In The Garden Of Alfred & Cristina Xeres-Burgos: An outdoor Christmas for the family

I’ve always loved the Christmas season for the cool weather that it brings. The seemingly air-conditioned air finds its way down from China and, along with it, childhood memories of castañas, queso de bola and Chinese ham. It’s a time, too, to enjoy garden and lanai living as the outdoors are comfortable even in the afternoon. Al fresco evenings are also perfect for family get-togethers and entertainment.

I just finished such a garden, perfect for the holiday lifestyle. Although I am an urban designer and landscape architect, and concentrate mostly on resort design or large mixed-use developments, I do look out for the occasional garden to keep my creative touch honed with smaller-scaled, more intimate projects.

Alfred Xeres-Burgos, former president of Landco, was my client for a wide range of residential-resort work like Playa Calatagan and Playa Laiya, both in Batangas. I have ongoing projects for the company, which is now under the helm of his son Alby. Alby’s wife, Maricar, called one day, over a year ago, to ask if I did gardens. I said yes, but only for select clients. A small garden can be as difficult as a huge estate, especially when it is a renovation.

I accepted the project since I like the Xeres-Burgoses. Residential projects are a two-way street; they are pleasant experiences if they start with complete trust and confidence. A hint for those looking to work with any designer: please meet them first and look at their previous work, so you are comfortable with the personality of the person and the character of the designs he or she produces.

I had also worked with Maricar, an accomplished interior designer, and she was to be the one coordinating most of the project. I also liked the challenge of improving an already good house and garden. The Xeres-Burgos residence in Ayala Alabang was built in the early 1980s by world-renowned and consummate nationalist artist Bobby Mañosa.

Alfred wanted to continue a project of adapting the original Mañosa design. Recently Maricar completed turning what was a silong and covered lanai into a new living and dining area. My task was to complement this with a garden reconfigured to accept a lap pool, which Cristina Syyap-Xeres-Burgos needed for her therapy after a recent knee surgery. They also wanted an amenity that would be enjoyed by the Xeres-Burgos clan and their eight apos.

Maricar’s uncle and her mother-in-law’s doctor was Hawaii-based orthopedic surgeon Dr. Antonio Cordero. He had recommended that Mrs. Xeres-Burgos swim — or at least exercise in water to build back muscle tone in her legs and help the healing process for her knees. She flatly refused unless the pool was heated.

So the design requirements were to provide a heated lap pool with enough interesting features to engage both adults and kids. The other challenge was the fact that the only space left for the pool was a 4x14-meter stretch of an L-shaped existing garden.

I worked out a scheme that hugged the house, wrapping around a corner so that Mrs. Xeres-Burgos could walk safely down to the pool. This also made it child-friendly and safe. For the adults, I placed a small deck on one end, big enough to put an all-weather chaise lounge with an umbrella for a very resort-like atmosphere. The ensemble also serves to tie in an existing open pavilion furnished with a Balinese table (formerly an old door) and butakas from Vigan.

For the deck planking, I specified the new composite material (artificial wood), which does not fade or splinter and lasts much longer than natural wood. The deck also hides the pump and filter underneath it, while the heater is camouflaged by a low stone wall with a carved feature. For additional fun we placed a water lounge running parallel to the length of the pool with bubblers — a de facto Jacuzzi.

I worked on the original garden with Mrs. Xeres-Burgos to match the new improvements. We moved an existing swing to the opposite end of the space to reorient it to take advantage of the new view and to give an illusion of space. It helped that there were existing tall palms to screen off the fence and corners — a strategy I always use in tight spaces.

For additional depth, on the other end I used an outdoor mirror to double the space (yes, you can do this so long as you make sure it is thick enough, has a marine-plywood backing, and has water protection from the upper part of the wall). Beside this mirrored end wall we provided an outdoor shower with the showerhead attached to an existing palm trunk. Maricar found a great wooden double door from India, which we used to screen off the shower.

The infinity-edge pool, constructed professionally by Bobby Celestino of Pool Techjaya, was finished in tiles with shades of blue. A water wall on one end hides a service access and hose for watering the landscape. The water wall also has an attachment for Maricar’s son Juancho’s water gun — a really cool way to blast the adults.

I originally wanted to put a spout with a whimsical gargoyle carved from the faces of the eight apos but decided against it — already too much going on. One has to learn to dial things back in small spaces.

The same is true for the planting design. I used mostly raphis excelsa (lady fingers) and scheflerra (five fingers) for screen planting, bamboo and single-stem palms for additional screening, pepperomia and ferns for understory and foreground planting. The rest of the infill was done by Mrs. Xeres-Burgos herself with plants provided by Leisure Farms.

Lighting for gardens is often missed out on. It is important to light your garden properly. Please do not use barefaced spotlights and hang them from your eaves. They look like and are, in fact, used mainly for security lighting for factories. The glare is unacceptable. For the Xeres-Burgos landscape, lighting is understated (implemented by Justin Austria of LSJ, who also did all the woodwork and plumbing). We lit the lower levels and the plants through the foliage so glare is minimized. The pool is also lit but you have to remember that if placed close to a house there is always ambient spill light from the interiors, so again, restraint is key.

Inside, Maricar enhanced and adjusted the living room to fit the view of the new pool and garden. She ordered new sliding doors to maximize the openings. Potted plants were used to screen off air-con units and for accents at doorways and corners.

The new pool and garden were completed in time for the start of the Christmas season. Mrs. Xeres-Burgos had the wonderful idea of lighting up the mango trees that surrounded the property with drooping Christmas lights. Reflected on the pool, the lighting effect is marvelous and a fitting backdrop for their holiday parties.

Maybe I’ll do another garden next year. I hope to find as pleasant a client as the Xeres-Burgoses. I would encourage people (and the building architects they hire) to look at how better to allow for bringing the outdoors into residential schemes. Often, gardens are an afterthought and look that way.

It is best to bring in a professional landscape architect, one who understands not just plants but also the constraints of the architecture, the needs of utilities like plumbing and lighting and the concepts of space. Let the landscape architect design the pool (they are trained to do this) and how it works with surrounding decks and paved spaces (also best designed by landscape architects) — the planting, also important, comes last. It can only work aesthetically and functionally if provided a good framework by a professional designer and a client confident in his or her expertise.

* * *

Feedback is welcome. Please e-mail the writer at paulo.alcazaren@g,ail.com.

* * *

An erratum in last week’s article: the good-looking VIP cutting the ribbon for the new Rizal Library beside Manny V. Pangilinan is Benny Santoso, executive director of the Salim Group and not Fr. Jose Mario Francisco, SJ, who is also as debonair.