A new urban oasis
MANILA, Philippines - This holiday season, taking a walk outdoors hits new heights at the Ayala Triangle Gardens in the heart of the Makati Central Business District. Particularly between 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. from Mondays to Fridays up to Dec. 24, the experience is intended to awaken the spirit of Christmas even in the most jaded.
Automated lights mounted on moving robotic parts, scores of laser lights wrapped around tree trunks as well as 3,200 strands of Tivoli lights programmed to the beat of holiday tunes help achieve the purpose. “The Symphony of Lights” by award-winning lighting director Voltaire de Jesus and multi-awarded sounds designer expert Jethro Joaquin takes place at the backyard of the iconic Tower One and Exchange Plaza. From Ayala Avenue, the lights will be visible through the cavernous entrance plaza of Tower One. Salcedo Village denizens who come from Paseo de Roxas and cut through the plaza heading for the Ayala Center bus and train terminals will most likely catch the shows which run for 10 minutes every 30 minutes during the weekday rush hour.
As the first medley of holiday tunes unfold, powerful lights form colorful Christmas patterns on the porte cochere of the Tower One and Exchange Plaza. Soon enough, the viewer in the adjoining courtyard is surrounded by thousands of tiny Tivoli bulbs strung from the surrounding trees blinking and changing colors in time with the music. On opening night, a guest gushed: “The show surprises and delights because it’s so new to Manila. As the lights go on and off all around you, you feel like you are the star of the show.”
It took De Jesus two months to string out the bulbs from beneath the towering branches of the heritage trees of the Ayala Triangle Gardens. In the first two weeks of November, he labored nightly from 10 p.m. up to 5 a.m. to come up with an appropriate sequence of light movements. He worked on three medleys of popular tunes put together by Joaquin and which the latter entitled “Essence of Christmas,” “Paskong Pinoy” and “The Community Celebrates.”
The show, nevertheless, is merely a come-on to the rest of the Ayala Triangle, now dubbed “the newest place to chill out” by opening night guests. It recently opened to the public in mid-November and was conceptualized by Ayala Land as a “grand community space for the MCBD office workers,” according to Jay Caniza, senior architect of Ayala Land’s Innovation & Design Group.
Paved footpaths lead to a main walk which, when viewed from the top, looks like the wings of an airplane. Amusing sculptures fashioned from scrap and found objects by artist Ral Arrogante now serve as focal points of this main pedestrian boulevard. The pieces are wired or crimped together take the form of an airplane, a helicopter and a three-wheeled vehicle with propellers, among other objects. All the pieces can also function as wind veins.
Arrogante’s works are complemented by Ovvian Castrillo Hill’s abstract expressionist works exhibited in other parts of the garden. Mounted on pedestals, the works in mirror-finish stainless steel, marble and other metals carry names that reflect a Christmas theme (i.e. “Search for Divinity,” “Three Kings,” “Rejoice”).
Hill and Arrogante’s works will be on exhibit at the gardens up to Jan. 15, 2010. Better yet, annotations on each of the works are available via SMS by Globe. The pieces can be purchased on credit through BPI Credit Card.
From the gardens which is a Globe WiFi zone, the office and residential towers of Paseo de Roxas, Ayala Avenue and Makati Avenue are visible, driving home the point that one is unmistakably in the heart of the Philippines’ premier business district. The eye-level vista of heritage trees, greens and paved walks nevertheless offer an oasis of calm and tranquility for both the office worker and families seeking holiday displays. They invite all to take a pause from the stresses of urban living, to let go for the moment so they can return to everyday life renewed and rejuvenated.
