A silky urban experience

If there is anything that sets the tone for and captures the spirit of the new Seda Hotel in Bonifacio Global City, it is the 11-foot giraffe made from wire standing by the door. Designed by Ann Pamintuan, it is quirky, unexpected, and brings a smile to your face. 

Architect and interior designer Conrad Onglao, who designed all the Seda Hotels, put all the elements of contemporary urban living into one clean space in the 179-room Seda Hotel.

Seda (meaning “silk”) is the first of hotels wholly owned by Ayala Land. It is the first Filipino chain of hotels in this category — a businessman’s hotel located in mixed-use developments by Ayala Land, in locations such as BGC, at Abreeza in Davao, Nuvali in Laguna, Centrio in Cagayan de Oro, and TriNoma in Quezon City.   

The lobby is neither grand nor classical in design. There is no large, winding staircase or a giant flower arrangement that you see in traditional hotels. Rather it is modern but not super minimalist; it has enough details to keep it warm and welcoming set in a neutral palette with touches of blue, wood, glass and wire.

Like they say in real estate, the top three important factors are: location, location, location. This one has that covered, you can’t ask for a better location this side of EDSA. It is right beside High Street and across Serendra and Market! Market!, where you are spoilt for choice in terms of restaurants, bars, shops, spas, supermarket, department store, fresh flowers and produce, and other services (there is even a Honda Service Center on the other side of High Street). 

“It’s been designed to be casual and inviting, and reflective of world-class Philippine design and hospitality,” says Seda group general manager Andrea Mastellone.

Like many modern boutique hotels around the globe, there is no more delineation of spaces in the lobby. It is an open space that has the reception, business center (with big-screen iMacs) and lobby bar.

If you follow Filipino design — or even if you just give a cursory glance to newspapers and magazines featuring our designers — you will see familiar works at Seda: Jaime Zobel de Ayala’s photos (one of which is the background of the reception desk), Ann Pamintuan’s wire chairs and wall art, Kenneth Cobonpue’s Pigalle armchairs, and black-and-white photos by Tom Epperson and Paco Guerrero, and crushed paper wall treatment by Wataru Sakuma of Masa Eco (whose stunning works in paper I first saw at Messe Frankfurt’s Ambiente show last year).

The photographs in the rooms are all detail shots of things and scenes around BGC. It is a theme that carries through in other Seda Hotels. Conrad says. “In Cagayan de Oro, it’s all about CDO; same with Davao, which is famous for the Philippine eagle, but perhaps the photo would just be of the feather. It’s not your conventional type of photo art.”

Having designed some of the most beautiful and expensive houses in the country and interiors of hotels abroad, Conrad says a commercial project such as a hotel (Seda is his first local one since he came back from LA 18 years ago) is very challenging indeed.

“When Ayala Land gave us the challenge, they said,  ‘Come up with something clean. Not edgy, but a different take on what a normal hotel would look like.’” The inspiration is the super-luxe The Upper House in Hong Kong’s Admiralty district — quietly elegant, sophisticated and modern.

Conrad let us in on the challenges that had to be overcome in designing Seda, the small tugs of war between design and budget, between a purely designer’s point of view and a hotelier’s perspective. “I like the synergy of working with Ayala Land, we feed off of each other’s energy.”

He recalls with a laugh that when he first presented his design to Jaime Zobel de Ayala, the big boss of Ayala Corp. said, “I like it…I hope we can afford it.”

The rooms at Seda are in two categories: deluxe and suites. The deluxe rooms measure 30 sqm. but feel a lot bigger, thanks to the layout. There is alcove seating by the window, an iPod dock, 40-inch LED TV, mini bar, coffee and tea-making facilities, and WiFi.

The hotel has function rooms, a lap pool, an all-day casual restaurant called Misto in the lobby, and a rooftop bar called Straight Up with furniture by Pamintuan and great panoramic views of BGC and Laguna de Bay.

“It’s a very clean palette, we got rid of the usual froufrou, no moldings, no baseboards,” Conrad says. “Even with the flower arrangements in the lobby, we get into details — they’re just green leaves.”

The new Seda Hotel at Bonifacio Global City is a great beginning for what could be a very big and dominant hotel chain in the future. After all, when you showcase the works of contemporary Filipino artists and artisans in a beautiful space, there’s a lot of pride to be felt when staying there.  

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Seda Hotel is located at 30th St. corner 11th Avenue, Bonigacio Global City. Call 945-8888, e-mail bgc@sedahotels.com, log on to www.sedahotels.com.