Sonria provides unique experience in condo living

MANILA, Philippines - Despite the residential condo market in the Philippines being alive and dynamic, only a small segment of buyers or homeseekers are actually aware of the intricate process involved in designing, building and finishing these structures.

That's why it comes as a pleasure and assurance to know that independent real estate developer Geo-Estate has produced its latest condo community offering with a space planner in its project development team.

“It’s a rare thing for a developer to hire a space planner—only the very concerned and committed ones do,” says renowned Filipino interior designer Tina Periquet of her role in Geo-Estate. She is a member of the think-tank behind Sonria, the developer’s newest 16-storey residential condo development in the idyllic side of Alabang, Muntinlupa.

Located in a prime area in Madrigal Business Park, Sonria is literally a few steps away from the Alabang Town Center, Molito commercial area and the Ayala Alabang Village. Sonria seeks to provide today’s generation of city dwellers the most ideal choice for a condo home- one that provides a unique experience of privacy, comfort, warmth and accessibility of living in southern Metro Manila.

To achieve this, Geo-Estate knows that meticulous attention to details must be done for the discriminating high-end market of the area. This is where the expertise of Periquet contributes to creating the most graceful yet economical and practical living space possible in a city condo.

Condo living that comes naturally

“We have to look at the beauty of the whole,” explains Periquet. “The focus is on the quality of space. There’s a series of experiences— of large and small moments, that gives you a sense of a gracious home. It’s not just one big box.”

Periquet reveals the biggest draw of Sonria’s units— a well-designed home that delineates living spaces naturally and intuitively. This means no hanging beams in the middle of the living room, sharp jutting corners caused by structural beams, or even simply wasted nooks that could have been put to good use.

For future residents, this means not having to contend with a nagging feeling of having things not in their proper places, or having to put up with design flaws that will bother you for a lifetime.

“Space planners think of what’s it like for the client to walk in,” she says. “A thoughtful and considerate developer wants more than the average and will think of the people— the families— who will come and live here.”

Periquet says the exciting thing about boutique development is a two-year period where the developer can spend more time to make things better.

“It has to be tailored and customized. Sonria is basically reinventing the wheel and it is welcomed,” Periquet says of Geo-Estate’s commitment to provide only the best to its future residents.

In the Sonria showroom in Madrigal Business Park, Periquet gives a glimpse of how life in a well-planned and organized home can capture luxury. Moving around the 124 sqm. three-bedroom model unit, Periquet shows how a coffee table or a colorful painting can become a focal point to a room and what can be achieved with the right grouping of pieces in the right space. The design vision is impeccable, thanks to Periquet being a furniture designer as well. Her signature furniture pieces made of warm wood are strategically placed within the entire living space— from classic catalogue models to custom-made pieces that fit perfectly.

The multi-talented Periquet is a lighting designer as well, which explains the ethereal yet liveable quality to the atmosphere of the room which uses LED strip lights to illuminate coves and drop ceilings. The effect suggests a feeling of depth that makes the condo unit extremely spacious and breathable.

Indeed, the model unit is an elegant and prime expression of the best Alabang condo lifestyle possible in Sonria. And lest prospective buyers think the show unit is merely an illusion that is afforded with a professional’s hand such as Periquet’s, the interior designer herself immediately nixes this notion. She freely points out that the techniques she utilized can be employed easily by unit owners themselves— but only because the palette with which they are working with is designed for such design details. This is the ultimate proposition of Sonria’s well-designed units.

Future homeowners would be glad to know as well that Periquet involved her expertise and taste down to the littlest details such as the bathroom fixtures and surface finishes— a cool, sophisticated shade of gray for the kitchen countertops, for instance, and an extremely contemporary automotive-like paint glaze for the built-in cabinets in the rooms. These cabinetry feature thoughtful details as well, such as soft-touch hinges and closures. Periquet says Sonria’s quest to enable living spaces that makes one feel immediately at home, any time.

“Why limit people to standardized concepts?” she asks. It is with the same inquisitive mind that Geo-Estate has pioneered the city condo market with Sonria— a rare opportunity to continue enjoying genteel suburban living in the city, in the comforts and conveniences of a modern vertical community.

To know more about Sonria, visit www.sonria.com.ph or its Sonria Pavilion at Industry St. corner Finance St., Madrigal Business Park, Brgy. Ayala Alabang, Muntinlupa City.