Open to possibilities: Ayala Land's green urbanscapes

Most Filipinos today are urbanites. We are now (and have been for about a decade) a primarily urban nation. Most pinoys now live in or around the 122 or so cities that dot the 7,107 islands of the Philippines. Life in these cities center on modern buildings, building complexes, and urban communities; but the quality of our urban lives depend as much on the spaces between these structures as the buildings themselves.

Good urban developments put a premium on the quality of the open spaces as much as on the architecture of individual buildings. Buildings and the spaces between them are the yin and yang of urban life, one cannot exist without the other.

The richness of our urban lives also depend greatly on the character of these spaces. Invariably the best places to live or work in are those made up of substantial green—landscape—the best ones to engender or activate substantial and meaningful social interaction —peoplescape.

People want to be in an urbanscape where other people gather, They want to have access to nature, along with flora and fauna (which surprisingly are found even in urban setting so long as there is enough green). Most importantly, people aspire for surroundings that bring the best of the modern and still have distinctive character, they can relate to… a place they feel reflects their values.

Nearly a kilometer long, Bonifacio High Street’s unique and refreshing environment is a pleasant respite for shoppers and officeworkers.

Triangulating Urbanity

I sat down for coffee and some value-laden conversation with architect Joel N. Luna, vice president and group head of Ayala Land’s Innovation Design Group. The setting for our conversation was the very heart of the highly-urbanized central business district of Makati, yet we were surrounded almost completely by green lawns, tall trees, public art, and people strolling.

The place we met at is one of ALI’s most successful, and still evolving developments, the Ayala Triangle. Traffic, city noise and tall buildings are drowned out in the open green of the Ayala Triangle Gardens, replaced by lush pedestrian-friendly landscape that frame views mostly of human-scaled activity.

Architect Luna noted that “…the Triangle is now a runner’s and jogger’s paradise. A new culture of running has evolved because we transformed the triangle into gardens that link three sides of the CBD. In fact, that new culture is even more pronounced at Bonifacio Global City.”

The juxtaposition of the Ayala Triangle Gardens’ (ATG) green against sky-high towers of commerce, similarly the linear stretch of Bonifacio High Street in Bonifacio Global City (BCC) in Taguig contrasted to the towers surrounding all these point to one of the best directions Philippine urbanism could and should take.

The water features in The Terraces at Ayala Center Cebu provide a refreshing dining experience in the center of nature

It is a direction that balances buildings with blooms; modern class with extensive grass; profitable development with the value of spaces for people. It is also a solid testimony of the company’s track record of success in its avowed goal of creating sustainable developments.

Urban Vibrancy By Design

Ayala Land’s design direction sustains the environment by making it comfortable to walk from one side of the districts it develops to the other. People eschew getting into their cars at the Ayala Triangle Gardens in Makati, the BHS in Bonifacio Global City, or the Terraces in Ayala Center Cebu since shortcuts are provided that make walking a pleasure.

The pedestrianization of the Makati CBD in particular extends in fact to the entire district as seen with a growing network of underpassess and overpasses, plus ongoing improvements to pedestrian-oriented infrastructure. The same approach is used in Bonifacio High Street (BHS) making it possible to walk almost the entire width of the district as a pampered pedestrian.

These developmental approach is far from being pedestrian... or just pedestrian, says architect Luna. The approach seeks not only to conserve and sustain ‘green-ness’ in terms of the landscape, but it seeks to also encourage a spirit of community, one that fosters positive social interaction among all those who make use of the spaces, live in the area, work there or visit (just like me).

Luna says that this social interaction is encouraged to happen specifically by design—urban design, landscape architecture and green planning. This conscious design directive is meant to accommodate not just serendipitous and informal activities but also organized events and larger celebrations. This is seen in successful concerts at BGC and seasonal spectacles like New Year countdowns at the Makati CBD.

Quaint restos at the Ayala Triangle Gardens complement the greenery

Ayala Land’s societal goals of development make it unique amongst those in the business of developing land. Archictect Luna also pointed out that the company has always had it in mind to create attractive sustainable settings both for investors and locators, as well as the people who would eventually use or live in the places it created. The story of its Makati developments in the last five decades, show how urban green spaces have become a hallmark of all its projects.

Well-designed green spaces have become physical manifestations of the philosophy that guides the developments of Ayala Land since the first projects in what is now the premier central business and residential districts of the country.

Opening Possibilities Around The Nation

Countrywide, Ayala Land is replicating and improving on the original mould of balancing buildings with the blessings of open green space. Ayala Alabang and the company’s extensive NUVALI development incorporate extensive green networks and spaces.

Further south, the Cebu Business Park’s gleaming new towers are organized around rational urban design and anchored on key green open spaces like the popular The Terraces in Ayala Center Cebu. 

The same is true for all of the company’s projects not just residential and business districts. Ayala Land’s commercial and mixed-use centers in Makati, Bonifacio Global City, Quezon City and other locations nationwide incorporate green open spaces into its tapestry of its buildings. These are woven into the urban fabric that forms their larger contexts, benefiting everyone at both the human scale and the city scale.

The colorful Christmas light and sound show at the Ayala Triangle Gardens drew in crowds every night last holiday season

This strategy allows Ayala Land to address the “common” good. This communitarian benefit, however, covers a larger sphere than just human activity. Green spaces are key, if not prime elements, of sustainable environments.

Green surroundings assure communities that the effects of global climate change are mitigated. Trees and landscaped sites counter air pollution, help absorb stormwater, reduce the “heat island” effect of cities, provide visual relief from hard surfaces and also reduce ambient noise that cities produce.

Space, Specialization And Sustainability

Creating these green spaces, architect Luna expounds, is not enough. These spaces are also consciously designed to accomodate organized activity. Urban events now form part of the requsite menu offered in vibrant city centers and community spaces.

Ayala Land is evolving the design of these outdoor spaces to be able to accomodate a whole spectrum of communal activity and civic celebration. Christmas and New Year’s countdowns are now key calendar events in many of its developments. These events are also tailored to local culture (as in Cebu and Davao) or to the scale and size of the surrounding communities.

Architect Luna heads a cadre of innovative and creative professionals who specialize in designing these spaces, as well as the buildings that balance successful development. They work with the best international and local professionals in all aspects of design, architecture, landscape architecture and planning. This augurs well for those who are looking to invest in, relocate to, or be part of modern urban communities.

Running is made more enjoyable in wide open spaces  

Ayala Land’s special openness to providing space for people, spaces which engender a vibrant life between buildings, spaces that are green and sustainable, spaces that are as flexible as Filipinos’ marvelous mutating culture, is redefining modern Filipino urbanity (literally) inside and out.

This urbanity for both buildings and the spaces around them is, from the start, consciously shaped by proper design, With Ayala Land, open spaces are never an afterthought. They are never just leftovers of the development process, but part and parcel of a new urbanscape; one that creates the best environment for a high quality of urban life, one that can sustain a world of possibilities, and finally, one that is distinctively Ayala Land’s.