DESIGNED by Andres Luna in 1928, the Perez-Samanillo Building, aka First United Building (FUB), is a celebrated heritage Art Deco structure in Escolta. This June, it received the Malasakit Award, the coveted top prize for the Good Design Award (GDA) Philippines. When asked what winning meant for her, 68-year-old Vice President Lorraine Sylianteng almost cried because she recalled the hardships she and her husband, Roberto, had to go through. The couple had turned down offers from a bank and a big delivery service to buy their property because they "believed in doing something different in Escolta."
Entering the awards involved strengthening the organization itself. Robby Sylianteng, the couple's son and the company's manager for business development, had to forgo making a scale model because funds were needed to repair the building elevators. Holding a minor in Architecture and Urban Design from the New York-based Parsons School of Design, he believes that good design means trailblazing and requires empathy. Around May, he underwent surgery and presented before jurors in his hospital gown. "We knew we had to argue for our own truth," he says.
After losing their real estate exemption for the last two years, the Syliantengs felt vindicated by the GDA.
The company's 73-year-old president and Robby's father, Roberto, discloses that the redesign was initially a response to a problem. Typical of many private heritage property owners, he thought that maintaining an old building was a terrible headache. As Escolta became less fashionable and increasingly abandoned, the company experienced faster turnovers, reaching a point when no one was leasing from them.
However, encouraged by heritage advocates to forge on, the Syliantengs decided to open up to a different set of clientele. If they wanted the building to come alive at night, they had to look for people who woke up after lunch and stayed up until the wee hours of the morning: artists and creatives.
The property now has 17 merchants representing 110 artists. The Syliantengs generated the Hub, a 24/7 co-working space, and the Dome, a bodega-turned-performance venue. Their list of tenants couldn't be more eclectic: fashion designer Ziv Rei Alexi; Project Lemons, an Art Collective; Shape Shifters Studio; Kalsada Coffee Roasters, Espacio Creativo, a studio for content creators; Baobab Eyewears; and One Zero Design, an architecture and design firm.
Designed for diversity, the building has enabled varied time and space benefits to meet individual needs and preferences. The space is designed by its users, who continue to shape its form and function.
Defining spaces
For example, during the redesign, Ar. Art Serrano felt that the open space (latag) of the Hub was too random. He delineated individual or shared spaces and knocked down the ceiling to create more volume. Today the co-working space has several levels and many seating options, like fox holes.
In the 1930s, Room 500 was split to carve out the space that now has a panoramic view of old Manila. Today, its brilliant acoustics and cracked walls make for a matchless setting for musical and literary events.
Later this year, the office above the lobby will metamorphose into a creative space. "Think of a DJ booth overlooking both the main lobby and the primary walkway in the Hub," Robbie says.
The Syliantengs considered another dimension when they entered their building into the GDA category of Place-Making. "One may have the ugliest building but the most beautiful community. That's what makes a space a place," elaborates Jodinand Aguillon, the helmsperson of Hub.
Key to FUB's placemaking were the activations and the Escolta block parties. Its community harnessed the power of the interior and the appeal of the exterior, whose je ne sais qoui (or distinctive quality) could overflow into the neighborhood.
Jodee Aguillon, of the famed vintage clothes shop Glorious Dias also located in the building, believes that a space exists because of the people who frequent and inhabit it. Aside from being a magnet for creative entrepreneurs, the success of the Hub depended on assembling a team consisting of a younger generation who were social media marketing natives.
An artist-led development, the creative minds behind the First United Building dream of revivifying Escolta without gentrifying it. Robby considers their setup a model for rehabilitating the whole district. He describes the process as not simply adaptive re-use but transformative and where malasakit and respect for the place drive the restoration. The goal is not just to bring new life to an old building but to nurture inclusive communities.
2024-08-12T17:12:18Z dg43tfdfdgfd
