Find your own corner in the sky

MANILA, Philippines – Shoppers at SM City North Edsa can look forward to their own corner in the sky when the Sky Garden, the most innovative and exciting part of the mall’s renovation formally opened its doors to the public yesterday.

A long elevated curvilinear park at the second floor of the former parking lot fronting the City Center and The Block, the Sky Garden offers much needed green space not only for the mall, but also for the city as a whole. It buffers the mall from the busy EDSA intersection, and serves as a living, organic link between the different components of The Block, the City Center, and The Annex.

Lifted from the road like a floating green ribbon, this elevated garden softens the harsh urban environment with lush land and waterscapes, while its organic form also complements the new wavy cladding of the mall.

Pockets of outdoor chairs give the shopper calm rest spots amid the strings of retail shops and specialty stores. Cafes, grills, and dining outlets float on ponds or cluster around circular pocket gardens, whose forms echo those of the renovated skylights within the mall.

Canopied walkways meander amid undulating lawns, ponds, and trees, while tunnels of shops are sculpted out of the earth, giving visitors a new dimension to the traditional park experience.

The Sky Garden’s attractions include the Roof Garden, the Sky Dome, water features, and retail, dining, and entertainment outlets. The well-manicured Roof Garden has about 55 species of plants, grass, and trees. All these plant species grow on a special type of garden soil, which offers a lightweight effect on the structure. A truly green garden, it has a special type of drainage system that allows it to conserve water.

The Sky Dome is a performance area open for concerts and promotional activities. It provides further attractions and dynamism to the landscaped deck. It has a seating capacity for more than 1,000 people and a movable stage to accommodate different types of events.

The Sky Garden’s water features include two bubblers, a simulated river flowing at the center, and waterfalls at the edge of the second floor, which will act as a monumental screen onto which various promotional montages can be projected, giving the park an added presence at the street level.

Completing the experience will be food and retail outlets that will give customers an al fresco dining and shopping experience. These include restaurants like La Mesa Grill, Marina, Persia Grill, Padi’s Point, Ineng’s BBQ, Pixie’s Sinugba, and Gerry’s Grill. There will also be coffee shops like Starbucks, Coffeeworks, Coffee Experience, and Churassco Express. Art’s Cream Gallery, Cello’s Donuts & Dips, Do Eat Cotton Candy, Ferino’s Bibingka, Green Mango, Kitchen of Cakes and Coffee, Tita Lyn’s Suman, Fruits in Ice Cream, Heavenly Chocolate, Freshbar by Big Chill, Blushing Cupcakes, and Chef Tony’s Popstore are some of the fun specialty food stores in the area.

The Sky Garden is accessible from many points. The ground level has a vehicular parking and public transportation terminal where customers can access the Sky Garden via escalators and stairs. There are driveways and drop off areas from EDSA for pedestrians, and the entire development will be connected to the combined LRT 1, MRT 1, and MRT 7 Grand Terminal in the future.

The Sky Garden’s project team includes Arquitectonica, Conceptual Architect; W.V Conscolluela and Associates, Architect of Record; New Golden City Builders and Development Corporation, General Contractors; and D A Abcede and Associates, Project Manager.