Intelligent Living at The Estate Makati: How to Build an Estate

There’s a story in the Makati skyline. Its buildings’ varying heights narrate the passage of time while the Brutalist structures of decades past chronicle the origins of the financial capital of the Philippines. As the modern age takes form in the cityscape, an urban portrait comes alive and ushers in an era of intelligent living.

This is the skyline The Estate Makati will be joining. Through a rare partnership by ST 6747 Resources Corporation, which is a joint venture of SMDC and Federal Land, Inc., the award-winning British architectural firm Foster + Partners creates its first ever project in the country: a much-awaited luxury residential building along Ayala Avenue.

The firm’s real estate works from around the world preclude this exciting development. Foster + Partners’ recent constructions include Apple structures from the Apple Park in Cupertino to Apple Champs-Elysses store in Paris. The architecture and engineering firm is also behind the headquarters of HSBC in Hong Kong and Bloomberg in London, respectively.

For The Estate Makati, Head of Design, David Nelson shares, “It’s not just a simple, smooth-sided building. It’s much more dynamic than that – it’s sculpted.” Indeed, a masterful design in unique cruciform will mark the residential building’s profile in the skyline.

Besides aesthetic, however, Foster + Partners incorporates sustainable state-of-the art technology into the blueprint of this luxury high rise. Each loft-like unit at The Estate Makati is a flexible and seamless space with its use of double slab technology. “The apartments express themselves floor by floor,” explains Nelson, “We wanted they don’t overlook each other, which creates a dynamic elevation.” Each home is equipped with an inhabited façade, or a three-dimensional space with specially designed bay windows that ensure privacy and exclusivity, while still offering a 270-degree view of the city.

“On the skyline, it will be an interesting, unexpected image people will see,” adds Nelson, “In the apartments themselves and how it will affect people, architecture is a series of experiences.” The Estate Makati is configured with distinct separation from the hustle and bustle to a serene abode within.

Nelson details a strategic design of intimate spaces put together at the lobby, intended to create pockets of peace and seclusion from the fast-pace of the city outside. Residents will enter an elevated driveway which brings them through lush greenery, before they are assisted unto private lifts. “The mood shifts, the atmosphere changes – we try to use that: leaving a busy street, coming up to the entrance,” Nelson says. Water features for both cooling and natural insulation contribute to an atmosphere of tranquility. Vehicles on electric power will also be valeted into parking slots with charging stations.

Just as Foster + Partners has been given carte blanche by its partners in the Philippines, The Estate Makati’s expansive super penthouse suites will each be customizable blank slates. Units are free of columns. Utilities, plumbing, and electricals will be out of sight. From double-hide floors to window overhangs, eco-friendly materials ensure minimized sun exposure while still maximizing the stunning cityscape. Other than such luxurious provisions, each apartment is intelligently equipped and the spaces can be occupied by equally discerning residents.

Taken from an interview done by David Celdran for Executive Class on ANC.