Concept

The Golden Bay Hotel is a business hotel development designed to cater to the large number of locals, businessmen and women, and tourists who visit the Bay City area of Manila. The fluidity in its design breaks horizontal barriers and creates a movement that promotes interaction. A curved walkway was incorporated at the center of the rectangular site defining the initial narrative of the project. The Forum Concept. A vertical hole was added to connect the elements surrounding the space, creating a form of a plaza or social space. Given that the program includes uses for offices, commercial and hospitality, the towers were defined and situated to consider the social space below and at the center of the whole site. Movement through a diversity of spatial volumes will create harmonious and interactive energy that strengthens the community that will use the space.

The Forum Concept is a narrative to create spaces where people can interact. This can be in the form of an interesting or attractive virtual street, plaza, and public steps. The main concept of identifying the Golden Bay Forum as a social building is represented in the steps and social areas in the hotel that can encourage social interactions. The Plaza acts as the focal point of the three-building typologies being implemented, while the virtual street promotes the flow of the community around the area.

Being a relatively new development in Metro Manila, the Bay City area has distinct guidelines and conditions that must be followed to harmonize and integrate the built and natural environment. The roadways follow a grid pattern with lots having similar rectangular proportions. Being within proximity to the airport, buildings must adhere to the height limitations of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) aerodrome. While the relatively flat terrain is devoid of topographical features, the Bay City area within Manila Bay, Philippines is a reclamation area that has gained strong influence and a popular reputation amongst cities within Metro Manila. Its surrounding built environment has already created a spatial context and character that makes it a unique and special setting for development.

As the area becomes increasingly attractive for different typologies, the evolution of an architecture that fits the scale of the surrounding developments is evident. This goes in line with the development of larger volumes of floor plates for commercial buildings, which makes it more adaptive and more open to flexible and varying spatial and commercial configuration.