128 Nivel Hills: A Slice of the Sky | Cebu Daily News | michael banak architect

128 Nivel Hills: A Slice of the Sky | Cebu Daily News | michael banak architect



"The true beauty of the structures is found in their innovative functionality. Located 150 meters above sea level, 128 Nivel Hills takes advantage of the cool sea breeze for year-round natural ventilation. To reduce the heat loads in the buildings, extended balconies on each floor act as environmental sunshades. In effect, even if the sun is at its highest peak, each building remains relatively cool. Additionally, the rounded shape and general orientation of the towers protect them from harsh monsoonal winds and rains. This also permits the maximum use of natural lighting, helping to minimize overall consumption of electricity and encourage an ecologically conscious way of life among its residents."

Modern Living TV: Episode 4 (Segment 4)

Innovative design by Crone Partners Architects, Sydney in collaboration with the very talented AYALA Land team. Great interview Manny!

elm apartments cebu | michael banak architect

"Elm apartments" isn't the real name of this project, but I call it this because of 2 beautiful old elm trees, located at the main entry to the development. These giant trees we looked to retain, shaping the building and drop-off areas around them, using them as a key feature of the development, symbolizing the "green" building we collaboratively designed with our Philippine clients. 

elm apartments cebu | michael banak architect

vertical garden living in the heart of ayala centre

http://www.michaelbanakarchitect.com.au/architecture/vertical-garden-living-in-the-heart-of-ayala-centre-2/

Ayala Land Premier’s Garden Towers Residential Development lives in the heart of Makati’s retail district. Crone Partners design for 2 towers, 61 and 53 levels respectively and housing approximately 680 residences in 2012.

Key environmental features of the design, endemic to the Crone Design Methodology include; Flexible sun rooms, sky gardens, green walls, extensive landscaped amenity areas and spectacular Garden Lobby Drop-off.

The photograph below shows early ground works on site, due for completion 2017. The first phase of the development will see Tower 1 and podium built, with a total GFA of 60,000m2 and 320 apartments.

 

Vertical Garden Living in the heart of AYALA Centre

Ayala Land Premier’s Garden Towers Residential Development lives in the heart of Makati’s retail district. Crone Partners 2012 design incorporates 2 towers, each 51 storeys and housing 340 residences.

Key environmental features of the design, endemic to the Crone Design Methodology include; Flexible sun rooms, sky gardens, green walls, extensive landscaped amenity areas and spectacular garden lobby drop-off.

The photograph below shows early ground works on site, due for completion 2017. A room with a view taken from the Holiday Inn in Makati.

Garden Towers - Makati

Garden Towers is a twin tower, premium grade residential development with retail and landscaped gardens designed by Crone architects in 2012. The site is located in Makati, in the heart of the retail district in the Philippines. The project consists of residential, retail and basement car park levels that connect to Glorietta Shopping Centre at ground and basement levels. The residential towers house 682 apartments and are 60 and 51 levels each, with a total gross floor area of 127,000sqm.

The project is a 2 stage development with Tower 1 currently under construction.

Key features of the design include;

Garden Lobby Drop Off
• Main entrance begins with a lush green wall drop off
• Casual seating areas evoke a veranda/lanai feel
• Indoor garden lobby with high ceilings
• Glimpse of the development’s garden amenities beyond
• Separate concierge and ground floor lobbies for each tower

Garden Amenities
• Significant portion of the 9,010 sqm lot is dedicated to exclusive gardens that also house the development’s pool and social amenities
• Uninterrupted access to Glorietta via landscaped connections uniting the development to Palm

Promenade
• Palm Promenade offers a sweep of green with shopping and dining options on both sides

Sky Gardens
• Alternating between the East and West Corners and every two floors, the sky gardens are 20 sqm areas of natural light and generous garden spaces accessible to residents on that floor

pearl river commercial tower china

Crone Partners worked on the Design Competition for a commercial office tower in China, with a local firm based in Guangzhou, named IAPA. Unfortunately we did not win the project but the experience, designing a major tower in the city and travelling to Guangzhou was memorable.

The project was run by the Guangdong Tobacco Company. Considering the project promoted good Environmental Sustainable Design it seemed a little strange to be working for a Tobacco Company client.
The project was located in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, near to the Pearl River, about 120km North West of Hong Kong. Guangzhou is known as a key transportation hub and trading port for the country of China.

The concept was based on the idea of duality. A situation prevalent in nature, having 2 states, that are complimentary or opposed to each other. The idea of duality is clear in the massing of the tower, the relationship between solid and void, lightness & darkness, private versus public spaces and the clear separation between vehicular and pedestrian movements.

The project is made up of a 68 storey, commercial office tower, with convention centre facilities, restaurants and speciality retail outlets. Four levels of basement car parking are located below ground, including a loading dock and a combination of stackable and conventional car parking spaces, to maximise efficiency and minimise basement excavations, due to the water table. The total GFA for the project is 170,185m2.

The 290m tall tower is orientated towards park views and desirable, southerly aspect, for warm winter sun access.

The tower project was designed using Environmental Sustainable Design principles to minimize the energy consumption of the building and to conserve water usage. A combination of passive and active environmental strategies was used in the areas of; Energy, Water, Transportation, Land Use and Ecology, Indoor Environmental Quality, Management, Materials and Emissions.

I like the photo below of the "little" model we had made for the competition.

 

2 shots of the arya residences

The photographs below, are off the Arya Residences in Fort Bonifacio, Philippines. The building is still under construction and we (Crone Partners Architects), designed it back in 2010. Arya is a twin tower, residential development targeting LEED gold and Berde, green building ratings. The first residential building in the Philippines, to have such high aspirations for environmental design.

I have cheated a little with the photograph, using filters in Instagram, but I like the wispy clouds and colours in the first photograph and the grey grain of the balcony detail in the second image.