Still, the chapter wanted to recognize significant work by local designers and students. Architecture, after all, as Tobias Guggenheimer points out in our introductory article to this issue, “is an idea, an effervescence that cannot be unbuilt any more than it can be built.” In gathering these unbuilt dreams, we hope to raise the bar in the minds of local developers and clients. “Here is modern Filipino architecture and design!” Royal Pineda would exclaim. This is what we could be! And because the designs we’ve

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Editor in Chief

FIRST PRINCIPLES

BUILT U NBUILT BUILT Design for the moment, not resurrected design, will illuminate our way forward By Tobias Guggenheimer

Images from growingupinamerica.wordpress.com and 1000museums.com

he American poet Walt Whitman suggested that one can find wisdom in “the certainty of the reality and immortality of things; and the excellence of things.” Do we not seek the very same underpinnings when making and considering architecture—immortality and excellence? How do we locate the essence of architecture? Perhaps we should ask architecture herself to clarify. Excuse me! Architecture! Hey! Are you lines on paper? Are you bricks and mortar? Are you ideas that disturb the designer’s slumber in the middle of the night? Are you tangible? Ineffable? Are you rules and regulations? Are you a history book? Are you the future tense—a world within which we will live tomorrow? Architecture might protest that she is primarily ephemeral, a soulful internality whose whirling mists of ideas and emotion coalesce into building design. She will suggest that disciplined acts of imagination and anticipation lead to exceptional architecture. Inversely, she will inveigh that poor thinking results inevitably in sub-optimal solutions. Architecture appreciates that we who evoke her powers are responsible for imbuing traditional bodies of knowledge with creative innovation in the service of the human environment. This same architecture is also a bit of a shrew, sternly rejoining educators to prioritize objectivity and narrative capability. Everything designed under the teacher’s watchful gaze should be vibrant, powerful and experimental. “Time enough later,” she might argue, “for the mundane.” Is it important for our work to form the basis of construction? The instinctive answer is yes—of course. It matters the architect for reasons economic, artistic and egoistic. Ultimately, the essence of architecture is not significantly challenged if or whether her drawings are deployed to guide the erection of a building. An instinctive definition for ‘’unbuilt architecture” would be design not yet deployed as the basis for construction.

But an unbuilt building is not unbuilt architecture. It is simply an unbuilt building. Architecture is an idea, an effervescence that cannot be unbuilt any more than it can be built. Design is certainly enlivened by the builder’s tools—devices which themselves are made pregnant by the incubus of our vision, animated, and given the breath of life. Fabrication allows our inventions and our intentions to be measured, the pulse taken, the specifications of form, mass, materials and plan assessed. If the message is architecture, the medium is construction—the expensive, tenacious and necessary endeavor by which concept is confirmed or denied. To further understand why buildings occupy a very different place in the order of things than does architecture, we borrow from our legal friends—colleagues who describe our output as ‘instruments of service,’ and who draw a distinction between that service (intangible architecture) and deliverables (drawings). An analogy might also be found in medicine, the practice of which will, it is hoped, cure a patient. The outcome, or deliverables, will vary between good health and death, but neither of these states is to be confused with medicine.

Opposite page Broadacre City (19321934) was Frank Lloyd Wright’s idea of a suburban utopia—a decentralized city where the automobile reigned supreme. For him, cities like New York with their denseness and teeming diversity were like fibrous tumors that needed to be excised. In his vision, people would live in self-sufficient one-acre lots, and drive to distribution centers (gas stations with retail complexes) to buy what they needed. With the radio, telephone and telegraph, who could want for anything more, much less miss their neighbors? In some ways, Broadacre predicted the direction modern America would take— unsustainable, unneighborly urban sprawl, endless highways, gas-guzzling cars, and huge malls. Below In 1924, a wealthy businessman asked FLW to build on top of Sugar Loaf Mountain in Maryland an impressive monument that would attract visitors from nearby Washington and Baltimore. FLW began to sketch a spiraling roadway that mimicked the shape of the mountain, and he placed a theater at the center. As plans progressed, the monument turned into a great dome with a planetarium, surrounded by a ring-shaped natural history museum. The client rejected the design. FLW would continue to work with hemicycle forms, which later inspired the design of the Guggenheim Museum and other projects.

A rc h ite c t u r e i s A n i d e A , A n e ffe rv es c e n c e th At c A n n Ot B e u n Bu ilt Any mO re thAn it cAn Be Bu ilt.

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FIRST PRINCIPLES

This is one of the many visions of the City of Angels that was never built. In 1925, Los Angeles held a competition asking for a redesign of the city core. FLW’s plan is that of an elongated cross with a 150-meter wide walkway. The grand promenade would be flanked by twin buildings that escalate in height as one gets closer to downtown LA. The city chose instead the design of Allied Archietcts.

Architecture withOut A client— even if Only imAgined Or prOjected — is An Act Of unprOductive design OnAnism. Frank Lloyd Wright, who argued that architecture was relevant only when responsive to culture, to physical and metaphysical touchstones, designed many projects which were not executed. In his view, architecture without a client—even if only imagined or projected—was an act of unproductive design onanism. In a controversial practice that many have deplored, his successor firm, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, exhumed from their vaults projects, many of which had never progressed beyond the schematic phase during his lifetime. Their purpose was to capitalize on Wright’s tremendous fame by committing these drawings to the auction block. Regrettably, they were not offered as art pieces but as the bases of designs for homes of the firm’s clientele. Committing a vast error of judgment, the foundation performed extensive revisions to some of these drawings, and in so doing challenged the core of Wright’s oft-stated

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Crtitic Brian Lin writes: “Fallingwater is clearly visible in the rendering of the Cottage Studio for Ayn Rand (the author of The Fountainhead). Designed in 1946, the slate base, vertical circulation shaft and cantilevered slabs are revisited almost dogmatically. However, unlike the elegant balance of projecting slabs in Fallingwater, these slabs thrust boldly from their wooded terrain toward a single point on the horizon. Rand’s worldview seems unmistakably reflected in the design.”

Images from thebluereview.org (Grand boulevard) and beloose.com (Ayn Rand cottage studio and Point View residences)

beliefs. In a misguided quest for revenue, the firm contorted his concepts to fit new sites, new uses and new clients, willfully ignorant of their beloved mentor’s message and values. Wright, who had placed enduring faith in the power of design, who famously said that there were always more arrows in the quiver of creativity, would have been aghast that his heirs clung to his tailcoat rather than forged ahead into uncharted territory. It is quite certain that the master would have advised his disciples to reach for the moment and not hide within the comfortable territory of nostalgia and anachronism. That designs should not be resurrected is not to say that buildings that honorably represent a historical period should not be carefully preserved and groomed. For at least 1,300 years, the people of Japan’s Mie Prefecture have been rebuilding their Ise Jingu Shinto shrine in an act of devotion that has replicated the original design with regularity. Renovation and restoration that are grounded in reverence is to be admired just as duplication and bootlegging are to be deplored. The destruction endured by many global cities during the second World War stimulated these questions on a broad scale. In the aftermath of the conflict, several European cities were able to reconstruct entire quarters to close approximation of their pre-war appearance. Our own beloved Manila, a witness during the final days of the war to ferocious urban combat between American and Japanese forces, was also

reduced to rubble. An urgent response brought to life an entirely new organism, a vibrant, modern, chaotic and ever-changing enclave situated upon the ruins of her predecessor. In a process perhaps more in keeping with historic forms, violent events arbitrarily silenced many voices while laying bare entire fields upon which succeeding generations of architects could reinvent a phoenix from the ashes of a painful past. If only political institutions had paid heed, we lament, the beauty of our old Manila could have been preserved. Yet a city is the product of a culture, and it does little good to pine over what could have been or what should have been. Manila may shine more brightly than she does now if her citizenry comes to believe that design can be the light that illuminates the way forward—not unbuilt design, but design of the moment.

the writer Tobias Guggenheimer is principal of the New York design firm, Tobias Guggenheimer Architect, PC. He taught Architecture and Interior Design at Pratt Institute, Parsons School of Design, and Fordham University, and is currently Dean at SoFA Design Institute in Makati. Guggenheimer is the author of A Taliesin Legacy: The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Apprentices, published in 1995.

This drawing for apartment building Point View Residences in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1952) again shows characteristics of Fallingwater.

TOWNSHIP

WRITTEN BY EDSON CABALFIN, PHD

REVITALIZING A HISTORIC DISTRICT Designed by Edson Cabalfin for Cadiz International

he project was the redevelopment of Old Town in Ras al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. I designed this in 2008 to 2009 as senior project architect for Cadiz International. Tasked to develop conceptual designs, I led the team in the proposed revitalization of the historic district of the emirate. The sketches were done as preliminary concept design for a new civic space for the old town. The client was very excited and receptive to the idea of a new civic space in the heart of the old town. This was intended to put Ras al Khaimah in the same league as Dubai and Abu Dhabi, but in a manner appropriate to the history and context of the emirate. The client approved the initial idea of the project and we further explored the proposal. Unfortunately, with the advent of the global economic crisis, the project was downscaled and simplified, and later put on hold.

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Defining features and benefits The historic Old Town of Ras al Khaimah was deteriorating. An existing road built in the 1980s ran through the historic quarters, splitting the town in two, but it remained underutilized and unappealing. Our design focused on introducing an underground civic space carved out in the heart of the town with a new Friday Mosque, pedestrian walks, recreational and retail facilities. On the street level, an undulating landscape interspersed with skylights and wind towers would serve as a new green space and park system that would stitch the town back together. As the architecture of the old town were mostly one or two-storey buildings, I felt the new structure should not overpower the historic fabric, and so submerged the proposed insertion into the town. The new civic space would bring new life into the area without destroying its historic character—an audacious move, but at the same time a sensitive and respectful approach to development. I revisited the project by creating physical models in 2013. The models further explored the idea of this subterranean civic space by focusing on fractals and shards as strategy for stitching the town together. Similar to the original goal of the project, the aim of this exercise was to explore the idea of insertion in a historic district through a careful and delicate interweaving with the

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01 Top view of model study for Old Town Ras al Khaimah using fractals and shards as approach in exploring pathways, landscape and program for redeveloping a historic district. The model, a later exploration in 2013, investigated the relationship of historic fabric with the new development by identifying contact points and layering the landscape with fractals and shards. The layered fractals evoke the sand dunes in the area but also anticipate the layering of program and activity in the new civic space. The blue field in the middle represents the existing gap in the middle of the town created by a road introduced in the 1980s. With the road a relatively recent scar on the historic fabric, the new civic space sought to stitch and heal the scar. The model is made from balsa wood on illustration board with acrylic and conte crayon. 02 Detail view of model study for Old Town Ras al Khaimah. The shards and spindles represent how pathways and programmed activity areas are interwoven. Layering is the primary technique to explore the connectivity of the shards. The lines on the ground represent the movement of people in and out of this new constructed landscape.

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W H I L E C R E AT I V I T Y I S PA R T O F A RC H I T E C T U R E , O N E M U S T L E A R N T O N E G O T I AT E W I T H T H E ECONOMICS OF THE PROJECT. existing infrastructure. To see this project built, I would be willing to redesign it in a simpler way. The design can be downscaled and simplified without abandoning the original concept. As a case study for architecture students I would use this story to illustrate the process of negotiation and mediation between architecture, economics and politics. While creativity is part of architecture, one must learn to negotiate with what clients want, the economics of the project, and

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the politics of the area. This is not to say that you should veer away from ambitious ideas. In fact, as I experienced through this project, it is important to be audacious and creative with your strategies throughout the entire process. The client saw the potential of the ambitious project from the beginning and realized the possibilities that could change the area. The daring approach instigated conversation and discussion between consultants and stakeholders, a discussion necessary to eventually reach a feasible and still creative approach.

03 Longitudinal section of the subterranean civic space. Wind towers pierce through large domed skylights. Undulating land forms nestle between the one to two-story houses, creating a new public garden on what was a road that split the historic town in half. The landscape on the street level is meant to blend in between the houses. By submerging the new development, the civic space would not overpower the houses. 04 Aerial perspective done in 2008-2009 of the subterranean civic space showing street level landscape of undulating land forms interspersed with skylights and wind towers. The new park connects the historic old palace on one end and the Friday mosque on the other. 05 Sketch perspective of entryway leading down to the subterranean civic space. Layers of tessellated glass panels peel away from the ground, revealing the entry down to the underground public plaza. 06 Sketch perspective of a new Friday mosque in the heart of the subterranean civic space. Large domed glass skylights cover the civic space allowing light to stream to the underground. Recreational and institutional areas also line the underground plaza. The mosque is envisioned to be covered with varying shades of iridescent blue ceramic tiles, evocative of the nearby Persian Gulf and history of pearl cultivation in the area.

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INFRASTRUCTURE

WRITTEN BY PETER MORRIS

SHEARES ISLAND Designed by OOZN Design Studio

01 The proposed pedestrian bridge is a simple lightweight structure that complements the design of the existing road bridge above. The pontoons will be turned into shaded island gardens, where people can relax and enjoy a unique public space. 02 The new pedestrian link will connect the 21-kilometer East Coast Park directly to the Northern City Center, creating an unbroken cycle superhighway from the Northeastern tip of the island at Changi Airport directly to the Singapore Flyer. The creation of a pedestrian and cycle superhighway will reduce the city’s commuter road traffic coming from the East.

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he Benjamin Sheares Bridge in Singapore is a 1.8-kilometer elevated concrete bridge connecting the East Coast Parkway to the city. The bridge rises 20 meters above the water, offering spectacular views of the CBD and Marina Bay, creating a dramatic introduction to the city from Changi Airport. Completed in 1981, the bridge’s height was intended to allow ships from the Kallang shipyards heading for the ocean to pass underneath. But since the shipyard’s closure and the completion of the Marina barrage, which disconnects Marina Bay from the ocean, this function is no longer needed. In 2011, during the construction of the Gardens by the Bay, we proposed a pedestrian and cycle superhighway under the Sheares Bridge, reimagining the pontoons as shaded island gardens. Using the existing bridge has numerous benefits, including reduced cost by negating the need to build new pontoons, and weather protection provided by the existing concrete road deck above. From an urban planning perspective, the symbiotic design will improve sightlines by eliminating the visual clutter created by a new standalone structure. We remain hopeful that this proposal, or a version of it, will eventually be realized. The ongoing development of Singapore’s park connector network, the Gardens by the Bay and Sports Hub has seen the completion of a 12-kilometer

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waterfront. The waterfront is comprised of the two loops of Kallang Basin and Marina Reservoir connected in a figure eight, and links into the 21-kilometer East Coast Park at Sheares bridge. The parks are experiencing a dramatic boom in user numbers, recreational and commuter, generating the need for an East-West pedestrian link, the shortest crossing point of which is Sheares Bridge. An independent pedestrian bridge that had been proposed as part of Gardens by the Bay East was not included in Phase One due to cost issues, a situation that has created an opportunity for the government to adopt our Sheares Island concept. A pedestrian link in this location is still included in the Singapore planning authority’s masterplan, but a construction date has yet to be confirmed. We hope that our sustainable and cost-effective solution will be considered, and we are currently in dialogue with the planning authority and our engineering partners so we could adapt our design to respond to changing urban and technical requirements. OOZN is a Singapore-based design studio established in 2013 by Rafal Kapusta and Stephanie Gunawan, with Peter Morris and Jay Panelo joining soon after. They have started work on projects in countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Germany. P R OJ E C T T E A M Peter Morris (project leader), Stephanie Gunawan, Rafal Kapusta, Chipik Alsi Tuinti, Jay Panelo

PLAN

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AFTER

While ships don’t pass under the bridge anymore, the Sheares Bridge still stands as an elegant landmark of Singapore. It offers the shortest crossing point between the northern CBD and the eastern part of Singapore, which makes it the ideal location to set up a pedestrian link for commuters. With the pedestrian link in place, we estimate it can cut 4 kilometers off the bike ride of commuters wishing to cross to the other side.

ELEVATION

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MIXED-USE

WRITTEN BY ROYAL PINEDA

The towers converse. The two multi-faceted hotel and bank towers create a dynamic convergence of lines and curves to make living architecture. Simplicity in form and composition is very important in creating architecture that works. Even with the simplest of silhouettes, you know the composition is right when you see it. The property is 9,866 sqm while the footprint for the two towers would have been 5,370 sqm.

e were commissioned to create iconic twin towers to house a hotel and bank offices on a triangular property in one of the most strategic spots in the Fort, Bonifacio Global City. This was seven years ago, when the Fort presented a clean slate, ideal for showcasing a locally designed project that was global in style and technologically up to date. We were very excited about the project, because all the early buildings then were designed by foreigners. The time was ripe for a Filipino to set the benchmark for modern Filipino architecture + design. It would have been a great statement in an upcoming dynamic city still shaping a new urban skyline. But it was not meant to be. The US, followed by many countries, fell into recession and the investors pulled out. The site is in a wonderful triangular lot, and the architecture is designed to move as you drive by the street, changing its face with every new angle from which it is viewed. With this design, I had hoped to show developers that modern Filipino architecture+design can contribute to a project’s value and viability as an investment, rather than going the route of applying foreign themes to one’s development. Strategically positioned solar panels envelop the 50- and 65-storey sculptural forms, providing most, if not the entire, power requirements of the buildings, with the existing electrical grid as back-up. What is needed for these towers to get built? Another bold client!

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The building envelope consists of thousands of integrated photovoltaic panels, both mirrorized and transparent. These are tilted to collect the sun’s energy at different times of the day, even without direct contact with sunlight. These solar windows are made of monocrystalline silicon cells sandwiched between two glass panes, which allow views and diffused light to come through. There are even innovations like dye-sensitized solar cells, and meso-superstructure solar cells (MSSC) wherein solar cells are printed directly on the glass curtain walls.

THE FORT TOWERS Designed by Royal Pineda for BuDji+Royal architecture + Design

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MIXED-USE

AS NARRATED TO JUDITH TORRES BY CARLOS ARNAIZ

SÉRVITA CIVIC CENTER

Designed by Carlos Arnaiz and Laura Del Pino of CAZA (Carlos Arnaiz Architects) his is a project we designed for a client in Colombia whom we’ve worked with a lot, one of the biggest office developers there. It unfortunately didn’t go through because he needed a certain amount of the land for it to work, and he was not able to buy all of the land, so in the end it got shelved. What was fascinating about the project was that the brief required a hybrid of three things: doctors’ offices, a civic center, and an art museum. The property our client was eyeing was right across the street from one of the city’s biggest hospitals, where there was a big demand for doctors’ offices. This would be part of the revenue-generating component of the development.

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The second part was going to be in partnership with the city. The government of Colombia had created this kind of one-stop-shop civic service center. They realized that people had to go to different city institutions to get different kinds of permits—driver’s license, marriage license, building permits, affidavits, and what-have-you—in different parts of town. So they said, “Let’s consolidate them.” They’d been doing this across Colombia, and it’s been very successful. So the civic center was going to be one-third of the development. Now there was an old historic home right in the center of the property that had to be preserved. We invited a museum to use the old home as headquarters, and that would be the third part of the development. We designed a garden that would bring together the doctors’ offices, the civic center and the gallery. In the garden, they would display sculptures, making Art the unifying force for the three components.

We designed the structures to look like a series of glass shards or diamonds rising up from out of the earth. These “shards” or “diamonds” are ways to bring light down into the doctors’ offices and the civic center underground; and ways for those offices also to peek out and admire the sculpture garden outside. Below We began our plan with a very compact distribution, and then we rotated the basic volumes and oriented them toward the mountains and the light. We added sunken gardens where open-air exhibitions could take place. We also included a theater (the building with the round drop lights). Instead of one large high-rise, the development has the scale and air of a village—a collection of low structures.

WRITTEN BY GE JOSON

HOSPITALITY

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SIBOL

Designed by Ge Joson and Miguel Ricalde

he Tagalog word for sprout, sibol, encapsulates the ideal of the project. This hot spring and wellness resort emulates natural patterns, with formal and spatial diagramming based on the environmental context. Because it is situated at a junction between two critical environmental landmarks, Laguna de Bay and Mt. Makiling, we took care in our design not to disrupt the natural flow of water from the mountain to the lake. Instead, we envisioned the site as a natural buffer and filter of water runoff, which could help mitigate flooding in the lowlands of Laguna. Existing site conditions were fed into the design process in combination with the programmatic requirements of the complex. These were visualized through generative diagrams that created a recursion in the design process. Through this feedback loop system, the complex was developed in an organic manner. Spatial organization was derived though direct and indirect circulation paths that

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lead and distribute users to different parts of the complex. The central core is the lobby, which bifurcates to the different areas of the resort—the hotel, the pools, wellness area and the museum. Dead ends are avoided without going through the same path twice. The core system is advantageous in bringing all the uses into close proximity to each other. The design’s formal translation reflects the eagerness of the structure to be seen and 02

01 The lobby is the main node through which one navigates to access the major areas of the complex. The Active-Relax diagram references the duality of Filipino culture of being both accommodating and reserved. The public space at the center transitions to more private and personal spaces and activities to the north. 02 The arrival area. Voronoi patterns seamlessly integrate the elements of the complex together. This was developed through Grasshopper scripting with parameters such as privacy and solar exposure as inputs. The voronoi, a pattern that occurs in nature, serves the structure as a secondary skin, privacy screen, sunshading, and helps induce ventilation. The patterns create enough enclosure for privacy and controlled porosity for “voyeurism,” inspired by the accommodatingreserved duality of Filipinos.

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03 The private pool is exclusive to hotel and villa guests at the top floor with voronoi skin as shade from excessive sun, and privacy from other parts of the complex. 04 The public pool is the most open part of the complex. The structure embraces the area to protect it from outside developments. From this vantage point, the structure is both imposing and playful, with the help of the porous façade. 05 Portions of the hotel shade a portion of the public pool. 06 The resort complex occupies 67,000 sqm of the 10.8-hectare property. Private areas are placed on the north-facing side of the structure to limit sun exposure. Public spaces serve as activity nodes around which the resort complex revolves. The “Active-Relax diagram” is clearly translated in the form that diminishes in scale as one traverses the site from south to north.

disappear at the same time. It follows the massiveness of the mountain at the south and slowly dissipates as it approaches the openness of the lake to the north. The massing creates a gradual visual scale and also harnesses wind circulation through the complex. Environmental studies dictated the location of the pool area and hotel room openings that directly face the north. The scale of the hotel was reduced visually by slicing the different levels and spreading them over a larger footprint.

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Sibol is the grand prize winner of the Metrobank Arts and Design Excellence (MADE) 2015 competition, architecture category. The challenge was to design a 109,548-square meter world-class resort with natural hot springs in Los Baños, Laguna. In addition to offering a wellness facility for retreat and physical activities, it would serve as a venue to showcase Philippine art and culture.

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WRITTEN BY JAYSON MATA

HOSPITALITY

e knew from the get-go that we would use bamboo as the main material. It is readily available in Laguna, is resilient, and with proper treatment and construction technology, will withstand time enough to realize the ROI of the development. The choice of bamboo forced us to continually rationalize our structure keeping in mind the qualities of our chosen material. At the same time, we were challenged to continually push how far we could build with bamboo. Our challenge was to present bamboo as elegant and modern in our applications, and overcome people’s perception of it as a humble and backward material.

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BAMBOO TELLS

Designed by Jayson Mata and Jelda Cabardo

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W E K N E W F R O M T H E G E T - G O T H AT WE WOULD USE BAMBOO AS THE M A I N M AT E R I A L . 03

One of our design and planning strategies was to go modular. The repetition of units and structures would save time and resources, which is beneficial for clients. The resort would have three building types: 1) pavilion modules with structural clustered bamboo column spines, bamboo arches, and roofs using anahaw shingles firmly overlaid with fishnet; 2) hotel modules using grids of clustered columns, bamboo beams and bamboo space frames; 3) villa units with green roofs and intelligent louver wall systems that adjust to the intensity of sunlight.

01 The villa, as a living structure where the ground landscape grows and becomes the roof. The innovation lies between combining bamboo technology and green roof system. 02 The sala, a feature lounge for the villa guest to experience. 03 The villa bathroom uses crushed bamboo for the flooring. A customized copper bathtub that looks like “Aladdin’s lamp” adds a touch of magic and modern art.

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HOSPITALITY

The Bamboo hotel (with majestic Mt. Makiling in the background) is conceived to be an architectural and engineering feat, using innovative bamboo construction technologies. The modular units are stacked facing north-east to avail of breezes from that direction, and enjoy views of Laguna de Bay. The built-up portions occupy only 15,114 sqm of the 10.8-hectare property.

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For the resort experience, our plan was inspired by Maria Makiling folklore. We wanted guests to experience the feeling of getting lost, exploring, finding and being found. The idea is to make the guests feel they are exploring places they've never been to. The lush bamboo forest promenade on the main interior curve road feels almost tunnellike, suggesting mystery at first, followed by discovery upon reaching different arrival points within the development. The Public Cluster Pavilions housing the hotel reception, lounge and restaurant are in the middle of the site. They form the resort’s hub where people arrive, depart and converge again. Curving decks and roads connect these structures to others in the resort, encouraging guests to wander around and experience the place. Guests today look for unique experiences. We are convinced we offer a unique solution via form and function. The architecture and materials feel local and familiar, yet are world-class, interesting and fresh.

Bamboo Tells is an entry to the Metrobank Arts and Design Excellence (MADE) 2015 competition, architecture category, where it received a special citation.

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01 The hotel arrival experience, a circular open space plan defined by the bamboo forests and accentuated by the bamboo pavilions. 02 The hotel reception pavilion interior showcasing bamboo as a flexible and graceful material. 03 Pavilions on water. A series of pavilions interconnected by a “spine” access, fronted by the two tiered infinity pools inspired by rice fields. 04 From the outside, the hotel units look like boxes, but the unit interiors feature a gable ceiling resulting from the innovative space framing system of the hotel structure. 05 One of two hot springs bound by thick bamboo forests for privacy. The space was conceived to invoke intimacy while communing with nature

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WRITTEN BY JC SAN LUIS

HOSPITALITY

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SOUTH LAGUNA PRIME

Designed by Angelo Ray Serrano and JC San Luis of 1/0 design collective

query about merging the geologic and the architectural into a cohesive entity resulted in a structure that blurs the boundaries between nature and man-made, with a volcano as the organic point of inspiration and a hotel structure as spouse. The development consists of three volcanic crater-inspired themes reflecting the site’s geologic profile: the Maar Crater Lakes of San Pablo City, the lush tropical valleys of eroded calderas, and the cinder cones of Laguna’s volcanic fields, which dominate the rugged topography of the province. In the northern section of the resort, the lowest in topography, is a crater lake that serves as catchment basin.

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In the middle section is a large bermed caldera park, a communal area. In the south is a cinder cone crater enveloped by the hotel structure. The hotel is an arc that cups the main water park. It is a single loaded plan with the units facing the park, and its corridor bound by a loaded retaining wall that cools the hotel structure. The hotel proper tapers on both ends, crests on the midsection, and is capped with a sweeping green roof that sinuously connects the hotel with the main resort complex and the cultural center, creating green pockets in areas where it bends.

01 The hotel is shielded on the south by soil and vegetation, negating the need for insulating against 8-12 hours of sun. Hotel rooms are all oriented to the north where there is little direct sun exposure, and a 270-degree view of Laguna de Bay and Mt. Makiling. 02 Orientation plays the most vital role in building an energy-efficient, green building. Developing the plan to avoid exposure to sun, and benefit from cooling breezes minimizes energy consumption for air conditioning.

03 South Laguna Prime aerial from the west. The property is 10.8 hectares, and the built up portions, including pools and landscaping, occupy one hectare. The resort complex forks into two, with the hotel on the bermed southern section, and the villas along a loop around the crater lake, tropical park and the caldera park. 04 The Crater Lake. We used a community-driven approach to design the masterplan. An axis of plazas and green areas connect the caldera, crater and cinder cone concepts to encourage a socially engaging development. Culture will be further nourished in programs that include the community: dance halls, exhibition spaces and retail spaces to showcase Laguna.

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PLANS

A QUERY ABOUT MERGING THE GEOLOGIC AND ARCHITECTURAL R E S U LT E D I N A STRUCTURE T H AT B L U R S T H E B O U N DA RI E S B E T W E E N N AT U R E AND MAN - MADE

TR ANSPORT

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GREENS

We took the conventional volume of a hotel, curled it into a semi-circle, made it compliant with local building codes, and reduced density at the east and west ends to preserve views for the central section. This is the form of a cinder cone, inspired by Mt. Makiling nearby. It also naturally creates sunshade for majority of the amenities at ground level.

WATERSCAPES

DE V E LOPME NT 60m

60m 60m 60m

CONVENTIONAL HOUSING BLOCK

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MODIFIED HOUSING BLOCK

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WRITTEN BY YONNI HABÚLAN

HOSPITALITY

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TANIKALA Designed by Yonni Habúlan and Maricris Ngo of HANDStudio

01 Private villas undulate from the ground forming a roof garden structure that envelopes the living spaces within. 02 The hotel’s form was derived from a bundle of coconut coir. Its distinct skin, whose pattern and shape were derived from the random cuts found on the trunk of a coconut tree, provides shading and privacy while maintaining transparency and natural ventilation. 03 By burying the theater facility slightly below ground and carefully peeling its front to face the plaza and amphitheater, there is minimal obstruction to the vistas. 04 Local cultural representations of the region mold the architectural forms. The museum (center) was crafted to emerge as a landscape out of rice fields. To the left, the spiralling structure is an interactive vertical hydroponic farm symbolically integrates science and nature into the development, and presents a sculptural piece into the landscape.

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his is an international hot spring and wellness resort. We began the design process by identifying natural and manmade environments significant to Filipino society and culture— Mount Makiling, UP Los Baños, International Rice Research Institute, the National Arts Center, and the nearby Ayala Greenfield Estates—and linked them to the project site. We took cues from these adjacencies to form and mold the project design, giving it a clear sense of place. The result is a pragmatic Filipino design that is not defined by notions of what Philippine architecture should be. Rather, it is architecture that represents Filipinos as dictated by location, culture and purpose. The complex has three zones—culture, activity, and wellness—which we envision as immersive environments. The culture zone includes the arrival area, museum and theater. The activity zone includes the amphitheater, nexus water feature, interactive vertical farm, and sports facilities. The wellness zone includes the hotel, spa, villas, and meditation garden. All are formed and laid out with the highest respect for the graceful presence of the Lady of Mount Makiling.

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WRITTEN BY CRYSTAL VENTURA

HOSPITALITY

01 The area of the site is 9,559 sqm, with the hotel taking up 8,250 sqm—an 80% site occupancy that led to our decision to “bury” the events hall. The casitas are terraced to follow the existing slope of the site. There are only two rooms for each floor, to lessen foot traffic and provide exclusivity. 02 The walls of the hotel lobby are made of cast-in-place concrete finished to resemble stone. A giant concave swoop embraces the round drop-off while a simple cantilevered canopy offsets the curves of the structure. 03 Once inside the lobby, guests are released to a tranquil view of Taal Lake.

CELEBRITY HOTEL

Designed by Ed Ledesma of Leandro V. Locsin Partners

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n 2011, Sir Ed Ledesma (Managing Partner of Leandro V. Locsin Partners) asked me and my colleague, Frances Cortez, to spearhead this project. A local TV personality had bought a sizable lot in Tagaytay with exceptional views of Taal Lake. The lot was heavily populated with trees and had an existing house on a steep slope. Falling in love with the views, the owner wanted to put up a boutique hotel. We met with him several times, and he gave us the impression of being a simple man cast into the roller-coaster ride of mainstream media. This project gave us the opportunity to create something unique to the place. We adhered to

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T H E S T RU C T U R E ’ S R AW CONCRETE FINISH IS FRAMED AN D SO F TE N E D BY L AN DSC API N G, MAKI NG THE WHOLE DEVE LOPME NT APPEAR AS IF IT WERE MADE OUT OF MONOLITHIC STONE. 02

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LVLP’s principle of designing contemporary tropical architecture, and utilized long, sharp eaves for the design of the hotel. Because of the site’s slope and topography, we used cut and fill to layout the guest rooms efficiently. Viewed from above, the rooms look like terraces of concrete, water and grass. The structure’s raw concrete finish is framed and softened by landscaping, making the whole development appear as if it were made out of monolithic stone.

Each casita has an infinity pool that opens to the view and is buffered by a canopy of greenery that provides privacy to the casita below.

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HOSPITALITY

T H I S P R O J E C T I S A S T O RY O F H O W M A N - M A D E M AT E R I A L S A N D N AT U R A L E L E M E N T S C A N B R I N G O U T E A C H O T H E R ’ S B E AUT Y WHEN USED TOGETHER. 02

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01 The interiors of the casitas are generous and have several lounge areas. A spacious living area greets guests as they enter their casita and an outdoor dining area subtly floats above the infinity pool. Frameless glass doors add to the openness of each casita. 02 The amenity floor at the bottom of the hotel includes a game room, a casual restaurant and an infinity pool which opens to the view. The large structural columns are clad with stone. 03 Because of the site's steep topography, the surface area to build an event hall was limited. We decided to "bury" the structure and cantilever a portion of it to maintain the desired area as well as conceal it from view. The all-glass facade of the cantilevered portion also enhances the view from the events hall.

SITE DEVELOPMENT PLAN

C A S I TA S

E V E N T S/M U S I C H A L L (F U T U R E D E V E L O PM E N T )

L O B BY

P R OJ E C T T E A M Chief designer: Ed Ledesma Project leaders: Crystal Ventura and Frances Cortez Team members: Jiddu Bulatao, Charms Chua, JP Dela Cruz, Dhen Degala, Gabriel Halili, Xander Lacson, Maryneil Velasco

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While the client was blown away by our schematic presentation, there were a lot of loose ends that prevented the project from rolling. The project required efficiency programs and feasibility studies, as well as technical consultants, project managers and construction supervisors who were unable to get on board because of budgetary constraints. Several months after our presentation, there was no further instruction from the client so the project was eventually shelved. This project is a story of how man-made materials (concrete and glass) and natural elements (water and greenery) can bring out each other’s beauty when used together. In several instances during the design process, we treated architecture as the landscape, and vice versa. I believe good architecture is about striking a good balance between the two.

WRITTEN BY ROYAL PINEDA

HOSPITALITY

I love the simplicity of the composition and construction. The way simple design can be built in a country limited in resources coupled with high cost of technology, and yet still convey a distinct character that sets itself as an icon in the skyline. For me, truthfulness in approach sends the meaning of your message more deeply than when designs are contrived, pretentious, or not authentic to our context.

aving already collaborated with us previously, the client believed we were the right people to interpret their project. We share the same sensibility; and the modern tropical architecture and design that we do complements their brand personality. They felt that the collaboration would reverberate our philosophies both ways. It was a perfect match. As with all our projects, it was exciting to create a sense of place...amplifying what is Filipino, especially in the city. The added pop would be integrating their brand name and soul into the architecture and design. What I like about it this project is the honesty of the design addressing the tropicality of our context. At the same time, we developed this to be a green building right from the basic planning to technology application, exhibiting the first and second lines of green architecture. The project, however, did not push through; a decision made by the investors. What would I be willing to change for it to get built? I wouldn’t change anything. It’s a practical design. It could, however, incorporate future improvements as new materials and technology are developed. If this unbuilt project were to be a case study for architecture students, what I hope they would take away from it would be the honesty and truthfulness in the approach in terms of architectural composition and construction. Architecture and design do not have to have highfaluting forms or very complicated silhouettes to achieve a statement. Both function and delight must shape the form, and not delight alone.

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The Raintree Hotel was to be built in Alabang. The helipad and crown create a silhouette of the rain tree—conveying the brand, as well as the meaning of the design and its philosophy. From afar, it sends a strong visual message, announcing the presence of a tropical resort in the city. Then, the features are realized and experienced as you explore and immerse in the spaces.

RAINTREE HOTEL Designed by Royal Pineda for BUDJI+ROYAL Architecture + Design

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WRITTEN BY MARIA CECILIA CADIZ-VEGA

HOSPITALITY

JEBEL JAIS MOUNTAIN HOTEL Designed by Cadiz International

rom 2001 to 2008, the whole of UAE was undergoing tremendous real estate development growth. Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) is one of the UAE Emirates that remains very special to our CEO, Medardo T. Cadiz. His Highness Sheihk Saud Saqr Al Qasimi, the ruler of RAK, has known Medardo since the late 1990s, having been recommended to His Highness by one of Medardo’s clients. There was always an ease in their relationship, partly due to the fact that both were alumni from the University of Michigan and graduated in the same year. The Jebel Jais Mountain Hotel is one of the many special projects Cadiz International (CI), has been fortunate to have done for HH. It was 2004 when the Cadiz team, together with Medardo, went to visit and fell in love with RAK. It is so different from Dubai, as RAK distinguishes itself from the other six UAE Emirates by having four different landscapes: the Arabian Sea coastline, the desert, the plains and the mountains. European tourists who visit RAK stay longer primarily to experience the peacefulness it offers. HH believed that RAK’s future tourism development should continue to offer that point of difference. We were awed on our first visit to the mountains. After a workshop on another project, HH shared with CI his thoughts of how little land along the coastline would be left, and how important RAK’s ongoing road construction to Al Jais mountain range is. HH advised us that it would take years (maybe 10) to reach its elevation of 1,900 feet above sea level, to make the mountains more accessible and the land

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We envisioned the architecture to be “of the mountain”—designed to integrate, respect and embody the qualities that make up the “language” of Al Jais. This meant creating architecture that sat not on a plane, but moved on different levels and cascaded in response to the topography of the site, presenting us with opportunities for discovery and surprise. We proposed using the stones quarried from the mountains so as to blend naturally with the landscape. The hotel footprint would cover 7,260 sqm of mountainside, with 3,745 for the main lobby level, and 3,515 for the hotel ramparts. At 1,900 meters above sea level, Jebel Jais, Ras Al Khaimah’s tallest peak, is less than one-fourth as high as Mt. Everest (8,800+ meters), and lower than our Mt. Apo (2,900+ meters), but in the context of desert lands, is one of RAK’s most alluring destinations, and its coldest, with temperatures ranging from -10ºC to 10ºC, compared to the lowlands’ 25ºC to 40ºC.

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developable for future residential communities and a hotel sitting on the highest elevation level. And just like that, HH said: “Medardo, you have to see the mountains to know what I am talking about!” A helicopter was arranged in the next hour to fly the CI team to the plateau of Jebel Jais. It was the only way to access the project site. We used a military helicopter flown by a Russian pilot and met up with a weathered and ancient-looking man, our guide, dressed in a white dish-dash, leather sandals and carrying a wooden walking stick—he looked almost biblical. We were transported high up and made a tour of RAK city and its surroundings, then veered to the mountains. It was an experience to fly and see the mountain ranges from high above, and to gently land on the plateau, to experience the colors, the sense of isolation, the grandness, and the utter stillness. Our initial discussions and thoughts on the vision with HH was of creating a modern and contemporary experience for the hotel using steel and glass, with floating decks that would let the scenery in. But after our visit, we realized it needed to be something more special. It had to feel as if the hotel grew out of the mountains, and had been there for generations—weathered over time yet romantic, solid, roughly-hewn and warm, with all the rich colors and textures that the mountain has shown us. HH Sheikh Saud and his development team received the concept design favorably and await the mountain road access to be completed to start this project. The project is not built yet because access to the site is still in progress. The Al Jais mountain range is very isolated and the terrain, unforgiving. Only when the roads have been built, and people and supplies can safely ascend, can our vision for the project be finally realized.

WRITTEN BY WILLIAM TI JR.

HOSPITALITY

CLOUDSCAPE Designed by WTA Architecture & Design Studio

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01 Terraces will be carved out on the sloping site, for hotel rooms and condo units. Because of the cascading landscape of the development, the walkways and public areas will open up opportunities for social interaction among guests. 02 View from the residential area of Cloudscape

Cloudscape is to be built on 14 hectares of sloping terrain in Tagaytay, with a building footprint of 12,500 sqm. On the west side of the development is the residential area, with prime units on top for the best views. The hotel and clubhouse are situated on the east. The existing dirt road will be kept for vehicles to shuttle guests to different areas.

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he owners presented us with a lot located on the less busy side of Tagaytay, and asked us to do a concept study for a hospitality project. The site was quite challenging given the sloping terrain, not to mention the stretch of zigzag road that cuts through the middle of the property. Our concept was derived from the climate of Tagaytay, specifically the fog that cloaks the area from time to time. We believe that the people who regularly visit Tagaytay are after the chilly weather, not only the view of Taal Lake and the volcano. This gave us an interesting starting point for developing the character of the project. Taking inspiration from the experience of walking through Tagaytay fog, we came up with a design that begs to be explored and discovered. The structures are supposed to act as part of the landscape, blurring the boundaries between indoor and outdoor space. The whole development will be sculpted out of the mountainside, and terraces containing the hotel rooms and residential units will be created. By integrating the structures with the topography, users will be unable to quickly grasp the development’s scale and complexity, prodding them to further explore and discover more of it.

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WRITTEN BY BUCK RICHNOLD SIA

HOSPITALITY

FJ HOTEL

Designed by Zubu Design Associates

have a special attachment to our first scheme for the FJ (Fujinoya) Hotel (which is under construction now, but with a different design). I feel that it articulated well the ideals of Postmodernism, an architectural philosophy that had a great influence on me at the time. This fascination for Postmodernism was triggered by two memorable conversations. The first was a conversation I had with my student, which digressed into the topic of Postmodernism in the Philippines. I was cynical about the quality of our Postmodernist buildings, but my student argued that Postmodernism came in a different form in the country as a result of Modernist ideals adapting to our local climate and setting. The next instance was a conversation with Michael Graves’ protégé, Lyndon Neri. I was curious why Michael Graves, whom I consider the best among the New York Five (perhaps even better than Richard Meier) shifted from Modernism to Postmodernism and why Neri’s works were not reminiscent of his mentor’s. Neri’s answer was that Graves felt that being good and known for something should not hinder one from trying something else. I then asked myself: Am I a Modernist, a Postmodernist or a Post-Postmodernist? I realized that though I have Modernist sensibilities, some of my works show hints of Postmodernism and even “Post-postmodernism” because of my inclination to refer to history.

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The FJ Hotel is a 16-storey boutique hotel with 176 rooms, amenities and an entire floor for corporate offices. It occupies an 11,000-square meter property. The modem arch on the podium’s façade gives an illusion of weightlessness to the tower.

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01 A series of arches is the prominent feature of the hotel, seen in both the exterior and the interior, as seen in the lobby. 02 From the space program, we determined the required areas and sizes of the rooms. Deviating from Modernist glass boxes, we then applied our concept of the arch on the building envelope through additive transformation, and came up with a playful façade and an asymmetrical building form. 03 The pool and bar area are located on the lower floor balcony overlooking the street.

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I always tell my students to study history and let it guide them in the design process. While Modernism eschews historicity, Postmodernism celebrates it. The broken pediment crowning Philip Johnson’s AT&T Tower (now Sony Building) in New York—the building that ushers the Postmodern era—is a reference to a historic architectural element. Similarly, our first scheme for the FJ Hotel pays homage to history. The arch, which is both an architectural and structural element, is the defining feature of the plan and the façade. The arch is a remnant from the classical period but is still widely used today. The thing about putting up arches and doing arc layouts is they eat up space. The first scheme did not materialize because we had to increase the GFA per floor and maximize the footprint. Hence, our original intention was lost in the revision. Nevertheless, we are satisfied with the outcome. Will I apply my concept for the first scheme to another project? No. I want to explore other options for my next commissions.

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RECREATIONAL

WRITTEN BY LEANDRO NICHOLAS RAÑOA POCO

VIEWFINDER CLUBHOUSE Designed by L.A. Poco & Associates

The view of the approach to the clubhouse from the village. The angles berms and opaque walls with slit-like openings allude to hillside defensive fortifications. The entry portal behaves like a scene viewfinder used by artists to define the extent of their painted scenes.

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he project is a clubhouse and amenity park for a landed development in Nuvali, Canlubang, Laguna. It's a 500-square meter clubhouse with a social hall that can accommodate table service for 100-plus persons, a kitchen, event storage and spillover spaces, administration and security offices, and restrooms and bathhouses. It is sited in a 3-hectare park, set on the side of a hill overlooking a wooded natural bowl. The hillside has views of the Metro Manila skyline, which is why we took to naming the scheme, “Viewfinder.” The park was landscaped with Land Design One of Singapore, and amenities include a 5-lane lap pool, kiddie pool, view deck, basketball court, storm shelters and walkways spanning the park's landscape.

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Our design concepts are the viewfinder, an enjoinder to partkake of the breathtaking views afforded by the site, and to continually see them with fresh eyes; and the form of hilltop forts, which are exemplars of good integration of landscape and architecture.

W E WA N T E D TO USE THE CLUBHOUSE AS A MEANS OF HEIGHTENING THE EXPERIENCE OF SEEING THE VIEWS.

Design Rationale The design is driven by the site's unique context. Architects will seldom get the chance to work on such a picturesque site and we wanted to use the clubhouse structure as a means of heightening the experience of seeing the views. The idea is to "constrict" views by creating walled berms that don't directly show the view of the skyline and hillside. The walled berms are similar to walled hillside forts, which are usually located with great vistas for defensive purposes. We created a portal at the arrival area to frame the views to the metro skyline and to eventually lead people to the pool deck and amenities below. Circumstances The scheme is a favorite in our office because of its response to the site and because we seldom get the chance to take a very constricted, client-based program (when working with corporate developers) toward a less thematic, utilitarian direction.

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01 The clubhouse overlooks a wooded hillside that forms a natural bowl, which serves as the park and open space amenity for the village development. The amenity park area is approximately three hectares, and the clubhouse footprint, 500 sqm. 02 The amenity park has a path of dry stream-beds which are spanned by pedestrian bridges. The clubhouse anchors the top of the hill and serves as an orientational device for park visitors.

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RECREATIONAL

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The fact that we were given a chance to come up with something different and we were given the chance to present it to management was a great experience. We gained a bit of confidence in our ability to do so in other projects as well, despite the developer's decision to go with a more traditional, vernacular hipped-roof clubhouse scheme. This decision was driven really by market dynamics, their concern was that something “too modern" wouldn't be appreciated by their segment of the housing market. Personally, I've wanted to do something that makes use of walls and berms because I think modern architecture's language makes so much use of transparency and openness, that I think most designers/students have lost the ability to contain a space with the opacity of a wall. Opaque walls don't only contain space, but frame views and serve as backdrops for events and attractions. Opaque walls also lead people toward paths in a manner that is direct but at the same time discreet. I think my attempts to use opaque walls this way is a symptom of my introspective personality. The berms are an interesting feature because berming or the use of sloping soil creates a diagonal plane on which you could lift the planting palette of a landscape. It's like angling a dish of food so that it can be appreciated better. The concepts of framing views and creating constriction in space/views is something we look to do in our work when there are opportunities to do so. So, while we may not get the chance to replicate the design exactly, we may be able to apply the same conceptual approach, tailored to specific site conditions.

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T H E FA C T T H AT W E W E R E G I V E N A CHANCE TO COME UP WITH S O M E T H I N G D I F F E R E N T WA S A G R E AT E X P E R I E N C E . 02

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01 The lobby serves as the village’s living room, overlooking the pool deck and park. 02 The view from the pool and park side show a more open/ glazed façade directing views to the park and the Metro Manila skyline. The pop-out box on the upper floor is a function room for village association meetings and private functions. 03 The lobby or village living room with a screen wall to filter views of the pool and skyline from the drop off

ASSEMBLY

WRITTEN BY MICAELA BENEDICTO

RIZAL THEATER Designed by MB Architecture Studio he project was to be a center for independent film. I was excited at the thought of designing a stand-alone cinema, similar to those I used to go to as a kid. I wanted to bring back the excitement of going to a theater instead of a mall. The site was an arc-shaped lot at The Fort Strip in Bonifacio Global City. The three auditoriums took up half of the buildable area, leaving the other half for auxiliary spaces like lobbies, offices and a souvenir shop. Since the auditoriums had to be without openings for lighting and acoustics control, I thought of dividing the building’s mass into two: one solid and opaque, and the other, light and transparent—an allegory to the comedy and tragedy masks, the symbol of theater. The solid volume would house the auditoriums and the transparent volume, the auxiliary spaces. The transparent wing features a sleek access ramp, like those in the old Greenhills Theater. The lobbies and lounge function as event spaces, so I thought it would be interesting if they were permeable and connected. A café and a theater bar can be found under the raked audience area. I wanted to use this void as a cave-like space, with an area depressed a few steps down for a conversation pit. The clients wanted to do open-

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air screenings as well, so I planned for an outdoor rooftop cinema. I wish I had more images to illustrate my ideas, but the exterior perspective was about as far as we got since the production company that commissioned us shelved the project for lack of funding. I hope students learn that architectural forms can be derived not just from the program but also abstract ideas, which may be articulated in space, volume and form. A building’s appearance need not be a literal reference to certain objects. Exposure to photography and film trains the eye and opens the mind to the power of allegorical images to convey ideas, and I like to think that my appreciation of motion pictures helped me arrive at a fitting concept.

The monolithic wing that curves along the property line would be finished with textured concrete similar to Leandro Locsin’s Brutalist buildings at the CCP complex, while the transparent wing would have a glass façade revealing a section of layered spaces connected by an accordion of exposed ramps.

1 Theater 2 Café and bar 3 Roof deck and events area 4 Formal lobby and gallery 5 Snack bar 6 Lobby lounge 7 Souvenir shop

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WRITTEN BY MA. CONCEPCION V. ROXAS

The structure's form was inspired by the undulating waves of the sea representing the ups and downs—the opportunities and challenges—of marine life conservation in Tubbataha.

SAGAY: THE TUBBATAHA MARINE LIFE SANCTUARY Designed by Villegas-Roxas Consultants esigning the “Sagay,” our entry to The Innovative Minds 2013 Virtual Context competition, had been an exciting experience for our team. As one of the applicants from sixteen countries, we were tasked to integrate virtual reality and architecture to address important issues. It took a stretch of imagination to come up with an innovative concept for our chosen site, the Tubbataha Reefs. Our idea was to design a subaquatic sanctuary that would promote the beauty of this marine habitat. The structure is accessed by watercraft. Guests enter through the main structure that seems to float on the ocean. It leads to the docking views that provide vantage points where guests can appreciate the natural beauty of Palawan. Hopefully, this would make people realize how we are all invested in preserving these wonderful gifts of nature.

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The Tubbataha Reefs in Cagayancillo, Palawan, is one of the biggest reef systems in the world. It houses 396 species of corals, about half of all coral species on the planet! Our idea is to have reef building coral polyps fitted throughout the structure in depths that are suitable for corals to live in.

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NEWLY BUILT

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The Virtual Marine Life Immersion facility, using virtual reality simulation, immerses guests in a marine ecosystem without the need for diving apparatus—a low-impact alternative to physical interaction with marine life. Right Sagay is fitted with low-voltage electrical current cables (safe for humans and marine life) to facilitate accelerated reef growth. In time, whether it is operational or abandoned, corals will attach to the structure, multiply and build a new reef, replacing part of what has been destroyed in recent decades due to ruinous fishing practices. 100-200 YEARS

Below the ocean surface are three floor levels dedicated to Virtual Marine Life Immersion (VMLI) facilities. VLMI simulates the underwater environment of Tubbataha in actual scale to create awareness, leaving visitors with an impression of swimming through one of the greatest and most biodiverse coral reef systems in the world. The first level depicts the destruction of the coral reefs through man-made activities. The second depicts the destruction of reefs by natural causes, some of which are also triggered by man such as global warming. The tertiary level shows a “utopia” of coral reefs where human and marine life co-exist harmoniously. What we like most about this is the fact that in time, the structure itself can be part of the coral reef. Based on our research, the design is structurally feasible though expensive to build. Nevertheless, we are open to changes and improvements as long as the translations of the main concepts like the VLMI are not lost. We want to push for awareness as a concrete first step in saving our precious marine ecosystems. Students should be more proactive when it comes to designing buildings that balance the needs of man with those of nature. We're proud to say that our firm won third honorable mention, the only Filipino firm that made it to the finals.

W H AT W E L I K E MOST ABOUT THIS IS T H E FAC T T H AT I N T I M E , TH E STRUC TU RE ITS E LF CAN B E PA R T O F T H E C O R A L R E E F. DI A G R A M

Access ways Docks Main structure Structural suppor ts First level Second level Third level

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AS NARRATED TO JUDITH TORRES BY CARLOS ARNAIZ

COSTA RICA CONGRESS HALL Designed by Carlos Arnaiz and Laura del Pino of CAZA

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The irregular geometry of CAZA’s design for the Costa Rica Congress Hall is organized around a series of hypercubes that hold themselves up. This rendering shows the distribution of the units, including the orientation of the façade louvers and the various floors inside the main structure. The lots for the congress hall and offices come to just over 9,000 sqm, while the footprints for the two buildings would have been 563 and 451 sqm respectively.

e were invited to a competition to design the Congress Hall of Costa Rica. We didn’t win, but then nobody really won because there was a big corruption scandal and the project was scrapped. Costa Rica is in South America and it has a very interesting political history. When one thinks of South America, one thinks of military dictatorships, coup d’états, revolutions and corrupt governments. Costa Rica, however, actually is quite an exception. They’ve always been a peaceful country. They never had a dictator; they don’t even have armed forces, and their political system is open and transparent. So we wanted to create a building that embodied that sense of transparency. That’s why the building rises up and then comes down creating what looks like a big gateway—almost like an archway that frames a plaza at the bottom. The idea was at the plaza, the public could come and convene with their government officials, because in the brief, they said they wanted a place where government officials could speak to the public. Here at the plaza, they could announce policy changes, respond to disagreements, that sort of thing. That’s why the building has that shape and form. Is it buildable? Very much so! It’s basically a

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bridge. If you take out the boxes and look at the essential form, it’s just two legs with an arm across. Eco-friendly design The stripes on the façade are aluminum louvers. The idea behind the louvers is that Costa Rica is environmentally conscious—everything has to be eco-friendly. They’re one of the pioneers in nature conservation. More than 60% of the land in Costa Rica is nature reserves, and they’ve made their reputation globally as an eco-friendly destination. So we worked with a bunch of environmental engineers based here in New York, who helped us create a brise soleil louver system that shrouded all of the offices, the library and Congress Hall all in glass, but with these solar protective visors so that there would be no heat gain and essentially the building would be passively cooled. We wanted to harvest the rainwater, circulate it through the building and in that manner, cool the building so that you would not need air conditioning for the most part of the year. That was actually one of the big design challenges while doing the Congress Hall. The sky gardens in the different parts of the building are possible because Costa Rica is further south of the hurricane line; hurricanes do not hit them.

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CONGRESS HALL INITIAL GEOMETRY The hypercube is a geometrical figure that consists of two cubes located diagonally in plan and elevation, and connected with a series of parallel line segments that create interior spaces that belong to both cubes. It is because of these spaces originated by the intersection of the cubes that we chose this figure as the starting point for our proposal. We thus were able to organize interior gardens/public spaces inside these zones while keeping a closed and compact skeleton. In this first diagram, we explain how we build the hypercube: First, we draw a point (dimension 0); then, a line (dimension 1) which would be part of a square (dimension 2); then, a cube (dimension 3) and finally, the hypercube (dimension 4). We also marked the varied volumes that resulted from the intersection of the cubes and how they were related to each other. This diagram is essential because it shows the basic unit we used to create the entire building. (Editor’s note: Explanations regarding the diagrams were written by Laura del Pino)

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UNITS ANALYSIS Based on the previously created hypercube, we designed a series of interconnected units that were capable of supporting themselves while creating a more open civic space. This diagram explains how the units vary in size and orientation and how the hypercubes are stacked on top of each other in order to produce a stable structure. In fact, some of the units are not completely closed skeletons, which helped us add elevated gardens that would have overlooked the city.

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This exploded diagram explains the distribution of the units (including the orientation of the façade louvers and the number of floors) inside the general structure. The approach of this drawing is similar to the Unit Analysis diagram but we included the plan and the elevations so it would be easier to identify how the stacking of the hypercubes took place.

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The Congress Hall building connects with the Costa Rica National Park, making it a part of the people’s lives, and articulating their representatives’ commitment to openness and nature conservation.

CONCEPT PROCESS OF THE CONGRESS HALL

01 The program covers the whole lot in two levels

02 Reorganization of the program

The series of diagrams explains how we organized the Congress Hall program by size and how we integrated the initial cubes into the lot. We used the grid as a starting point because it was extremely flexible and helped us distribute the program in plan and in elevation. We also wanted to establish an open space on the ground floor so that people would be able to use it for gatherings, demonstrations and civic activities. Finally, we did not want to make the program a series of compartmentalized containers and thus, we decided to use the hypercube as the basic unit of our proposal.

01 Grid as a starting point

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03-04 Reorganization of the program to make the proposal more porous

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04 Connections with the Parque Nacional and Main Avenue

05 Creation of a visual and pedestrian connection with the Parque Nacional

06 Reorganization of the program so that the transitions are more fluid

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CONCEPT PROCESS OF THE OFFICE BUILDING We applied the same method to the Office Building design so that the openness and variability of the Congress Hall would be part of the adjacent structures.

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WRITTEN BY EDWIN BARCIA

INSTITUTIONAL

SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM Designed by T.I. Vasquez Architects & Planners, Inc.

The northeast façade of the Guggenheim Museum in Helsinki, where the drop-off for vehicles is located. The museum is bordered by open water on this side, and by a main thoroughfare and park on the southwest. Low-E double glazed curtain wall systems are used on all façades to help keep the heat in during winter, and out during summer. Below The museum's location exposes all sides of the building to the sun during summer at different times of the day. Offsetting this is a heliotropic louver system to control heat gain and loss from the museum’s large curtain wall area. In this system, wooden trussed brise soleil swing open and close from their fixed cantilevered planes to shade the building in hours when it gets direct solar exposure during summer. Thermally modified spruce or pine is used as cladding for the exterior and interior walls and floors.

he intersecting volumes, planes and materials in our proposed design for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum are an architectural translation of what a museum is—an intersection of ideas, philosophies and artists—for what will be the cultural meeting point and artistic hub of the city. The space requirements are spread as needed throughout two connected buildings, the North and South Rakennus (Finnish for “structures”), not conforming to clear-cut zoning patterns. Outsized horizontal planes of wood, stone, concrete and glass that protrude beyond the masses frame views to several of the city’s historical and architectural landmarks. Linking the museum to its vicinity was a priority, to further the concept of intersections.

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The glass curtain wall on the second and third floors frames majestic views of Helsinki, letting visitors going down the ramp see architectural landmarks such as the Helsinki Cathedral and the Uspenski Cathedral. Below Plans showing the different views visitors can see from inside each floor of the museum. By opening up parts of the building to views of the city, the museum stays true to the concept of intersections and connectivity.

Perspective showing the northwest façade of the museum. The curtain wall allows visitors to see views of Helsinki from inside.

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A pedestrian bridge at the upper ground level of the South Rakennus provides convenient access to Tahitornin Vuori Park and Laivasillankatu Street, both of which border the museum on the southwest. From the lobby, visitors may take the lift or escalator up to the third floor and start a downward route from there, viewing the smaller galleries that eventually lead down to the main gallery on the second floor via ramp. The main gallery is connected to five smaller galleries, including a special gallery that also serves as the canopy for the drop-off area at the entrance of the museum. The upper ground floor is comprised of the main lobby, open gallery, and the public area which catches the influx of visitors coming from the pedestrian bridge. A “winter forest” serves as the centrepiece of this floor, a pocket of nature enveloped by the lobby and smaller galleries. The layout conveys openness and playfulness, convenience and informality, and an ease of use—the same traits commonly found in art. Furthermore, the museum portrays Helsinki as a city on the verge of sharing its rich culture to the world. Although our firm didn’t win, it was rewarding for us to be part of a prestigious competition participated in by architects from all over the world.

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The lot for the museum will be two hectares. The North Rakennus has four levels, with the main lobby and open gallery on the upper ground, and small galleries on the third level. The South Rakennus houses the fine dining restaurant, café and museum shop, and the main gallery spaces on the second level. On the upper ground floor plan, notice the pedestrian bridge connecting the museum to Tahitornin Vuori park and Laivasillankatu, giving pedestrians and commuters easy access to the building.

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1 Service 2 Maintenance and operations 3 Collections storage and management 4 Receiving 5 Loading and unloading 6 Cold storage 7 Dry storage 8 Office 9 Garbage room 10 Utility room 11 Programs and events 12 Multi-purpose area 13 Ticket office 14 Drop-off

1 Service 2 Public walkway 3 Main lobby 4 Open gallery 5 Museum store 6 Ante room 7 Winter forest 8 Main drop-off 9 Public area 10 Kitchen 11 Cafe 12 Offices 13 Design store 14 Fine dining 15 Plaza 16 Shallow pond

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P R OJ E c T T E A M Topy Vasquez, Jimmy Hermogenes, Edwin Barcia, Toni Vasquez, Nikko Nava, Alyssa Par, Gelo Reyes

WRITTEN BY JOHN PATRICIO AND BRYAN GABALDON

INSTITUTIONAL

HELSINKI MUSEUM

Designed by Daryl Van Abaygar, Bryan Andrew Gabaldon, John Andrew Patricio and Nelson Roquero

he City of Helsinki was the World’s Design Capital in 2012 and is home to a number of museums exhibiting internationally significant artworks. In line with the city’s urban renewal efforts, a leading modern and contemporary art institution organized a competition for architects to design a new Helsinki museum. The project is to be built on an 18,000-square meter waterfront site within the city’s south harbor, Etelasatama, a former industrial area that now functions as a ferry terminal adjacent to the Tahititornin Vuori Park and the Market Hall. It was our group’s first attempt to design for an international project. Apart from designing a landmark building in a foreign country, joining a competition alongside huge international firms was both a big challenge and exciting opportunity to test our mettle. There were 1,715 entries, of which six finalists were chosen and only one was proclaimed winner. We didn’t make it to the finals. We submitted an avant garde museum that incorporates passive and active green building strategies to retain interior heat and produce energy for the building. From the Tahtitornin Vuori Park, we designed an elevated link bridge with a bike lane to allow park visitors direct access to the museum without having to cross the road. In retrospect, we think our strategy of integrating all activity spaces under one roof did not sit well with the jury as it may have disrupted the waterfront skyline, in contrast to the winning entry’s series of interconnecting pavilions with a lookout tower. With over a

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thousand solutions by architects of diverse backgrounds, cultures and personal experiences, the jury favored the winning proposal’s design that provides a seamless transition between spaces while establishing a strong connection with the historic city center through orientation. Competitions like this give architects the freedom to conceptualize solutions in a “non-standard” way and the opportunity to experiment. We can be flexible in how to go about our design without worrying about client validation. There are no phases and client meetings, just a deadline that you have to pull all the stops to meet. We believe joining competitions benefits the profession. Realistically speaking, we don’t see our design getting built or replicated for a similar project, local or international, in the near future. But if there’s another chance to play on the world stage, we’ll do it again!

Since Helsinki’s road network is designed with cyclists and pedestrians in mind, we followed suit with bike ramps and paths running along the open parks at ground level. We continued the park’s landscape into the museum’s ground level, and added new landscapes along the boardwalk, thus stitching it to the existing urban fabric. Below Much of the museum is covered by a green roof with thermal insulating properties that reduce heat loss during winter. Photovoltaic panels (an alternative energy source) and a rainwater collection system are part of the design.

C O M P E T I T I O N S L I K E T H E H E L S I N K I M U S E U M G I V E A RC H I T E C T S T H E F R E E D O M T O C O N C E P T UA L I Z E S O L U T I O N S I N A “ N O N S TA N DA R D ” WAY A N D T H E O P P O R T U N I T Y T O E X P E R I M E N T.

The programs area, located above the exterior public gallery, uses Low-E4 glass windows to reflect solar infrared energy. Low-E4 glass reflects trapped heat back into the interiors during winter, reducing the radiant heat loss. The opposite happens during summer. Right A spiral staircase slithering between columns provides for vertical transition and serves as a sculptural centerpiece of the museum.

Designing the Helsinki Museum was doubly challenging for us since only one of us had actually been to Helsinki. We did computer simulations studies for other team members to become familiar with the place.

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Finland is a tree-rich country and enjoys an abundant and sustainable source of timber. We used Finnish wood as the main material for the façade and most of the interiors. The curved building mass, with a 5,000-square meter footprint, creates a natural and dynamic form that allows for distribution of thermal loads on the façade.

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Private vehicles General ser vice vehicles

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LEGEND LED wall system and control room

LEGEND Green spaces

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WRITTEN BY MANUEL MAXIMO LOPEZ DEL CASTILLO NOCHE

INSTITUTIONAL

THE RIZAL CENTER Designed by ARCONiC Architecture and Design

Our design concept revolves around the persona of Rizal as an author, hence the inspiration for the Rizal Center’s architecture from his three great writings. This is translated into a dynamic combination of protruding volumes that soar from varying angles and point to three places significant to his life. Below The stacked volumes that characterize the building can be appreciated from Padre Burgos Avenue, an important street in Manila named after one of Rizal's early heroes.

n 2011, the Order of the Knights of Rizal commissioned our office to design what would have been a national architectural landmark in honor of Jose Rizal. The Rizal Center, to be located on a 1,589-square meter site at Rizal Park, Manila was to be be a cultural facility housing memorabilia and artifacts about Rizal. We were already halfway through the design process when the client learned of a prevailing circular from the Department of Tourism stating that no permanent structure should be built within the national park, so as not to undermine the aesthetic prominence of the Rizal Monument. This prompted the proponent to halt the

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project. We had suggestions to build on another site but the proponent did not agree. Our design interpretation of the Rizal Center is modern because Rizal himself was a modern, Renaissance man. However, our team made sure that there are meanings and historical relevance in all of the building’s major features. Our concept was inspired by the phases in Rizal’s life as represented by his three periodic works: Translation of Morga’s “Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas,” representing his childhood, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, representing his scholastic life, and Filipinas Detro de Cien Años, representing his revolutionary life. We call our design concept Books of Valor: the Hero as a

O U R D E S I G N I N T E R P R E TAT I O N OF THE RIZAL CENTER IS M O D E R N B E C AU S E R I Z A L H I M S E L F WA S A M O D E R N , RE NAISSANC E MAN .

18.00m

H E IG H T A N A LYS IS

16.00m 14.00m

A comparative height analysis shows that the apex of Rizal Center did not exceed the height of nearby structures and monuments within Rizal Park.

0.00m

C ONCE PT DEVELOPME NT

2 Make the singular form dynamic.

apex of the surrounding trees. This strategy would allow the monument of Rizal an unobstructed background from that quadrant of the park. Hopefully, the Knights of Rizal will consider this proposal. Designing a museum of this nature requires a thorough understanding of the life of the person to be honored. The Rizal Center is more than a functional structure; it’s a symbol and should therefore be designed and embedded with deeper levels of meaning.

3 Align each module to corresponding symbolical axis.

JAPANESE GARDEN

CHESS PLAZA

Writer, and articulated it into a general building form of three massive blocks stacked on each other. Each block is oriented towards three important sites in Rizal's life: Calamba, his childhood home; Ateneo Municipal in Intramuros, his cherished school; and Luneta, his place of execution. Since the visual axes of the monument were a concern, our office proposed plans to reconfigure the design by adjusting the height of the structure no higher than the

1 Create a unified and solid structure.

PADRE BURGOS

The evolution of the building mass shows the relationship of the 'books' concept with the orientation of the building blocks.

PLANETARIUM

The site is that of the former Mass Communications Library beside the chess plaza and adjacent to the Planetarium and Japanese Garden in Rizal Park.

View of the building from the Rizal Monument. Despite exhibiting a modern and dynamic design, the building, with a 690-square meter footprint, remains unobtrusive within the panoramic background of the Rizal monument. This drawing was done, of course, before the Torre de Manila reared its head.

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WRITTEN BY KURT CLEON YU

INSTITUTIONAL

01

TALUKAB

Designed by Kurt Cleon Yu, Angeli Luna and Jose Ruel Fabia y teammates and I were fresh out of college when we decided to join the Build Forward Design competition by Ortigas & Company, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and Habitat for Humanity. We were left with a void or hangover of sorts after spending so much time together doing our theses— we still had so many ideas and so much energy with no outlet. The competition came at the perfect time. The brief was to design a disaster-resilient school on an unspecified site in the Philippines. This came just after Typhoon Yolanda battered the country and everyone was thinking of

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Tacloban—record wind speeds, flooding, and storm surges. Added to this was the possibility of earthquakes. We came up with a design with a symmetrical form reminiscent of the modernist era of Philippine architecture. We called our entry Talukab, in reference to the durable turtle shell from which we derived our concept. The structure has a massive roof structurally independent of the classrooms it shelters. The basic configuration had four classrooms arranged around a central courtyard. The stated intent of the competition was to simply build the winning house entry. However, my understanding was that

it was more of an ideas competition, so we worked on that assumption. We did not really grasp the affordability or practicability issues at the time—we were more concerned about exploring new solutions to problems than applying conventions under such circumstances. Our approach landed us second to a simpler and more conventional solution. We received comments that Talukab was evocative of structures in UP Diliman and

02

01 Talukab is a structure that can function as school and evacuation center in times of calamity, such as earthquakes, floods and typhoons. The shape of the roof minimizes eaves to lessen their risk of flying around in case of strong winds. The roof is bolted to the ground for the same reason. It acts as a second layer of protection for the existing roofs of the container van classrooms, which provide their own structural strength in case of earthquakes. No lot size was specified for the competition, but Yu says Talukab's ideal site is a 43 x 43 meter lot, with a building footprint of 500 sqm 02 The roofing structure has three layers, thatch roofing for insulation, a coco lumber purlin grid frame, and a bamboo frame system.

03

I T H I N K A RC H I T E C T U R A L E D U C AT I O N W O U L D B E S O M U C H R I C H E R , A L B E I T M O R E D I F F I C U LT, I F IT IS G ROU N D E D O N E X P E R I M E N TAT I O N . Escape deck during extreme flooding

04

Acrylic louvers for natural ventilation & lighting Thatch roofing for ventilation G.I. sheet Fenestrations for emergency egress during floods Coco lumber purlin grid frame

05 Bamboo roof frame system Independent concrete footing/foundation for roof Support for escape deck/ floating rail Bamboo connection to roof R.C. columns/vertical floatation rail for raft Coco lumber raft PVC drum floor support/ floatation system Recycled container vans Coco lumber floor/ceiling

03, 04 & 05 At the center of Talukab is an elevated courtyard or platform, which can float with rising flood levels and take evacuees to the top of the classrooms. In case of extreme flooding, people can go through an escape deck at the tip of the roof. This floating platform is an idea that has to be tested. Classroom

Entrance

Ramp

Classroom

the value of experimentation through Talukab. In school, I relied heavily on concepts and theories, and we usually just sought an adviser on whether this or that could work. I think architectural education would be so much richer, albeit more difficult, if it is grounded on experimentation.

Classroom

reminiscent of the aesthetic of Locsin, a firm I would eventually work in. For this to get built, the size of the proposed design would have to be scaled down, and maybe just one classroom instead of four. The materials for the roofing could be changed to more conventional ones too. Hopefully, students can learn

Platform

Entrance

T&B

Classroom

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OFFICE

WRITTEN BY STEPHANIE JOYCE TAN-BRANQUINHO

01

01, 02 & 10 For these towers, we wanted to develop a language of openness to the site and the surroundings, by positioning the towers to embrace and open out to a park that is both private and public at the same time—private in its access, but public in its visual openness. We wanted vertical communication among floors and inter-organizational community building. This is done via visual connections that foster openness, transparency and relationship, versus isolation and secrecy. Our design concept is that of a lighthouse, a perfect symbol for our client’s company, which started in the shipping industry. The lighthouse stands for our client’s values that are strong and steadfast guides.

VOLUMES THAT SPEAK Designed by SpaceFabrik 02

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t was very exciting for us to receive a call from one of the country’s most respected manpower agencies to develop a conceptual design for an office building at the reclamation area along Roxas Boulevard, just across City of Dreams. We started the design process by understanding the company as a leader in the service industry; and we also looked at the conditions of the city as one that lacks green spaces and resting areas. With this, we wanted to create two towers that communicate with each other, with an open space where the heart of the company can flourish. We always try to develop new design processes to come up with better typologies. It was interesting to work with

I

two separate towers and understand their relationship, how they communicate, how their proportions and size relate to one another. As we were developing tower placement in three dimensions, we were able to develop community areas for interaction and new narratives. It was important for us to see and develop buildings in multi-dimensional ways, not just as objects, but in creating spaces, carving out voids and understanding volumes. We enjoyed thinking of how the workspace can be a more pleasant space by creating gardens for relaxation, parks and greens at the same time aligned with the vision and work values of a company. We felt very encouraged to be called for another conceptual

W E A L W AY S T RY TO DEVELOP NEW D E S I G N PROC E SS E S TO COME UP WITH BETTER TYPOLOGIES.

04

05

E F F I C I E N C Y

07

06

R E L A T I O N S H I P

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P U B L I C

E F F I C I E N T R E L A T I O N S H I P

P R I V A T E

09

04 The small diagrams show different tower placements at the corner of Roxas Boulevard and T. Alonzo, and how the bottom right placement creates a natural plaza space for the users. Winds blow against the rounded corners of the buildings, greatly reducing wind disturbance. 05 & 07 The towers give the appearance of cooperation because the rounded corners face each other. 06 Concerns regarding the plaza’s permeability and privacy are solved by raising it 1.5 meters from street level, keeping it visible to pedestrians, yet also making a soft distinction between private and public. 08 & 09 The two towers share green spaces and a water feature where people are dropped off, facilitating chance encounters under pleasant circumstances. 10

design project as our studio develops innovative and world class design on local soil. If the project were to be built, we would redesign the building to conform to economic and space requirements, which of course is part of the design process. Even if there were conditions that would cut out the studio's design intent, we think we would be able to work around it. If our unbuilt design were a case study for architecture students, what we’d want them to learn from it would be to think about the relationships between spaces and how they can foster communication among users. Think of new spatial typologies by questioning how architecture can influence people's quality of life, and offer new and interesting experiences.

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OFFICE

WRITTEN BY STEPHANIE JOYCE TAN-BRANQUINHO

CRYSTALLIZING ROOTS Designed by SpaceFabrik

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02

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01 A sense of community and welcome is created by a groundscape plaza that is both friendly in scale and approach. The plaza space is created by the building cantilevering above the main entrance. The cantilevered ceiling of copper softens the height of the tower and provides a distinct and iconic entrance to the tower. The columns embody the strong roots and foundation of the company. 02 Architecturally, we sought to create a building that would not only represent the company, but also speak to its owners and stakeholders, and challenge them to reflect on their values and conduct their business with integrity—a building that would inspire and revolutionize.

e were asked by Datem, one of the country’s most respected contractors, to compose a conceptual design for a design-build project, which would be the headquarters of a prominent Filipino company. The project was in line with their vision to be a premiere company in their field, in terms of technology and innovation in design. The challenge was to design a building that would represent in physical form the values that the company stands for—excellence, ingenuity, innovation, a sense of community and social responsibility, integrity, honesty and hard work— as well as the importance of its roots, its vision for the future, and its legacy for generations to come.

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Concepts Having a strong foundation is one of the core values of the company. Its roots and humble beginnings serve as guiding principles and basis for the future growth of the company. Roots speak of success that comes from being faithful to one’s principles. They symbolize building a company with integrity. Roots also act as a network of interlocking arteries that send nutrients and life to the whole structure. They act as lines of communication vertically and horizontally, embedded in the soil, creating a strong foundation. This abstract concept of being rooted to one’s values is one of the core concepts for the design of the project. Another abstract concept we used is that of a crystal—a structure created by elements in an environment over time, that grows and evolves. Transparent, process-oriented, a magnifier of light, a crystal is multi-faceted, the same way that the company is multi-dimensional. Its materiality, transparency and composition show qualities that magnify the histories that it holds, the system of values that have formed its shape. Conceptually, therefore, the roots are the company’s values, history and story of success; and the crystal is the holder and magnifyer of these values, aspirations and legacy. Since presenting this concept in 2014, we have had mixed reviews. Concerns were expressed regarding buildability and optimization of spaces. The proposal was purely conceptual, however, and we have yet to hear further direction from the client.

De S I G N

CONCe pT

Translating the concept into the building, we start by placing the core or the “roots” in intervals inside the structure. We then put in the functions of the building: office, public, amenity and green areas. These functions placed in the building mass are seen as three-dimensional spaces that branch horizontally and vertically. These spaces in between function then become voids or atrium spaces that help the building breathe and contain green spaces as well as vertical, horizontal and diagonal visual connections.

CORe VALUeS

CORe

FOUNDATION ROOTS

FUNCTIONS

CRYSTALLIZATION INTO SHApe CRYSTAL

BR ANCHING

VOIDS

T H I S A B S T R AC T CONCEPT OF BEING ROOTE D TO O N E ’ S VA L U E S I S O N E O F THE CORE CONCEPTS FOR THE DESIGN OF THE PROJECT. Defining features and benefits There were three things that were really important for us. First was how to define a company's identity using abstraction. Second was rethinking the design of a vertical structure. In tall buildings, there is little to almost no communication between floors, which, more often than not, are isolated horizontal plates. As the headquarters of a dynamic company, we thought it important that different departments be able to communicate with each other visually. We thought about how the spaces would work and blended them in a three-dimensional way, instead of working with horizontal floor plates first, then applying a vertical façade.

C OR e The core represents the main vertical passageways of the building which go through the areas of voids and mass. A series of cores pass through the building at intervals that act as structural support and main arteries for services and transport.

To expand the concept of transparency and the kinetic nature of the company, the building skin is designed as panels of glass or openings with varying levels of transparency and permeability. The façade openings allow the building to breathe.

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OFFICE

DeS I GN

CORe

C OMpONe NTS

eXOSKeLeTON

The building concept is further realized through the components that make up the tower. Each of these components relate with each other, creating a composition of parts that make a legible whole. The components also represent architectural features of the building that relate to space, structure and façade.

CORe

BR ANCHING

VOIDS

eXOSKeLeTON

LIGHTWeIGHT SLABS

eX O S K eL eTON

SKIN

GROUNDSCApe

ROOFSCApe

SUSTAINABILITY

The structural core and load-bearing exoskeleton allow the building to be column-free inside. The engineering would showcase the company’s commitment to technology and innovation.

W E WO U LD L I KE TO E N C O U R AG E ARC H I TE C T U RE S T U D E N T S TO S E E D E S I G N AS A TH RE E -D I M E N S I O NAL PROC E SS . We were able to create voids and double height spaces with gardens and community spaces for people to gather and for the building to breathe. Third was the development of a structural exoskeleton that would free up column spaces in the building, providing more open areas for work and play. We want to explore a system of construction that, if effective, may develop new typologies for tall buildings. Getting it built It would be necessary to work with a structural engineer to develop the diagrid structure for the exoskeleton and test its integrity. If the tower were to be built, we would adjust the design to align more with the company's financial and organizational requirements, and that is totally okay, as that is part of the design process. If our unbuilt design story were used as a case study for architecture students, we would like to ask students to think out of the box, explore new ways of working, and develop typologies in design. We would also like to encourage them to see design as a threedimensional process.

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J ud it h Torre s

issues perspective

C O N V E R S A T I O N S

Ca tch ne w e pis ode s every 2 0t h of t he m o nt h excl u s iv e ly on t he Bl uPri n t F ac e b o ok page Joi n the conv e rs at io ns no w

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OFFICE

WRITTEN BY MARIA CECILIA CADIZ-VEGA

THE SILHOUETTE

01

Designed by Cadiz International n 2003, with a booming business and tourism economy in Dubai, the majority of our Emirati clients were positioning their investments into residential and office developments. One of our clients, Juma Al Ghurair, surveyed the opportunities of future growth centers, and one of the largest was a waterfront mixed-use community called the Jumeirah Lake Towers, a masterplan development of over 70 towers of varying heights (35, 45 and 65 floors), grouped in clusters of three, to be constructed along the edges of three artificial lakes and an embankment facing the Jumeirah Islands. Al Ghurair was interested in acquiring the central tower site in Cluster U. He asked Cadiz International to explore two options: the planning and design of a residential tower and an office tower, based on guidelines set by JLT planning authorities. CI’s concept design for the two options, together with the client’s business study, would be the basis for his selection, which would then be further developed in subsequent design stages. At the time, the cityscape of Dubai was changing so fast, with towers sprouting left and right, one taller than the other and trying to outdo each other in state-of-the-art amenities, each vying to be the next iconic tower along Sheikh Zaeed Road, or to be “The Address.” News of upcoming developments were splashed

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in newspapers and billboards, the towers given nicknames like “Twisting Torso,” “The Taco Shell,” “The Sail,” and “The Torch.” Given this context, designing a 45-storey tower in JLT amidst 70 others that would be unique, memorable and enduring was challenging, scary and exciting at the same time. Al Ghurair’s business and marketing study indicated that the residential tower development option was more viable. The market for office spaces in the next 5 to 10 years would be oversaturated, he told us, and so he went for the residential tower. He said it was a pity that the office tower design scheme, “The Silhouette” would not be realized, and decided to show it to his nephew, Majid Al Ghurair, another client of CI. They were in the process of creating a joint real estate company, and were looking for the right site to build an 80-storey tower to showcase their very first joint and introductory real estate venture. It looked like The Silhouette might be built after all, then the 2008 crisis hit. A project’s realization does not rest solely on the design and concept. Factors such as the timing and market conditions are beyond the designer’s and client’s control. When a proposed project design doesn’t get built, it does not invalidate the design. It may be shelved but not forgotten by client. It could be just waiting for the right opportunity to realize the vision.

02 01 The unchosen design for the office tower is defined by its form—a simple, compelling and identifiable statement amidst all the clusters of towers that would be built around it. We called it “The Silhouette”—an outline that is simple, dynamic and memorable; a mysterious glass tower perched at the edge of the lake, rising gracefully from the water. At day, it would be a tall glass sculpture glistening and mirroring its surroundings under the clear Dubai sun. 02 At night, it would appear to be wearing a crystal garment, draped and flowing against the evening stars.

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AS NARRATED TO JUDITH TORRES BY CARLOS ARNAIZ

ASSEMBLY

01

POPE PAVILION Designed by Carlos Arnaiz, Alex Tseng and Xiaoyu Wang of CAZA

e were contacted last year by the priests of a parish in Leyte that had lost their community center to Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda). They wanted us to rebuild the community center, and at the same time design it so that Pope Benedict in his visit to the Philippines could come and say mass there. If you think about it, that is a challenge because wherever the Pope goes, you’re going to have millions of people. The community center that the parish needed, however, was not for a million people but for 200 to 250 people. So we created a modular design that could be built in two phases. The first phase was essentially a little bandshell consisting of these curved, laminated wood beams that would be glued together. The

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bandshell would cover a small stage where the Pope could give mass. Everything else in front would be an open field where one could host the people from the town and all the guests from out of town. After the Pope’s visit, for the second phase, the idea was that you could extend that modular system, close the pavilion, and it would become more of a community center the size of a basketball court—a multi-purpose hall where they could have mass, basketball games, town meetings, or dances during Christmas, that sort of thing—and it would be completely covered. Unfortunately, it didn’t get built because the Pope changed his travel plans and did not go anymore to this part of Leyte.

01 The pavilion, after the second phase, would look almost like a cocoon. The two ends of the cocoon are big openings, and then on the sides, we also created partial openings for cross ventilation. Fully-built, the structure would occupy 1,058 sqm of the 2,015 sqm property. 02 The pavilion would be made of wood and polycarbonate panels— they’re very durable and translucent. The first phase would only be a bandshell to house the Pope while saying mass.

02

DR A I NA G E

S Y S TE M

The drawings below show the direction of the drainage and the distribution of the modules along the main axis.

Roof plan showing direction of drainage

PAV I L I O N

Axonometric view showing direction of drainage

Roof drainage system detail

DE S I G N

Our design goal for this pavilion was to create an extremely efficient structure that would not need interior columns (so that more people could gather inside) while being open to the outside (so that we would not need to install airconditioning). Therefore, a linear vault was the simplest and the most appropriate structure. However, we also wanted natural light inside the pavilion while keeping the iconicity that a civic building should have. By corrugating the exterior skin, we solved both problems without complicating the assembly process. In fact, the openness of the structure would be able to incorporate future expansions very easily. 3m

38cm

m R=2.9 R=2 .5m

SIMPLICITY Efficient and strong structural system allows wind to come through

Laminated wood beam Repeatable modular unit with measurements

Corrugated steel Cross bracing Laminated wood beam

S K I N

S Y S TE M

The skin of the pavilion consists of a series of modules that are repeated a certain number of times depending on the size of the pavilion. The laminated wood beams that are the main structural element are also integrated into each module. We would only need to include cross bracing elements to add stability to the whole pavilion. The exterior skin is made out of corrugated steel in order to help with drainage.

ICONICITY Alternating corrugations allow light to enter

COMMUNITY Expansion at two sides to create social spaces

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ASSEMBLY

WRITTEN BY SUDARSHAN V. KHADKA JR.

SITIO MALAYA Designed by Sudarshan V. Khadka Jr. of ii.ncite

carpenter whom I have known and worked with for a long time came up to me with a request. He was part of a team planning to build a chapel for their village. The chapel would replace the makeshift structure they have on 1,400-square meter lot, which can no longer accommodate their growing number and serve their community’s needs. The village needs a simple gathering space where a traveling priest could hold mass every other week. When mass is not being celebrated, the new chapel would serve as a place of assembly for community functions and public gatherings. Having worked with this carpenter on a number of our family’s home improvement

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With this design, I went back to the primitive notion of shelter, represented in this case by a 250-square meter lean-to shed. I wanted to explore how this simple typology could be appropriated for a semiotic purpose.

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and furniture projects, he has become a family friend, and I happily accepted his request to design their village chapel pro bono. The intention from the start was to use simple materials and forms to not only minimize cost but also to build something authentic and not contrived. I wanted a humble and guileless form yet one that would pique people’s interest and curiosity, and invite them to form personal interpretations about the chapel. The project is temporarily on hold as the community is still sourcing funds for construction, and is taking much longer than expected. There were supposed to be funds coming in from donors abroad, but nothing

has panned out yet. I think the least I can do is to help the community find alternative sources of funds to build it. This is a relatively simple project, but designers and students need to learn how to design something of quality from simple materials. Quality does not have to cost much. Expensive does not equal beautiful; conversely, cheap does not equal ugly. We should rethink materiality and explore its potential to convey beauty and meaning.

T H E I N TE N T I O N F RO M T H E S TART WA S TO U S E S I M PLE M AT E RIAL S A N D FO R M S TO N OT O N LY M I N I M IZE C OS T B U T AL S O B U I LD S O M E T H I N G T HAT I S AU T H E N T I C A N D H O N E S T WIT H OUT BEI NG CONT RIVED. 01

02

01 I thought of using a stabilized rammed earth wall which curves gently in plan, as a symbol for “gathering,” and at the same time, to provide structural stability. We already got the preliminary soil tests done to determine the correct soil mix. 02 A Latin cross cut in the rammed earth wall extends vertically from the floor and allows light to enter from behind the altar. This calls to mind Tadao Ando’s Church of the Light in Osaka, Japan.

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WRITTEN BY JOSEPH ADG JAVIER

RESIDENTIAL

THE CANTILEVER HOUSE

Designed By Javier Design Studio Manila 01

01 Had it not been for the corruption of local government, the owner would be enjoying this 360-degree view of the island, an amenity no other hotel property can match. Had it not been for the corruption of local government, the owner would be enjoying this 360-degree view of the island, an amenity no other hotel property can match. Four standard villas accompany the main villa, one by one cascading down the steel slope of the property, all soil bermed structures. This design gesture allows for the return of ground cover to the island while initiating development. 02 An organic, tubular gazebo punctuates the predominantly rectilinear pool pavilion, framing views of Boracay’s famed White Beach 02

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he house was commissioned back in 2010 by a successful businessman bachelor who made it big in the wave of the IT industry during the first decade of the new millennium. He was in his late forties, high-flying and popular; and the brief was to design a holiday house in Boracay Island that was to be the “Ferrari” of his collection of properties. We were naturally excited as opportunities like this rarely come, and because it was in Boracay. The intention was to design a main villa, and four other villas he would sell to his foreigner friends. The lot was at the highest point of the island, overlooking both White and Bolabog beaches,

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with a commanding view of the golf course of Fairways and Blue Waters. He planned on operating it as a serviced residence when he is not on the island. While the budget was not limitless, it gave us a lot of freedom to be imaginative. We wanted this project to respond to the environment of the island by preserving as much of the ground cover as possible. Since the land was steeply sloping, the design strategy then was to perch the main villa on a trunk to limit the plan print on grade. This strategy necessitated the cantilevering of the whole mass of the house on both sides, at 9 and 17 meters respectively. The unsupported length of the cantilever was so extreme we had

03

W H AT S T U D E N T S C A N L E A R N F RO M O U R C A S E I S T H AT I N DESIGN, THERE IS POLITICS, AND IN POLITICS, DESIGN. the structural design audited by no less than Engineer Servando Aromin, who happened to be the client’s uncle. The four standard villas are inversely bermed earth shelters that will give back ground cover to the island right after construction. Every measure was taken to minimize the environmental impact of the project. The defining feature of the project is its precarious cantilever, which at 9 and 17 meters may have been unprecedented in the country for this building type. We designed this around the time JDSM had begun to use embedded tropical design devices for enhanced comfort levels. Such devices included Venturi channels, light shelves, stack chases, extended canopies and high floorto-ceiling heights. The project was not built because the owner got sick and tired of government corruption both at the national and local levels. After agreeing to pay a sum of money to the environment

bureau, the local government demanded a sum of money to “expedite” his permits. After the client obliged, the officials asked for more, stalling the project. He refused, and after eight months of waiting, the client decided he had had enough and stopped the project. If there were a surefire way of removing the culture (and people) of corruption in government, I’d do it, peacefully or revolutionarily. What students can learn from our case is that in design, there is politics, and in politics, design. An architect needs to learn how to manage both simultaneously, especially politics. How far dancing to this complex art of addition will get you depends on the values you hold for yourself and your practice. 05

04

03 The 1,200-square meter property uniquely has only a frontage of 6 meters, presenting a challenge to designing for the transit of people and goods. Eventually, the owner insisted that a carriage lift be added to easily convey inebriated residents back into their villas without incident. 04 A collection of mid-20th century furniture sit in the living room with select pieces by Filipino designers. The owner stressed his preference for space without the clutter of furniture and décor typical of Filipino homes. 05 The project had a special requirement of being appreciated not only from the vertical axes of façades, but more so from the very rare horizontal axis of the bottom. From the golf course valley below, one can see the strong allusion to the paraw sail. The triangle shapes are not out of whim but rather to achieve the Venturi Effect.

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WRITTEN BY JOSE VICENTE AOANAN

RESIDENTIAL

THE S HOUSE

Designed by JV Aoanan, IV

Above The house occupies 305 sqm of the 373-sqm lot. The front façade faces northeast, making the living room and bedrooms upstairs the coolest areas of the house.

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WEST AFTERNOON SUN

SOUTH AFTERNOON SUN

2

EAST MORNING SUN

4

3

OPEN SPACE (PLANTS)

DINING AREA

Cutting out spaces for a koi pond and garden provide all the upstairs rooms with opportunities for cross ventilation, which is especially needed by the rooms at the back of the house facing southwest.

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

NORTH MORNING SUN

HALLWAY

he site is in one of the better subdivisions in Tagaytay, which has wide sidewalks and trees, and is bordered at the back with rolling hills planted with pineapples. The clients, who are based abroad, wanted a vacation home to stay in when visiting the country. Unfortunately, they opted to buy a condo unit in Manila instead, seeing it as a wiser investment. The house has great views of the subdivision and the pineapple plantation, but I designed two additional views for them to enjoy inside the property: a fishpond on the right, and a garden on the left. The house is designed with sustainable features such as rainwater collection, recycling of gray water, solar panels, high ceilings, generous canopies to shade windows and doors, and space planning that takes advantage of orientation.

01 We start with a typical twostorey block. 02 Then cut into two sides to create open spaces within the block.

OPEN SPACE (FISH POND)

03 We now have two main volumes connected by a hallway.

LIVING AREA

04 Add balconies to each of the façades so that occupants of each space may enjoy views. 5

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05 Add canopies over the balconies and windows to shade against sun and rain. 06 Skew the canopies to enhance protection against sun and rain.

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RESIDENTIAL

WRITTEN BY OSCAR PEÑASALES

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YELLOW FARMHOUSE Designed by Oscar J. Peñasales

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was commissioned by a client to design a farmhouse for his lot, which he envisioned to be an organic farm with a house featuring sustainable design solutions. With all the working drawings and permit requirements already submitted at the municipal engineering office, my client discovered that the adjacent lot was bought by a developer who had already started building a memorial park. Unwilling for his organic farm to be a neighbor to the dead, my client shelved the project, a decision I don’t have any argument against.

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The design is a house on stilts to keep it safe from flooding. It also features a rainwater cistern and would be provided with wind turbines for additional power and solar powered heaters, but what I like most is its overall aesthetic appearance. Actually, my client really likes the design and promised me he would build it when he can find another place. I think he has offered his farm lot to the developer. Lesson learned? Thorough site investigation is needed. Investigate not only site orientation but also the condition or use of adjacent lots.

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01 A house is a ‘cocoon’ for people. The design is an abstraction of a caterpillar which builds itself into cocoon where it morphs into a butterfly. Being raised on stilts protects it against flooding and in hot, dry weather, gives shelter to farm workers underneath. 02 The top view shows the roof, which is a combination of a lean-to and hip and gable styles. The house occupies only 230 sqm of the 13,278-sqm property. 03 The side of the house where the master bedroom with terrace is located. The rounded structure with the wind turbine on top is the stairwell.

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WRITTEN BY JOEL ONG

RESIDENTIAL

RAMP HOUSE Designed by urbanshiftstudio

amp House was supposed to be our entry for the Metrobank MADE 2012 competition. The brief called for the design of a house for a middle-class Filipino family, which projects a “universal human and aesthetic appeal that transcends time and location.” The use of innovative and appropriate technology, and sustainable measures were also required in the design. We were unable to meet the deadline for the competition, but we saw the potential of our design so we continued to develop it. Through the Ramp House, we were able to integrate our “obsessions” in design—interconnection, openness and juxtaposition. As a young practice, we feel that we have to develop our design language so we can properly express our obsessions into tangible design solutions. The site is located in Batangas, with a view of Taal Lake and Balayan Bay. The site is steep, sloping down from the main road. At the outset,

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The entrance is flanked by three ramps: one going down to the main entry, another going further down to the parking area, and one that gently slopes up to the roof deck made of continuous turf to blend in with the existing vegetation. The glazing frames the view of the lake, and opens up views inside and outside the house. Pocket gardens laid out in specific areas of the site bring in more light into the interior. A reflecting pool in the interior court cools the surrounding area.

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we envisioned the Ramp House to be part of the existing landscape, where it would appear to have developed organically. We wanted to convey the impression that the architecture has been there all along. To achieve this, we tried to blur vertical connections through the use of ramps, split-levels and lower floor-to-floor heights. We also blurred the boundaries between exterior and interior, so that one could see through transparent partitions and feel part of the surroundings. The spaces are continuous so one can move around, into and over spaces seamlessly. What we like about the design of the Ramp House is the way it relates to the site, and how unconventional spaces are created through the juxtaposition of volumes. This design exercise helped us understand how spaces are perceived and experienced as one goes through them. Residential design has always been very interesting to tackle, since there are myriad ways to go about it. We are always emboldened to be more experimental in our approach and to introduce something new in our residential projects, because of the personal relationship we form with the client.

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WE ENVISIONED THE R A M P H O U S E T O B E PA R T OF THE EXISTING LANDSCAPE. SERVICE AREA

COMMON AREA

SERVICE AREA

PRIVATE AREA BUFFER ZONE

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COMMON AREA PRIVATE AREA BUFFER ZONE

02 Service area is extended to act as buffer against the sun path. 03 Private area is extended to maximize views and cross ventilation.

SERVICE AREA COMMON AREA PRIVATE AREA

SERVICE AREA

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT 01 Basic zoning of the three major areas: service area, common area and private area.

SERVICE AREA

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05 To mitigate solar heat gain, the roof area is converted into a green roof deck. The sloped access to the roof deck can be used as a jogging path as well. 06 The areas are laid out in relation to the slope of the site, creating split levels. The negative spaces are converted to service and parking areas. A pool deck is added at the rear of the house to enhance cooling.

01 Aerial view of the Ramp House. The building footprint is only 440 sqm, although we utilized 5,133 sqm of lot area. The continuous turf and the low elevation integrate the house into its context. The material palette consisting of concrete, natural stone and glass gives the house the appearance of a rock formation. The ramp leading up to the roof deck follows the universal standard gradient of 1:12 with a 2-meter landing, making it accessible for PWDs and the elderly. 02 The massing of the master bedroom area. The juxtaposition and overlapping of boxes create interesting nooks utilized as small balconies. We like to work with contrasts: light and dark, linear and non-linear, and right and acute angles. These make for interesting ways to perceive space, and for unexpected yet controlled experiences. 02

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RESIDENTIAL

WRITTEN BY SUDARSHAN V. KHADKA JR.

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01 Permeable sliding doors and wooden screens for maximum cross ventilation bound the open plan living and dining spaces on the ground floor. 02 The house’s frontage features a series of large concrete planter boxes, and a semi-permeable gate. I wanted the house to be oriented inward towards an expanse of greenery and away from the street.

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14 peter street Designed by Sudarshan V. Khadka Jr. of ii.ncite

any houses in middle class villages are designed without regard to site and context. This attempt is specifically for a highly urbanized tropical environment. It is one of the early iterations of my concept of an urban tropical house, a typology I’ve been developing and actively promoting for four years now. Five principles guided me in designing it: structural logic, passive cooling, integrated building technology, open plan layout and centrifugal orientation. The house is L-shape in plan, with one wing parallel to the road, leaving space for an inner courtyard with a garden and pool. I kept the frontage simple and placed a solid concrete shear wall to fence off the house interiors from the street. Instead, I oriented the interior spaces towards the courtyard, to heighten the sense of connection between nature outdoors and the spaces indoors. The performative and operable aspects of a tropical house’s enclosures are important. Our context requires that a structure’s openings can be fully opened and closed, to allow for natural light and ventilation, or shut out heavy wind and rain during typhoon season. The wooden vertical louvered screens serve as storm shutters when closed and vertical sunshades when open.

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OUR CONTEXT REQUIRES T H AT A S T R U C T U R E ’ S O P E N I N G S C A N B E F U L LY OPE N E D AN D C LOS E D, TO A L L O W F O R N AT U R A L L I G H T A N D V E N T I L AT I O N , O R S H U T O U T H E AV Y W I N D A N D R A I N DURING TYPHOON SEASON.

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01 Upon entering the main door, a large living room opens out to a lush outdoor garden and swimming pool. To the west is the staircase beside an atrium garden. 02 Ascending the stairs, there are three equally sized bedrooms within the southern solid block connected by a small common area. From this space, crossing the steel bridge cutting through the double-volume living space, the solid master bedroom block opens up to the garden. 03 The structural system of the house employs a modular grid, which rationalizes the dimensions of the house to minimize waste and simplify construction.

These work best in conjunction with the operable transom windows that may be left open to keep the house cool even when the wooden screens are shut. They also emphasize the separation between the steel columns and the roof, making the roof seem to float. The relationship between the garden and the open plan living spaces, and the permeable design of the window and door elements encourage a lifestyle appropriate to our tropical climate. The inward

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orientation and sensible modular design add to the house’s urban character. The house will eventually get built, but with substantial revisions because the original parameters, program and material palette have changed significantly. It would still be an urban tropical house but smaller, and will use more concrete than steel. We are in the process of downsizing the program and adjusting the specifications.

Opposite page I learned that sometimes we have to make the house smaller so that it will feel bigger. The site is 800 square meters, but by building only on 350 square meters, we had more space for the outdoors. By opening up the interior to embrace the exterior views, one gets a tropical home that is comfortable and maaliwalas.

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1 Garage 2 Toilet 3 Driver’s room 4 Workshop 5 Office 6 Powder room 7 Guest bedroom 8 Covered deck 9 Living room 10 Dining room 11 Kitchen 12 Maid’s room 13 Cold room 14 Laundry room 15 Pump room

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Bedroom Toilet Family room Walk-in closet

WRITTEN BY SUDARSHAN V. KHADKA JR.

RESIDENTIAL

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PROJECT NEPAL Designed by Sudarshan V. Khadka Jr. of ii.ncite wanted to challenge our indiscriminate use of concrete by designing something primarily of wood. Why is there a prevalent anxiety over using wood structurally, when some of our oldest, most beautiful structures use it? I got the opportunity to design with wood for a residential project I call Project Nepal. I love how the house’s design was modulated by the natural limits of the material. Project Nepal was inspired by Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House in the way it lifts off the ground and relates to the horizontality of the landscape. The intent was to orient the house along with all its bedrooms, bathrooms and the open plan living-dining-kitchen space to a view

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of the majestic mountain on the southwest. This parti was complemented by a prominent roof sloping upward towards the view to heighten the sense of connection to the mountain. However, we had difficulty finding an engineer knowledgeable in timber construction. It may be similar to steel construction but wood joints behave differently from steel. Nevertheless, we pushed forward to the bidding phase. Another difficulty was that the contractor did not know where to source the required quantities of wood. Because of scarcity, the unit cost of our wood elements jacked up. We couldn’t even find enough people with experience in structural wood construction.

01 The house hovers lightly above the slightly undulating terrain, its angled shed roof serving as a counterpoint to its horizontality. 02 The wooden structural elements follow a logical hierarchy in terms of height and stacking, leading the eyes to a large window that frames the view of the mountain. The timber posts are built on concrete pedestals embedded in the ground. 03 The wooden structure is clearly expressed and the enclosing elements of the house seem to dissolve and open up towards the mountain.

E LE V A TI O N S

NORTH WEST

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W H Y I S T H E R E A P R E VA L E N T A N X I E T Y O V E R U S I N G W O O D S T R U C T U R A L LY, W H E N S O M E O F O U R O L D E S T S T R U C T U R E S U S E I T ? 03

We considered other options—steel, concrete, and even container vans! In the end, I had to concede that concrete is still the most efficient, that’s why people are partial to it. Nevertheless, save for the change in material, the original design’s spirit and orientation towards the mountain were kept. Still, wood possesses tactility and warmth no other material could give. It is a renewable resource, if sourced properly. My hope is that sustainable forestry would be practiced in the Philippines as in other countries, to reduce the cost and augment our supply of timber and even bamboo. We are making headway into processing coconut lumber for structural applications. If successful, I would readily advocate structural wood construction.

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WRITTEN BY ALEXANDER MAYORALGO

RESIDENTIAL

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HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE YOURSELF LIVE? Designed by Alexander Mayoralgo 01 My house should accommodate my partner, visitors, a weekly cleaning lady and a gardener. The finishes would largely be textured concrete, stucco and wood veneer. 02 The entrance porch, where I wait for my parents as they pull up in front of the gate. I could spend afternoons in this space waiting to buy a cup of taho, talking to my gardener over coffee, or reading a book. 02

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ach architect’s work reflects how they feel life should be lived. With every line we draw, the question begged of us architects may well be, “What are you trying to say?” Architecture is more than just proposing spaces but also moments and values. If space can be likened to an oration, how can we make our architecture linger in the hearts of occupants, like the lasting effect of a good speech? What is our proposal of “good architecture?”

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Being young, I felt it would be meaningful to sit down and reflect on these questions at this stage of my life. I put myself through a three-part design concept esquisse. This was partly inspired by an esquisse my mentor, Sir Ed Ledesma, put me through in 2012, which landed me a job at Leandro V. Locsin Partners. My personal esquisse revolves around three questions that allow me to revisit my design values. I plan to do this every five years. The three questions are: How would you like to see yourself live? How would you like to see others live? How would you like to be remembered? The scale, budget, location, complexity and nature of the project proposals are up to me. The questions are open-ended, making the exercise more difficult from project selection to concept creation. It forces me to weed out the fluff, and dial in on what I really want to express. The overarching question is, “How is your architecture an extension of who you are?” These three projects are my responses at this point in my life. The first question makes designers think about what they believe constitutes a good life, which in turn makes them strive to create the environment for it. As I thought of the activities and spaces my home would cater to, I grasped the kind of life

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The landing from the stairs leads to a mini-office that contains a small library, desktop and work areas. A sliding door opens up to my “happy space,” a large multi-purpose area for exercise and all-nighters for work sessions. The thought of waking every morning, rolling up my mat, and morning coffee before doing gymnastic rings while facing a garden truly gives me delight. 03 Sketches showing the layout of spaces in the ground and second floors 04 The high-ceiling dining area has a large view of the bamboo garden to the east. A full height window on the stair landing frames part of the north garden. I wanted it to feel like a seamless space where meals or light work meetings can take place.

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I wanted to live, in terms of work and play, personal fulfillment and empowerment. My house would be a place of quiet leisure, where I can think. I want a small office where I can do architecture, write books and edit videos, all in line with my dream to be an architect, educator and entrepreneur. At the same time, I need a place where I can move, train and thrive in the joys of nature and exercise because I believe in investing in my health. I considered numerous ideas, like a 3D printable tent-house I could take backpacking with me, or an extravagant set of tree houses connected by bridges. In the end, I concluded that at this stage in my life, I want experience over innovation. I chose a pragmatic residence that I could see myself living in for the next five years. Instead of designing a Utopian house, I chose to stay grounded and thought about the economy, my personal finances, and what a person with drive, perseverance and the right opportunities could plausibly achieve in five years. I picked a modest 12 x 20 meter lot— a significant exercise in itself. The ground floor will contain the social spaces and service areas. All utilities are tucked in the western side of the house, and the living areas are open to views of the east and northern gardens. The second floor will be my sanctuary for creative work and leisure, and a collaboration space with a few people. The design process made me realize I tend to design in layers of emotion and atmosphere. I determined that to a large extent, my creative process is not so much about the outward form, but the creation of meaningful moments. Because of this, I can say that the work I strive to produce is an architecture of moments, not an architecture of spaces.

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WRITTEN BY ALExANdER MAYORALGO

MEMORIAL

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE REMEMBERED? Designed by Alexander Mayoralgo 01

hen I die, I want my memorial to be simple and experiential. My preferred site is away from the road (cars and neighbors must seem not to exist), and near the edge of a cliff overlooking Laguna de Bay. The approach towards the memorial leads the visitor to a concrete mass blocking the view of the landscape ahead. Taking up 40 square meters, the monument is triangular in shape and stands 3.3 meters high with a narrow opening at the vertex. Two perpendicular walls open out towards Laguna de Bay, with ledges for visitors to sit on. A small columbarium occupies a niche in one of the walls. Stepping into the narrow opening shifts the visitor’s focus from the monument to the view of the landscape, imparting the idea of hope, life after mourning, and life after death. The memorial is a place of contemplation, where the visitor can bask in the beauty of nature before him.

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01 The memorial will be oriented to the east, to catch the morning sun and allow a long sliver of light to pass through the opening. Users will then be shaded by the walls during the afternoon. 02 Upon approach, one sees only the concrete monument. Only a sliver of the landscape beyond can be seen through the narrow opening. The walls are engraved with quotes and messages for visitors to reflect upon. 03 & 04 The narrow opening at the vertex of the monument funnels visitors to the other side and releases them to the view, which represents the bigger picture— that life must go on. 05 Sketch showing the parts of the memorial 02

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Now avai lable in books tores and new sstands nationwid e

In celebration of MyHome’s 15 years of making beautiful homes, we continue to inspire as we walk you through some of the best modern Filipino homes with Inspiring Interiors. Be the first to own a copy of this special coffee table book.

FUTURE PROJECTS

WRITTEN BY JUDITH TORRES

A HOME OF MANY MOONS Designed by CAZA

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View from the pool toward the living room and study

"Binoculars hang from her neck. She looks up to the heavens. Her conscience explodes with visions of celestial bodies falling in the garden. She walks, quietly tending to each plant, smelling the herbs and cutting a few vegetables for her next meal. She is a lady of the stars and of the earth.”

One’s first sighting of the house is a pair of stone structures. The rudimentary shapes of the twin pitched volumes recall various houses indigenous to the tropics. The lot is 11,000 square meters, and the footprint of the house, almost 600.

With these poetic words, Carlos Arnaiz introduces his project, A Home of Many Moons. It is shortlisted at the 2015 World Architecture Festival (WAF), in the Future Projects, House Category. Three other Filipino architects are shortlisted as well, and we are at an intimate gathering of architects organized by BluPrint and Grohe to celebrate their success. The event is like a dress rehearsal for the WAF, with the four presenting their projects to the small crowd. Arnaiz is up first, and my hope for him to win is reinforced as I listen to his narration. Not just for Filipino pride, but because Arnaiz for me is an anti-Roark. That outdated Ayn Rand novel, The Fountainhead, which romanticizes ego and individualism, still exerts undue influence today. Too many moody young architects fancy themselves as Howard Roark—brilliant, ahead of his time, and uncompromising. All his buildings are the embodiment of himself—long, hard, lean, strong, angular and arrogant—including the house he designs for his lover (and client’s wife). For inexplicable (somewhat perverse) reasons, the woman welcomes Roark’s act of

domination and control over her. When she moves into the house, she thinks: "I belong to him here as I've never belonged to him." In contrast, while one might fancy a lover’s tone in Arnaiz’s dreamy description of his design for the “lady of the stars and of the earth,” one gets no sense of him imposing his ego on the project, nor his will on her. If young Modernists must idolize someone, then let it be Arnaiz, a man of fluent forms, and stirring speech, but whose earnest positivity, attentive and thoughtful mien make him nothing like the contemptuous Roark. “This is a home for her. We knew it had to be part ground, part sky. It could not dominate its surroundings with Modernist certainty. This is a home with two ways of seeing. It looks out timidly with a slanted horizon and gazes upwards with eyelids clipped by the phases of the moon. Its geometry comes from a marriage of these two kinds of spaces. They tunnel down and project up. Intersections are the areas of solidity. The home appears to be excavated from alien monoliths. The house is built on an understanding that dualities are inevitable.” When Arnaiz talks of dualities, he can empathize. Born of a Filipino father and Colombian mother, he was educated in Manila and then in New York. He double-majored in Philosophy and Literature before taking his master's in Architecture and now practices out of offices in three different continents.

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" T H E H O U S E WA N T E D T O B E C L O S E D A N D I N WA R D L O O K I N G ; B U T AT T H E S A M E T I M E T H E GA R D E N A N D S U R RO U N D I N G A R E A H A D T O B E V E RY M U C H PA R T O F T H E H O U S E .” - A R N A I Z 02

The Home of Many Moons, Arnaiz modestly confesses, could not have been conceived without the “bizarre and fascinating” brief of the client. “She wanted a house that was very private, very austere, very monastic, while at the same time very connected to the landscape,” Arnaiz recounts. The brief proposed a contradiction, Arnaiz relates. "The house wanted to be closed and inward looking; but at the same time the garden and surrounding area, which are much larger than the house, had to be very much part of the house.” And so the insideoutside relationship became the main design concept, and the big idea that emerged was House as Device to relate to the sky and earth. The initial concept diagrams show the house functioning as both terrascope and telescope, framing horizontal panoramic vistas and scenes of the sky. “Our first view is a pair of stone homes rendered in elemental purity as pitched volumes in the landscape. As we approach, the stone walls and garden paths open out like the tentacles of a giant squid angling its body towards the sky. Built into

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the ground with surgical precision, the house is a kind of somnambulist apparition: enigmatic in its combination of unfamiliar forms and assaulting us with the veracity of hand-made materials such as stone, poured-in-place concrete, and glazed ceramics.”

01 In the public spaces like the living room, dining room, and kitchen, one has horizontal vistas of the landscape. 02 A light well connects the monastic darkness of the sunken garden and cloistered bedroom with the heavens. 03 View of the courtyard from the foyer, with the living room to the left, dining room in the center, and kitchen to the right

The two stone structures are not so alien to Filipinos; they have the look of the indigenous Ivatan houses of Batanes. Viewed from the bamboo thicket of the property, the use of stone and the archetypal form make them appear ancient and ageless. Thanks to one large opening on the otherwise solid façades, the inscrutable feels knowable. The plan is a pentagon, and every room is one side of the pentagon. Every room looks out with a horizontal way of seeing to one side of the one-hectare grounds. The bedrooms, on the other hand, are each cloistered in a courtyard; and one’s only contact with the outside world is to look up at the sky through an oculus or a skylight in some shape of the moon. “Who is this client? Tell us more about her!” several members of the audience ask Arnaiz when he is done presenting his concept. They are convinced that the design is in response to this Lady of the Stars and of the Earth, and not mere whim. To know her is to understand his inspiration and the design decisions Arnaiz has

made. He declines to share personal information, however, and reveals only that she is single, and the idiosyncratic rumpus room in the basement is for visiting young relatives. “This home prescribes a paradigm that resists simple singularities. It is based on the idea of the crossbreed. The top floor clusters inwards then extends out. The bottom floor tunnels downwards then bulges up. The solid parts are peeled open, revealing soft surfaces while the interiors consist of an open pentagon framed by marble parallelograms. What the Home of Many Moons and its architect have in common is resistance to simple singularities. Arnaiz avers that he observes no particular style and favors no single aesthetic. He pays obeisance to no dogma, and will not espouse Modernist, progressive or “transformative” agendas either. “We don’t have an answer to everything,” he says. “My style is just to ask questions. Every project is a new inquiry; a new quest to discover what can be unique to it. To have a style is to shackle or straightjacket the possibilities of a project.” Instead, his approach to projects is the Socratic method— continually asking probing questions to illumine ideas and quicken critical thinking.

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FUTURE PROJECTS

Rumpus room with a dome ceiling and oculus

“One of the aspirations I have for projects is I don’t want them to look like anything I’ve ever seen. If it looks like a Modern house or something that I’ve seen in magazines, then I’ve already lost the game,” he confesses. Producing something new under the sun is too shallow a motivation for Arnaiz, however. While a junior at Williams College where he graduated magna cum laude, he took a Literature class called Space, Place and Fiction, which would influence the direction of his life. The class would read and analyze novels where the setting is critical to the development of the plot. This made him ponder deeply about how environments impact people, and indeed, shape the development of our lives’ plots. It wasn’t long before he made the jump from Philosophy and Literature to Architecture at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, where he graduated with honors. “Each room of the home connects the traditional idea of domesticity with a specific way of relating to our environment. Like her, the home is comfortable with dualities: a devotion to the horizontality of the landscape and an insistence to look up towards the stars. She walks through her home both present and detached, measuring herself against this new earth.”

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Arnaiz has answered the questions in the time allotted for him—the same length of time the WAF gives its finalists. He leaves the audience both satisfied and wanting more. There is a sense of relief that he knows what he is talking about and will do well at the WAF. I also get a sense of anticipation of great things to come. The Home of Many Moons has begun construction. How will this singular setting with its dual ways of seeing impact the owner’s life? We may never know, as the Lady of the Stars and of the Earth insists on her anonymity. I hope it marks a significant moment in the trajectory of Philippine architecture. Then maybe there will be less moody railing against iniquities and stupidities in our selfsatisfied architectural blogosphere. May there instead be more of the earnest positivity and probing inquisitiveness of Arnaiz. The World Architecture Festival 2015 takes place on November 4-6 at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. Grohe is a founding sponsor of the WAF. BluPrint thanks Grohe Philippines for supporting the four Filipino shortlisted architects, and for making this feature possible.

Private spaces like master bedroom have their private gardens. In these sequestered spaces, one connects with the outside world by looking up at the sky.

SITE PLAN

VIEW DIAGRAM

LOWER LEVEL FLOORPLAN

The house as an instrument to relate to the sky and landscape.

FR AGMENT MODEL SHOWING THE SUNKEN DOME

ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING Part of the brief was to make the house one of the most sustainable homes designed in the Philippines and to utilize all types of the latest environmental strategies, from passive cooling to solar panels. Says Arnaiz: “One of the reasons for the up-down relationship between the house where the upper floors are shaded by a large overhang roof, and the lower floors are partially sunken in the ground, is that that creates a heat chimney that cycles the hot air upwards through the courtyard and utilizes the cool thermal mass from the ground to cool the house. We are working with Mathias Schuler, a German environmental engineer who teaches at Harvard, recognized as one of the most ground breaking environmental engineers working with architects in the world. He created a huge number of computer models to study heat flow and the circulation of air in the house. The data that he factors into the models are incredibly detailed, including, for example, whether a room will use carpeting. The result of our collaboration is this house for eight months out of the year won't have to use air conditioning. And it will be 80% less expensive to maintain than a typical house of this size in this environment.”

VARIOUS VIEWS OF THE FR AGMENT MODEL

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FUTURE PROJECTS

WRITTEN BY MIGUEL R. LLONA

THE URBAN BLOCK

Designed by WTA Architecture & Design Studio

illiam Ti Jr. says his firm, WTA Architecture & Design Studio, is composed not only of designers but also thinkers. What he means is, as architects, they solve problems first before focusing on aesthetics. The Urban Block, their shortlisted entry to the World Architecture Festival, demonstrates this thinking, yet the design shows they did not skimp on visual appeal during the process. WTA’s client wanted a commercial center with as much space as possible for offices and retail stores. Occupying 8,229 square meters in Bonifacio Global City (BGC), the lot is square in shape, allowing the designers many possibilities. During the schematic phase, WTA considered

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different massings—a skyscraper, twin towers, a building with a courtyard. Ti recalls: “We asked ourselves: What would differentiate our building from the forest of high-rises in BGC? Everyone wants to be iconic, but because all the buildings have the same shape, they resort to adornment, which people can't see at street level because the adornment is almost always up top.” The answer was to use the simplest, most basic of forms—a block. Topping out at a mere 18 storeys, one might think the structure would be dwarfed by neighbors twice or thrice as high. Not at all. With the building eating up almost the entire block with little setback from the street, the Urban Block will be massive and most assuredly iconic.

01 The Urban Block maxes out the lot area, with its walls right up to the property line. Entrances in the northwest and southeast corners of the Block lead to plazas that cut diagonally through the center of the building. Access to the basement and upper parking floors is along 10th Avenue, with exits along 25th Street, and drop-off areas along 11th Avenue and 25th Street. 05 ETFE or ethylene tetrafluoroethylene, the tensile plastic membrane specified for the skin of the building, is lightweight (1% the weight of glass), smooth and has antiadhesive properties that make it resistant to dirt and discoloration, and therefore low maintenance. It is durable enough to last for 50 years. ETFE film can come in two or three layers, and can be manipulated to reduce or control light transmission through fritting, tinting, and radiation treatments. The G value (or solar gain) of ETFE film can be reduced to as low as 0.35% when using the three-layer system, a better performance than the 0.46% of treated glass.

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02 & 03 Floor plates that measure 6,500 up to 7,000 sqm afford great flexibility for office and retail planning. The first six levels are dedicated to retail, event and parking spaces, and the remaining 12 to offices. 04 In a district where most buildings strive to be memorable, the Urban Block's form is so basic it stands out. The building will go up on McKinley Parkway cor. 11th Ave. in Bonifacio Global City, though the project is on hold and will resume in two years' time.

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“ W H AT W O U L D D I F F E R E N T I AT E O U R B U I LD I N G F ROM THE FOREST OF HIGH -RISES IN BGC? E V E RYO N E W A N T S TO BE ICONIC .” - WILLIAM TI JR. 05

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F LOOR

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OPEN TO BELOW

OPEN TO BELOW

LANDSCAPE

RETAIL RETAIL

RETAIL

RETAIL

RETAIL

SUPERMARKET

DEPT. STORE RETAIL

OPEN TO BELOW

FOOD SHOW ANCHOR

OPEN TO BELOW

FOOD SHOW

OPEN TO BELOW

RETAIL FLOOR

PARKING 143 SLOTS

FLEXIBLE SPACE (BASKETBALL, VOLLEYBALL AND BADMINTON COURT) PARKING 106 SLOTS

EXECUTIVE DINING GYM

FOOD COURT EVENTS

5F PARKING SPACE

The Urban Block's roof garden has picnic grounds and communal space divided into lower and upper roof decks. In the middle of the roof garden is an opening that looks down into the central atrium.

6F PARKING SPACE

The Block's translucent ETFE membrane (think Beijing National Aquatics Center) with its puffy honeycomb pattern contributes to its iconicity. That and the intriguing openings that allow one to see inside rescue the hefty box from being brash like some aggressively self-asserting malls in the metro. As for green space, there is a park inside the Urban Block on the ground level and up on the roof. The building's footprint is 4,837 square meters only, leaving more than 40% of the lot open for greenery and pedestrian pathways. These paths cut through the middle of the base and extend up three more floors where the retail areas are, creating a “strong core centrality” that visually connects the areas for users.

DEPT. STORE LEASABLE SPACE

SERVICE SHOPS

PARKING 126 SLOTS PARKING 129 SLOTS

3F PARKING SPACE

4F PARKING SPACE

OPEN PLAN OFFICE SPACE

OPEN TO BELOW

ROOF GARDEN

TYPICAL OFFICE FLOOR

ELEVATION ROOF GARDEN

ROOF GARDEN

OFFICE SPACE

OFFICE SPACE

PARKING + EVENT

PARKING + EVENT

PARKING + RETAIL

PARKING + RETAIL

PARKING + FOODSHOW

PARKING + FOODSHOW

PARKING SPACE

PARKING SPACE

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FUTURE PROJECTS

WRITTEN BY ADRIAN TUMANG

AMA BANK FINANCIAL CENTER Designed by Villegas-Roxas Consultants

The modular outdoor green wall system softens the hard edges of the building and provides an interesting accent.

ooking at the lineup of finalists of this year’s World Architecture Festival, it’s hard to second-guess what the jury was looking for. On one hand are trophy buildings with voluptuous forms, and on the other are the results of pragmatic decisions based on economy of resources. Connie Roxas’ AMA Bank Financial Center belongs to the latter. During the testimonial dinner and practice presentation BluPrint and Grohe organized for the four Filipino finalists, Roxas cited the limited area of design as her biggest challenge. With a modest 320-square meter inside lot to work on, Roxas had to build right up to the property line, and put up firewalls on three sides of the building. The front façade is the building’s only chance to make an aesthetic statement. For this, she used a layering of materials—two-tone double pane curtain wall, angular mullions and ceramic frit.

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Roxas designed a 12-storey building that will house 1,108 square meters of bank office spaces with conference rooms, 831 square meters of rentable spaces, and 1,532 square meters of parking and support spaces. The use of acid-etched glass, animated LED lighting and vertical landscaping give distinguishing character to the building.

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A modular green wall system on the lower floors softens the building’s edges while animated LED light strips add life and character. Capping the façade’s abstract composition is AMA's corporate logo at the crown. The façade may appear whimsical (like a computer motherboard) but Roxas says the design allows controlled sunlight to penetrate into the building and communicate a certain level of transparency, which she believes the financial institution should exude. Inside, the spatial layout accommodates an open plan suited for today’s collaborative and flexible work environments. A narrow central light well brings in much-needed natural light. A smart parking system that employs hydraulic car lifts allows almost twice as many cars in place of parking ramps. This technology, Roxas boasts, is the defining feature of the building. After all, technology runs deep in the DNA of AMA, the computer education pioneer.

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1 Parking 2 Foyer 3 Lobby 4 Vault 5 Office 6 Pump room 7 Lift lobby 8 STP room 9 Motor court 10 Car elevator

1 Meeting room 2 EVP office 3 Ante room 4 Lobby 5 Comptroller 6 Offices 7 Lift lobby 8 Pantry 9 Toilet 10 Roof deck

MEZZANINE

SEVENTH FLOOR

1 Offices 2 Lift lobby 3 Client conference 4 Storage area 5 Building admin 6 Car elevator 7 Roof deck

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MEZZANINE

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SE CTION

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FIFTH FLOOR

PUBLIC AREA

SEVENTH FLOOR

CIRCULATION

L O N G I TUDI N A L

OPEN SPACE

S E C TI O N

Function room Mini gym Lounge area Dining area Lift lobby Kitchen Toilet Roof deck

The Smart Parking System allows for 32 parking slots on three levels of parking space, instead of 27 slots on five levels if ramps were used.

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FUTURE PROJECTS

WRITTEN BY ANGELO RAY SERRANO AND JC SAN LUIS

CLARK PODSCAPES

Designed by Angelo Ray Serrano and JC San Luis of 1/0 design collective

arlier this year, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) held the Building Accessible and Livable Ecologies (BALE) two-stage design competition that called for a conceptual masterplan and design of a 30-hectare mixed-income housing development in Clark Green City, Tarlac. Our entry, Clark Podscapes, was one of the five shortlisted during the first stage, and we were asked to refine our submissions for the second stage based on the jury’s feedback. One of the judges said our buildings “look like one large wall from the street and appear uninviting.” So we reduced the lengths of the residential blocks, made room for parks and activated the open spaces. Our final output was eventually chosen as grand winner and is

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ALL THE BUILDINGS ARE CONNECTED ON TOP B Y T H E " C YC / L I N E , " A N E L E VAT E D N E T W O R K O F L AN DSCAPE D PROM E NAD E S AND BIKE LANES. slated to be built and integrated with AECOM’s overall masterplan for Clark Green City in 2016. Clark Podscapes is composed of three lowrise building types: high-density blocks with double loaded corridors; low-density blocks with single-loaded corridors; and pods that are also single-loaded, but with a semi-circular footprint and a courtyard at the center. All building types are modular with a mix of studios, one-bedroom units and two-bedroom units. The residential buildings are lined up along four major splines following the site’s contours. Our idea was to work with the existing topography, preserve the natural waterways, create pedestrian corridors, and minimize the need for mass grading. All the buildings are connected on top by the “CYC/line,” an elevated network of landscaped promenades and bike lanes. Approximately 2.4 kilometers long, it runs from the southwest end to the center of the development. Both ends of the CYC/line gradually descends to the ground with a gradient of 1:17.5—much gentler than the universal standard of 1:12. While the grounds below are public, the CYC/line is accessible only by residents with RFID (radio frequency identification) cards.

01 Situated within a Special Economic Zone and near an international airport and seaport, Clark Green City is expected to attract businesses and generate employment. The Concept Master Plan projects an employee ratio of 50 to 80% of the population in the next 50 years, hence the need for affordable housing. 02 Pocket parks and amenity spaces are distributed around the development, ensuring that open spaces are within easy reach by residents. 03 The Esplanade is the development's main communal space, a public plaza where people can lounge, play and gather for social events. 03

FUTURE PROJECTS

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01 Retail zones are integrated in the residential community. The income generated from the rent of retail spaces will augment the maintenance cost of the open spaces, and reduce the monthly association fees collected from the residents. 02 For walkability, building entrances are situated within a 400-meter radius of major modes of public transportation. The presence of dedicated bike lanes lessens the need for cars and promotes a healthier lifestyle. 03 BCDA proposes to buy out private properties affected by the ongoing development, and relocate displaced residents within this new residential community. We allotted nine structures with a total of 504 units, to be constructed in two phases.

The intent was to balance permeability and security. Because the green rooftops form part of the open space, the whole development can be considered one large open park. Covered walkways allow people to move around the property with ease. There are clear demarcations between pedestrian, bicycle and car lanes. We followed a hierarchy of open spaces. The “Civic Park” and the “Underground” at the entrance serve as retail

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anchors to bring people into the development. At the heart of the residential community is the “Town Hall,” where services like spas, gyms and multi-purpose halls are available. The development’s main social space, the “Esplanade,” contains a public park and playground. The “Podscape Grounds” within each cluster of residential blocks has retail spaces, pocket parks, and a pool at the ground level.

B E C A U S E T H E G R E E N R O O F T O P S F O R M PA R T O F T H E O P E N S PA C E , T H E D E V E L O P M E N T C A N B E C O N S I D E R E D O N E L A R G E O P E N PA R K .

I S OM ETR I C PLA N S O F B UI LD I N G M OD UL E S

HI GH-D E N SI T Y B UI LD I N G

M E D IUM -D E N S ITY BUIL D IN G

POD

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ADVERTORIAL

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Fittings & Fixtures New products at MC Home Depot

M

aking everyone a “champion builder”—that is what MC Home Depot stands for. To help you realize this dream, MC Home provides everything you need for the construction of your dream project, from fittings and fixtures to cement and waterproofing solutions from brands such as Mariwasa, Hornitex, American Standard, HCG, Royal Tern, Delta, Dr. Seal, Super Thoroseal and Omni. For more info, call or visit their branches listed here: MC Home Dept Fort Bonifacio 32nd St. cor. Bonifacio Boulevard, Fort Bonifacio Global City, Taguig Phone (02) 815 4759 Website mchomedepot.com; MC Home Depot Ortigas 168 Ortigas Avenue cor. Meralco Avenue, Pasig City Phone (02) 636 6944; MC Home Depot Pampanga Jose Abad Santos, Barangay Dolores, San Fernando City, Pampanga Phone (045) 445 4408.

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1 In-wall tub/shower faucet (model no. 2287/153801 Camellia) by Moen, P6,499.75, 2 Water heater SGL point (SMART18E) by Alpha, P7,200, 3-6 3.0mm 3D Wood Vinyl-Mimicri Embossed series (from left: embossed walnut, grey ash, classic brown, embossed winter grey) by APO, 6 x 36 in, P106.25/pc, 7 1-way switch 16A (WWS-213) by Omni, P49.75/pc, 7a 2 gang plate (WWP-112) by Omni, P24.75/pc, 8 1-way illuminated switch (#WEG5151/6801) by Panasonic, P 243.00, 9 Water closet dual flush push button (C4520T ETON white) by HCG, P20,000, 10 LED Bulb E27 by GES, 7 watts, P199.75, 11 LED Lite A60 Bulb E27 by Omni, 9 watts, P199.75, 12 LED Bulb A55 E27 6500K by Philips, 7-60 watts, P377.50, 13 Handleset (F60V CAM/GEO619) by Schlage, P8,350

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14 Entrance lockset (HL-8500B) by Hyundae, P675, 15 Digital floor tile (Murillo Matte) by Mariwasa, 16 x 16 in, P61.25/pc, 16 Digital floor tile (Amalfi) by Mariwasa, 16 x 16 in, P61.25/pc, 17 Digital floor tile (Primea) by Mariwasa, 16 x 16 in, P61.25/pc, 18 Aqua flooring (beige) by Hornitex, P3,247.25, 19 Aqua flooring (walnut) by Hornitex, P3,247.25, 20 Premium waterproofing (white) by Castle, 1 liter, P819.75, 21 Waterproofing (white) by Super Thoroseal, 1 gallon, P636.75, 22 Water plug by Jardine, 1 liter, P282, 23 Acrylic waterproofing membrane (white) by Dr. Seal, 1 quart, P600, 24 Concrete protector oil base by Dr. Seal, 1 quart, P400, 25 Lavatory wash basin (L-3303 EAGLE, white) by Royal Tern, P3,151.50, 25a Single lever lavatory faucet (25225-P) by Delta, P5,250, 26 Lavatory above counter (0950 ACTIVE VESSEL, white) by American Standard, P4,999, 26a Extended lavatory faucet (703 NEO MODERN) by American Standard, P5,899

SOURCES

REVITALIZING A HISTORIC DISTRICT Edson Cabalfin, PhD School of Architecture and Interior Design, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio <[email protected]>

SHEARES ISLAND OOZN Studio 35b Pagoda St., Singapore

THE FORT TOWERS RAINTREE HOTEL Budji+Royal Architecture + Design GF W Tower, 1117 39th St., Bonifacio Global City, Taguig (02) 403 5502 to 03

SERVITA CIVIC CENTER COSTA RICA CONGRESS HALL POPE PAVILION HOME WITH MANY MOONS CAZA (Carlos Arnaiz Architects) 10F Rufino Bldg., 6784 Ayala Ave., Makati (0927) 887 6440

SIBOL Joson Design 21 Mt. Fairweather St., Filinvest 1, Quezon City (02) 932 2603 <[email protected]> <josondesign.com>

BAMBOO TELLS Jelda May O. Cabardo 408 Bacay Tulay, Minglanilla, Cebu <[email protected]>

SOUTH LAGUNA PRIME CLARK PODSCAPES 1/0 design collective <[email protected]>

TANIKALA HANDStudio Co. 1816 Cityland 10 Tower 2, 154 HV Dela Costa St., Ayala North, Makati (02) 831 2102 or 666 3155

CELEBRITY HOTEL

CLOUDSCAPE THE URBAN BLOCK WTA Architecture & Design Studio 302 Metrosquare Bldg., 224 Ortigas Ave., Greenhills, San Juan (02) 570 4148 or 570 3169 <wtadesignstudio.com>

FJ HOTEL Zubu Design Associates 242 Magallanes St., Cebu (032) 255 0138 or 418 4698 >

VIEWFINDER CLUBHOUSE L.A. Poco Architects & Associates 335-8, 337, 346 Mile Long Building, Amorsolo cor. Rufino Sts., Makati (02) 894 3980 <[email protected]>

Javier Design Studio - Manila

RIZAL THEATER

TALUKAB

MB Architecture Studio 70D 18th Ave. Cubao, Quezon City (02) 709 2097 <micaelabenedicto.com>

Kurt Cleon Yu (0917) 836 1947

SAGAY: THE TUBBATAHA MARINE LIFE SANCTUARY AMA BANK FINANCIAL CENTER

SpaceFabrik (02) 880 9593 <spacefabrik.com>

Villegas-Roxas Consultants 8a Engineering Street, GSIS Village, Project 8, Quezon City (02) 929 0527 <www.vrcmanila.com>

HELSINKI MUSEUM Bryan Andrew Gabaldon and John Patricio <[email protected]>

SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM

Leandro V. Locsin Partners 18F Locsin Building, 6752 Ayala Ave. cor. Makati Ave., Makati (02) 816 7927 or 816 7928 <www.locsinarchitecture.com>

T.I. Vasquez Architects & Planners, Inc. 25F Cityland 10 Tower 1, 6815 HV Dela Costa St., Salcedo Village, Makati (02) 890 0477 or 817 7058

JEBEL JAIS MOUNTAIN HOTEL THE SILHOUETTE

THE RIZAL CENTER

Cadiz International Architects Unit 1202 Liberty Center Bldg., 104 HV Dela Costa St., Salcedo Village, Makati (02) 887 2075 or 68

THE CANTILEVER HOUSE

ARCONiC Architects, Planners, Interior Designers Unit 903-905, Centerpoint Bldg., Garnet Rd. cor. Julia Vargas Ave., Ortigas Center, Pasig (02) 706 6134 to 35 <[email protected]>

VOLUMES THAT SPEAK CRYSTALIZING ROOTS

SITIO MALAYA 14 PETER STREET PROJECT NEPAL Sudarshan V. Khadka, Jr.

THE S HOUSE Aoanan Arkitektos Studio Dapitan St., Sampaloc, Manila (0927) 222 3890 <[email protected]> <designa2studio.blogspot.com>

YELLOW FARMHOUSE Pen Works Architecture & Interiors 249 Luna St., La Paz, Iloilo (33) 320 8008

RAMP HOUSE urbanshift studio

HOW DO YOU LIKE TO SEE YOURSELF LIVE? HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE REMEMBERED? Alexander Mayoralgo

A Home of Many Moons by CAZA