CE 501-CE51S1 - Plant Visits and Seminars for CE

1. How were these projects made? How long did it took to finish?

SM Mall of Asia, also abbreviated as SM MoA or simply MoA, is a large shopping mall in Bay
City, Pasay, Philippines, near the SM Central Business Park, the Manila Bay, and the southern
end of Epifanio de Los Santos Avenue (EDSA).

Owned and developed by SM Prime Holdings, the largest mall chain owner and developer in the
Philippines, it has a land area of 67 hectares (170 acres), a gross floor area of approximately
432,891 m2 (4,659,600 sq ft), and offers 46,647 m2 (502,100 sq ft) for conventions and social
functions. The area attracts daily average foot traffic of about 200,000 people.

It is currently the fourth largest shopping mall in the Philippines and the fourteenth in the world.
When it opened in 2006 it was the largest shopping mall in the Philippines until SM City North
EDSA was redeveloped in 2008, and was relegated to third place by the expansion of SM
Megamall from 2011 to 2015 when SM Seaside City Cebu opened to the public before returning
to this spot in 2017

The mall is the centerpiece project of SM Prime at the SM Central Business Park, where five
one-story buildings serve as the company's corporate offices (the sixth building being occupied
by TeleTech Holdings, Inc. as their flagship site in the country).

The SM Mall of Asia's design team includes Arquitectonica, design architect; Architect Robert
Carag Ong, Architect of Record, GHT Services, project manager, and Hilmarc's Construction
Corp. (for the South Parking Building, Main Mall, and Entertainment Mall), and Monolith
Construction Development Corp. (for the North Parking Building), general contractors.

The mall would have opened before Christmas Day of 2005 but had been delayed due to hitches
in the delivery of construction materials. Frequent rains in the last quarter of 2005 also delayed
the turnover of mall space to tenants. SM Prime decided to move the opening date to March 3,
2006

On February 27, 2006, local newspaper Manila Standard Today, reported that a team of Pasay
City engineers found huge cracks underneath the structure, which was causing the structure to
vibrate. When questioned about the inspection, the Pasay City Engineering Department denied
making any statement regarding defects in the Mall of Asia. Engineer Edwin Javaluyas, Pasay
City engineering officer, in his letter to SM Prime Holdings Inc., said he never stated that the city
hall's engineering department inspected the Mall of Asia on February 23, 2006.

SM Prime, however, decided to move the opening to May 21 of that year. Jeffrey Lim, corporate
information officer of SM Prime Holdings, emphasized that a rescheduling of the mall's opening
was made to give the company an opportunity to allow more tenants to open shops and denied
that the change was due to structural defects.
The mall was officially inaugurated by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo with a special
screening of Everest in the San Miguel Coca-Cola IMAX Theater. The movie was shown three
days after Philippine tri-athlete Leo Oracion reached the treacherous mountain's summit.

2. What were the problems encountered?

Constructed on reclaimed land in Manila Bay and occupying a grand total of 407,000 square
meters, SM Mall of Asia (MOA) is popular for being the country’s second largest shopping mall,
next to SM North EDSA. The whole complex (which, according to its website, is almost one
kilometer in length, and has a perimeter of nearly two kilometers) consists of four main buildings
– the Main Mall, the Entertainment Mall, the North parking and the South Parking, respectively
– all of which are interconnected by open-air walkways. With its floor area of approximately
four hectares, one can only imagine the amount of foot traffic MOA experiences everyday.

Wayfinding is defined by Kevin Lynch as “a consistent use and organization of definite sensory
cues from the external environment.” This is crucial for large projects, since the way users
perceive the establishment could be how they see it for a long period of time. First impression
lasts, indeed; and some of the determining factors would be based on accessibility of the
entrances/exits and the walkability of the entire place. MOA is pedestrian-friendly, for it was
designed as such – with its paved roads surrounding the whole complex, its numerous walkways,
and air-conditioned yet well-lighted main buildings. Entrances and exits are also placed at
strategic places, with the preceding wide open spaces and signs clearly indicating their locations.
However, the mall’s sheer size is significantly over the maximum walkable distance – a fact
which its designers and administration appeared to have considered, because of the provision of
seating areas and the offer of a tram shuttle service.

Orientation, however, is a different matter. Navigating through a mall of such size is a daunting
task, because aside from its overly large building scale, MOA’s layout is carefully planned out so
that almost every usable space is utilized for business and commercial purposes. Thus, it is to be
expected that a significant portion of malling time would be spent solely on navigating and
walking from one point to another. Some of the students from Sir Cabalza’s class (including
myself) had a difficult time finding the meeting place, although it was not their first time inside
the complex. The brightly colored store fronts do not seem to help much, what with their similar
looking glass facades, and the fact that the colors repeat at regular intervals. Skylights and center
islands (complete with foliage and sculptures) are provided where there are large spaces;
however, since they are common features of the mall interiors, they also help little with the
public’s orientation.

3. What have you learned from it?

The meanings found in architectural works are surprisingly important for man to live in harmony
with his space. It is simply language communicated through a different medium, in this case, art
and architecture. Through the science of semiotics, another way to understanding man and his
behavior is provided. After all, cultures from different eras in (pre)history were mostly learned
and understood through the work of man himself. How we interpret the environment around us
and how we understand these meanings shapes our understanding of truth and of ourselves.
With all the fast-paced developments around us today, there exists a kind of social revolution that
calls for a concrete response in saving ourselves from our own impacts to the environment. For
architecture alone, such call is a pressing issue as 40% of all the environmental damage can be
traced back to the booming construction industry. The concrete jungle of central business
districts, and commercial complexes, shopping malls and the like stand as unfaltering evidences
of both technological advancement and humanity’s increasing ecological footprint. For that,
sustainability efforts in architecture, engineering, and planning arise and are being constantly
pushed for to alleviate the dire condition of Mother Earth.

This is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zekHiXU9cNM