MANILA, Philippines — Long-time readers of The Philippine STAR would know that the newspaper used to hold office in the Port Area district of Manila. The editorial, advertising, human resources, and administrative teams shared a cramped building with the printing press. No one had a view of the outside while they were working on their desks, workspaces compressed into each other.
Late last year, the company decided it was finally time to move house.
Transparency, Truth
The Design Group – composed of Zoilo Renzo Amador, NikkolaiTuason-Sy, and Kristina Banzon – used The STAR’s core value of promoting the truth to create the new building’s design.
“We wanted to reflect The STAR’s transparency for the truth through the use of glass as a primary expressive material. It brings in the most beautiful light play during the day, and gives most of the building’s interior spaces access to outside views and natural light,” said Amador. “Maluwag. Maaliwalas. (Spacious. Bright.) That’s what we want The STAR’s employees to feel whenever they work in the building.”
Two buildings, connected by a walkway, make up The STAR’s new headquarters. One building houses the printing press; the other one holds all the other offices.
Amador’s team wanted The STAR to show its enigmatic self to the public – and to its employees – through the new building’s transparent and convergent design.
On all four floors of the new building, for example, workspaces are well-defined. But common areas, such as a pantry on each of the top three floors, bring employees together.
“That’s the feature I like most with the new building,” said Abner Oquendo, who has been a graphic designer for The STARfor 28 years now. “The pantries give us a common space to talk to each other while we’re taking a break from work.”
The OG
The STAR’s roots are evident all over the new building. Greeting guests on the ground floor is a bust of one of The STAR’s founders, the late Betty Go-Belmonte, who co-founded The Philippine STAR in 1986.
On the mezzanine floor, employees eat their lunch at 13th Street Café, named after the street where the original office was located. On one end of the mezzanine is the Betty Go-Belmonte Library.
Of course, to further show the business that The STAR is in, Amador and his partners thought of a unique design idea: “We were curious about how newspapers are printed, then saw an opportunity to use the printing plates as interchangeable feature wall panels that cover the wall of the staircase,” he said.
Coming from a building that shielded its employees and its work from the outside world, The STAR now enjoys spaces that have been specifically designed to show off the newspaper’s important work. Truth should never be hidden, after all.