a big hole in the ground – garden towers makati

Standing at the top of a temporary car park in Makati, I look down on our site for the Garden Towers development and am quiet overwhelmed by the enormity of this project, designed over 2 years ago.

Garden Towers is a Residential Condominium project for AYALA Land Inc. located at the heart of the retail district in Makati. It has over 127,000m2 of Gross Floor Area and the 2 Towers range in height from 50 to 60 Levels. The development will house over 650+ Premier Grade Condominiums with the luxury and convenience of quality amenities and shopping at its doorstep.

I cant wait to see the towers pop out of the ground and start to take shape.

Garden Towers Site Photo

garden towers

An Architectural Practice in Sydney – Philippine GBC Conference 2014

I was lucky enough to be invited to talk at the Philippine Green Building Conference held at the SMX Conference Centre in Pasay City 25 September.

The Philippines are at the early stages of developing their Green Rating Tool, named BERDE (Building for Ecologically Responsive Design Excellence) and presented 2 outstanding examples of their work including the first Green Certified Government Building to pave the way for future developments in the country. The NET Lima Commercial Office Building, in Fort Bonifacio Gobal City by the NET Group, is one of the first buildings in the Philippines to achieve BERDE Certification. A sign of things to come and shows the courage of developers in the Philippines to promote Sustainable Developments. We are also looking forward to Crone’s design for the Arya Residences, developed by ArthaLand which will be the first residential building in the Philippines to achieve dual certification, both BERDE and LEED certifications in the near future.

On behalf of Crone Partners I gave a talk on “An Architecture Practice in Sydney”. It detailed Crone Partners’ extensive apartment construction experience (approximately 20,000 apartments world-wide in the last 10 years); our special knowledge of The Philippines; Our collaborative office culture, with staff from 20 different countries and a much higher percentage of women than the average firm; our collaborative art work; how this informs a fresh approach to new workplace design.

It then told the story of the design process for 180 Brisbane, a 6 Star Green Star (Green Building Council of Australia rating tool) Certified Project in Brisbane: Designing for a hot, humid climate; winning a competition with 4 other big Australian firms through the strength of our analysis; finding clever solutions for sunlight, geotechnical, layout, regulatory, structural, urban, facade, wind issues in a way that consistently fed into our design vision for open, collaborative workspaces with a sense of address and identity.

Many thanks to Eva Yazon from Austrade and Edgar V. Sabidong from the Philippine Green Building Council for looking after me while I was in the Philippines.

See below links to the Philippine Green Building Council Website and Conference Video;

Philippine Green Building Council Conference Video

Philippine Green Building Council Website

BG - 2014 - Teaser - Banak

finger wharf

The Finger Wharf is a wharf in Woolloomooloo Bay, Sydney, Australia. The structure is the longest timbered-piled wharf in the world, and was completed in 1915.

The Finger Wharf was an operational working wharf for much of the 20th century. By the 1970s, new container ports with larger wharfing facilities and cruise liner terminals around the city meant the usage of the wharf declined. By the 1980s the wharf lay derelict and empty and in 1987 the state government decided to demolish the Wharf.

A new marina and resort complex was approved to replace the wharf in Woolloomooloo Bay, but when demolition work was due to begin in January 1991, locals blocked entrance to the site. Unions imposed a Green ban which stopped demolition crews from undertaking work.

Due to such a strong public outcry it was decided that the existing wharf would instead be renovated into a boutique hotel, featuring 104 guestrooms, loft-style suites and private residencies. Walker Corporation undertook that renovation. The hotel features several restaurants and bars, including the popular Water Bar, frequented by many visiting local and international celebrities. The hotel was officially launched as “W Sydney – Woolloomooloo” and it was W Hotels’ first property to be launched outside of the United States. The hotel’s licensing to Starwood Hotels & Resorts expired in 2007 and re-branded as “Blue Hotel”, managed by Taj Hotels & Resorts. Notable residents include actor Russell Crowe and media personality John Laws.

Text courtesy of Wikepedia.

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