Horizon Manila is a 419-hectare reclamation project located in Manila Bay. The development seeks to rediscover and embrace the city’s role as the heart and soul of the country. With the vision to build 28 distinct communities, Horizon Manila aims to integrate the needs of our social and cultural heritage while adapting a sustainable lifestyle that emphasizes self-sufficiency, climatic adaptations, and cultural resiliency.

The master plan focuses on people and local activities as the main determinant for diverse and organic growth. Shared experiences that tie the communities together are developed through activated public spaces with programs that strengthen the vitality of the streetscape. Placemaking features that stimulate local experiences define these spaces. They range from the ubiquitous streetball culture of Manila to lush tropical gardens, from water gardens to civic and religious plazas. Each place is a kernel of ground activity that evokes the culture and lifestyle of Manileños.

At 419 hectares, the large area available provides sufficient scale for ambitious quality-of- life outcomes. Through this, the project hopes to become a model of what Manila could be, by combining fundamental urban design elements and integrating innovative technologies. Horizon Manila aims to be a model for modern Manila by protecting environmental facilities such as developing community spaces that are equal to their property size, featuring public parks and gardens, maintaining bodies of freshwater meant to act as water reservoirs as well as venues for freshwater activities, using sustainable power, building a public transport network, and by prioritizing personal mobility. The proposed master plan capitalizes on the development’s unique site by integrating canals to connect the different islands. This strategy is extended on the planning of the districts, creating a porous and publicly accessible fabric of urban blocks.

Manileño, a concept put together by WTA, imagines a city that promotes a healthy work-life balance by integrating residential and recreational spaces supported by areas focused on production, innovation and creative industries. Horizon optimizes the ratio between open spaces, green spaces and density with varied FARs among the neighborhoods. This strategy aims to enable affordability, more variety, more sustainability and more opportunity for the people of Manila.