A 'Prism' of mixed-use possibilities

MANILA, Philippines - R arely do innovations in of- fice buildings come along, but when they do, one can expect it to be surely excit- ing and game-changing. One such development is the TwoE-comCenter of SM Land, an iconic and eye-catching 14-story, 102,000-square-meter office build- ing located within the Mall of Asia Complex (MOAC) in Pasay City. It is a fast-rising addition to the changing landscape of this masterplanned flag- ship estate of SM Land in the Western side of Metro Manila—a district that has emerged in recent years as an important epicenter of business, entertainment and commerce.

SM Land has successfully captured the burgeoning BPO (business process outsourcing) market with TwoE-comCenter’s design, features and functionality that support the demanding technological and op- erational requirements of companies in this industry. Moreover, given the building’s prime location near Manila Bay and the port areas, SM Land has effectively enticed an incidental yet important market of maritime-related businesses such as transport, logistics, and maritime staffing firms, both local and multinational.

With 90% of construction com- pleted and almost 70% percent of leasable space already taken up by such types of companies, SM Land is set to kick off TwoE-com opera- tions by December this year. “Marke

response has been great, and we are simply excited to open the building and welcome our new locators,” says David Rafael, SM Land senior vice president and head of com- mercial properties group.

Rafael adds that the BPO industry has long been touted to be one of the most important contributors to the country’s economy, and yet many of them still have to contend with basic office spaces when starting up operations in next-wave city locations, away from the tradi- tional central business districts. “TwoE-com provides the ef- ficient functionality and respectable address of a prime office building, at value-for-money rates that is the trademark of SM,” adds Rafael. “We understand that BPOs are a cost- sensitive operation, so we strive to provide for their requirements while still allowing them to be financially flexible and adaptive to the local business environment.”

Masterplanned location and controlled environment

TwoE-com is but second in a series of four office buildings masterplanned to rise within MOAC, comprising the E-com complex. With the success of TwoE-com, groundbreaking for the next building ThreeE-com is targeted by early 2012.

In the aftermath of the recent ty- phoon Pedring, which left Roxas Bou- levard unexpectedly inundated with huge waves, MOAC was relatively unscathed. There was absolutely no flooding within any area of the com- plex itself, and power and utilities were not interrupted. The entertain- ment strip along the perimeter of the complex nearest the bay received no permanent or structural damage. This is one of the advantages of the reclaimed area having been raised up to three meters above sea level. MOAC has also been designed with canal interceptors as large as a mini-truck, to efficiently and swiftly drain excess rainwater.

MOAC locators and visitors were understandably alarmed with the intensity of Pedring, but after they had weathered safely through the typhoon, the reliability of MOAC’s property management and overall masterplanning became apparent. “Of course, Pedring is an extreme force of nature that we hopefully do not need to contend with again, but even if we are to, our experience has proven that MOAC is designed to withstand such natural occurrences, and we are well-equipped to respond to any additional consequences in terms of security, utilities, traffic, and others,” says Rafael.

Unique office and entertainment atmosphere by Manila Bay

Together with the start of TwoE- com operations is the anticipated opening of its unique mixed-use component—an open-air dining and entertainment podium located on its fourth level, with encompass- ing views of the Makati skyline in the east and the historic Manila Bay sunset in the west. Dubbed Prism Plaza, it redefines the mixed-use idea behind conventional commercial development that merely supports an office building’s tenants and employees.

While TwoE-com would also be having a ground floor arcade offering more service-oriented shops—such as a Land Transportation Office branch for convenient driver’s license renewals, and familiar fast food brands— Prism Plaza is a separate, distinct lifestyle experience that is more than the usual mixed-use component found in other office buildings, especially in the traditional CBDs.

“Prism Plaza is an integral part of the TwoE-com building itself—an important component of the struc- ture’s design and intent,” explains Julio Jude Montinola, assistant vice president for business development of SM Land’s commercial proper- ties group. Prism Plaza covers ap- proximately 4,600 square meters of space, with a truly unique and visually stimulating layout—wide restaurant shopfronts, large triangular patches of green- ery, and generous passage- ways of stairs and escalators, all intersecting and coming together in angular, geometrical configurations.

In the middle of the plaza is a calming water feature. Hov- ering above are the gleaming glass curtain walls of the office floors, plus the shade of the bridgeway that connects the topmost floors of TwoE-com’s twin towers. It is a veritable promenade where employees and visitors alike can con-

verge, with its numerous seating areas and nooks. Generous walkways encourage pedestrian activity. The stair access from the street level of the building is a great vantage point for appreciating the architectural design of the TwoE-com building.

“As its name suggests, this area of the building is a prism of sorts—quite literally with the surrounding glass and metal architectural elements, and figuratively with the many lifestyle options that will be made available not only to building tenants, but to the general public as well,” adds Montinola.

TwoE-com is expected to be home to around 10,000 employees and tenants. The earlier OneE-com cur- rently houses around 8,000 em- ployees. Overall MOAC visitors, meanwhile, are estimated at 180,000 on weekdays, and up to 500,000 on weekends. All these figures point to a tremendous market opportunity for businesses and locators within the complex and specifically for the mixed-use Prism Plaza of TwoE- com, which SM Land CPG is clearly leveraging on.

A new “work-play” dynamic

Behind the Prism Plaza shopfronts are boutique office spaces, which are perfect for hybrid office-commercial operations, like medical offices, spas, learning institutions, fitness centers, or even showroom-type retail mer- chandise. These office spaces provide a different value proposition com- pared to the conventional office floors within the rest of TwoE-com because of Prism Plaza’s accessibility, as well as the commanding views and overall spaciousness afforded by the plaza’s open-air atmosphere.

The mix of premier dining estab- lishments at Prism Plaza complements the existing choices that can be found in the nearby SM Mall of Asia. As such, Prism Plaza is integrated as well into the whole masterplan of MOAC’s en- tertainment and leisure lifestyle.

TwoE-com occupants and MOAC visitors can get their coffee fix from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, and look forward to dining options at current cult favorites among foodies, such as House of Wagyu, Just Thai, Uncle Cheffy, and pioneering Italian café concept Amici. “We are currently rounding up the rest of the exciting concepts to fill in the Prism Plaza lifestyle,” shares Montinola. Park- ing is definitely no problem with the abundance of open-air parking ad- jacent to TwoE-com, as well as with numerous reserved slots within the building’s second- and third-level indoor parking.

Prism Plaza indeed takes the often-touted “work-play” concept to a new level. It is not just a place for unwinding after work or hav- ing lunch meetings with associates. The area is also an ideal venue for corporate events that target the market segment of executives and corporate employees. “Prism Plaza is a premier, integrated lifestyle venue in a corporate environment. It’s not the usual floor space carved out of a building’s walkway or lobby that many people see in office buildings in Makati, holding bazaars or re- cruitment fairs,” explains Montinola.

Apart from the general open air venue, there will also be a dedicated indoor space within Prism Plaza that can be rented out for more formal events, such as art or photo exhibits, book launchings, seminars, classes, or social gatherings. The 300 square meter space will be finished in a contemporary industrial look—bare ceilings, track lighting, smooth ce- ment flooring, whitewashed walls and full-height picture windows— for the venue to easily accommodate highly detailed production design or themes required by various event organizers or third-party groups.

Indeed, there has been a trend in the past few years toward office build- ings with mixed-use or commercial components, but TwoE-com’s Prism Plaza is the only one that offers a prized bayside location. It is an ex- citing new concept that will further solidify MOAC’s emergence as a des- tination west of Metro Manila.