We’re honored to be a recipient of the Ani ng Dangal Award 2023 given by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts yesterday at the Malacañang Palace for our project Batangas Forest City. A big congratulations to the team!
The award was given during the 2023 National Arts Month as enshrined in Presidential Proclamation No. 683, with the theme, “Ani ng Sining, Bunga Ng Galing.”
One of the highlights of the festival was the 15th Gawad ng Ani ng Dangal. The ceremony recognized the sterling achievements of Filipino artists who have brought honor to the country by winning the highest achievements in international competitions and events in their respective fields.
The Ani ng Dangal or Harvest of Honor is an annual celebration that recognizes homegrown artists who received esteemed international accolades in the categories of Architecture and Allied Arts, Cinema, Dance, Music, Visual Arts, and Broadcast Arts. It serves as the highlight and culmination of National Arts Month.
Kicking off 2023 with another triumph, WTA Architecture and Design Studio rank 96th in this year’s WA100 2023: The Big List! WA100 is an annual survey of the top 100 architecture firms worldwide compiled by Building Design, a top UK-based online publication for the profession.
Our multidisciplinary practice, headquartered in the Philippines, continues to transform lives and enrich experiences by shaping cityscapes across the Philippines and beyond. WTA has secured a spot as one of the major players as it continues to make headway in upcoming international markets.
The WA100 is an annual global survey conducted by Building Design on the world’s largest architecture companies.
An urban forest city and a security complex featuring a forested facade are among the award-winning projects designed by Manila-based firm, WTA Architecture and Design Studio.
Founded by William Ti in 2007, WTA was hailed as the overall winner of the 2021 WAFX Awards during last year’s World Architecture Festival after first winning the WAFX Water Category.
Now celebrating its 15th year, WTA continues to bring the practice of social architecture front and center in the fields of master planning and urban design. The studio’s great social awareness and commitment to change have produced extraordinarily creative responses, as they now embark on the journey to turn these innovative ideas into practical urban solutions.
“Master planning projects allow us to affect a more diverse demographic profile. A multi-sectoral approach to designing spaces for people gives us the opportunity to address complex issues that make living in a city undesirable and turn these challenges into desirable growth. The master plans that we do focus on communities and social development, which explore new technologies and comprehensive research in order to establish sustainable, organic, and hyper-local development.”
Below is a list of international awards recently won by WTA:
Urban Design & Architecture Design Awards 2022
Award: Gold Winner
Project: Horizon Manila: Manileño
Category: Urban Planning
The Urban Design & Architecture Design Awards recognizes outstanding ideas that redefine architecture design through the implementation of novel technologies, materials, programs, aesthetics, and spatial organizations along with studies on globalization, flexibility, adaptability, and the digital revolution. It is a forum that examines the relationship between architecture and the natural world, architecture and the community, and the architects and the city.
Last May 4, 2022, WTA Architecture and Design Studio was announced as a Gold Award Winner for its project Horizon Manila.
International Architecture Awards 2022
Award: Winner
Project: Horizon Manila: Manileño
Category: Urban Planning / Landscape Architecture
Founded in 2005 by The Chicago Athenaeum and The European Centre, the prestigious International Architecture Awards takes place every year to recognize the most significant and inspirational building and urban planning projects around the world.
Last September 9, Horizon Manila was part of a distinct selection of architecture and design projects honored in a special awards ceremony and Gala Dinner held at the foot of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece.
The project is designed to span 419-hectares and will be the first and largest reclamation project in the City of Manila in over a century. It is meant to serve as a new hub for growth and development for one of the densest and largest megacities in the 21st century.
Iconic Awards 2022: Innovative Architecture
Award: Best of the Best Award Winner
Project: Batangueño – Batangas Forest City
Category: Concept (Urban Planning)
Another master planning project by WTA called the Batangas Forest City won a Best of the Best Award in the ICONIC AWARDS 2022 under Innovative Architecture. This award gives recognition to holistic projects in the fields of architecture, interior architecture, product design, and brand communication.
The core aim of the Batangas Forest City was to create a sustainable project that rekindles the connection between people and nature through architecture and urbanism.
“The project Batangas Forest City ideally embodies the vision of modern urban planning, which reconciles residential space and nature and as a result creates a location that promises a high standard of living,” said the master jury. “The fact that the focus of the planning was not just limited to living, working, leisure and recreation, but also took the subjects of industry and agriculture into account, shows just how holistic the thought behind it was. An impressive project, which despite its great complexity, was carefully thought-out, down to the tiniest detail, and is immensely important for the region.”
The project was honored during a festive awards ceremony last October 5, 2022 at the BMW Welt in Munich, Germany.
World Architecture Festival 2022
Award: Finalist
Project: Batangueño – Batangas Forest City
Category: WAF Future Project: Masterplanning
The Batangas Forest City project also qualified as a finalist in this year’s World Architecture Festival: Future Projects Shortlist.
Award: Finalist
Project: BSP Security Plant Complex
Category: WAF Future Project: Competition
Also shortlisted was the firm’s proposed design for the BSP Security Plant Complex. The project was WTA’s entry in the design competition for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) sprawling 31.3-hectare security complex in New Clark City, Philippines.
This unique public building features a foundation clad in raw metals like copper and zinc, nestled between lush sanctuaries that create a rich hotspot for biodiversity. Its most prominent feature, the living forested facade, is capable of housing over 250 endemic Philippine trees and shrubs.
The team will be presenting both projects live to the judges and audience in Lisbon, Portugal from 30 November to 2 December.
Design Studio Mag Awards 2022
Award: Winner (top 10)
Project: Batangueño – Batangas Forest City
Category: Urban Design
The Batangas Forest City is also one of the ten recipients of the Design Studio Mag (DSM) 2022 Award. The project was recognized by a multidisciplinary panel of industry experts for its ideas on community building, sustainability, and spatial and environmental form integrated into the master plan making it the best in the Urban Design category.
Manila – Last May 4, 2022, WTA Architecture and Design Studio was announced a Gold Award Winner for Architecture Press Release’s Urban Design and Architecture Design Awards 2022 for its project Horizon Manila.
WTA Horizon Manila Urban Design and Architecture Design Gold Winner
The Urban Design & Architecture Design Awards is one of the world’s most prestigious awards for Architecture & Design. It recognizes outstanding ideas that redefine architecture design through the implementation of novel technologies, materials, programs, aesthetics, and spatial organizations along with studies on globalization, flexibility, adaptability, and the digital revolution. It is a forum that examines the relationship between architecture and the natural world, architecture and the community, and the architects and the city.
To culminate this year’s National Arts Month, the The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) awarded 58 artists from various fields at its annual Ani ng Dangal (Harvest of Honors) ceremony on March 23 via Facebook live.
For its achievement as the overall winner of the 2021 WAFX Award at the 2021 World Architecture Festival, WTA Architecture and Design Studio is one of two awardees under the Architecture and Allied Arts Category.
“The overall winner of this year’s #WAFX goes to ‘Horizon Manila’ by William Ti, Jr., a 419-hectare masterplan designed to serve as a new hub for growth and development for the Philippines’ capital. The Award recognises project proposals tackling today’s global issues. #WAF2021,” World Architecture Festival stated in a post on their official Twitter page on December 4.
The Ani ng Dangal recognizes Filipino artists who have earned distinguished international awards and accolades in the categories of: Architecture, Cinema, Dance, Dramatic Arts, Literary Arts, Music, Visual Arts, Folk Arts, and Broadcast Arts. This year’s theme was “Sining ng Pag-asa” (Arts of Hope).
WTA, along with other awardees, will be receiving the Sarimanok trophy sculpted by National Artist for Visual Arts, Abdulmari Asia Imao. The trophy depicts a transformed sarimanok, a mythical bird of the Maranaos, soaring above a globe that symbolizes the height of artistic achievement in the global stage.
Horizon Manila: Manileño
Horizon Manila: Manileño is a 419-hectare reclamation project located in Manila, the Philippine capital, masterplanned by WTA. 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 heritages while adapting a sustainable lifestyle that emphasizes self-sufficiency, climatic adaptations, and cultural resiliency.
WTA sees Horizon as a City of Tomorrow. It is envisioned to once again bring back development and growth energy back to the City of Manila. It will reestablish Manila as the heart of our nation and provide a model and impetus for the rehabilitation of the old city center.
Our Emergency Quarantine Facilities (EQFs) are one of three finalists for the B1Ms Construction Story of the Year 2021. The EQFs were built to help increase the capacity of our hospitals during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because speed and scalability was crucial, the structure made use of readily available materials and could be built in 5 days. The project delivered more than 3,500 additional beds in the Philippines and was made open source for an anyone to use.
The award shines a spotlight on some of the most inspiring and innovative construction stories across the globe and we are thrilled to be part of promoting positive change through our architecture.
B1M uses audience interaction and engagement with each social cut to help the judges determine the overall winner to be announced on November 11th. Do help us by liking and sharing the video created by B1M!
Manila, Philippines, July 31, 2021 – WTA Architecture and Design Studio is proud to announce that its the Emergency Quarantine Facilities (EQF) Project was shortlisted in the Completed Projects – Health Category.
The Emergency Quarantine Facilities (EQF) Project, a brainchild born out of ideas of ephemerality and impermanence, is a temporary structure aimed at augmenting the capacity of our hospitals during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. Strategically planned to limit cross-contamination, patients and healthcare workers have designated entries and airflow is directed downwind from front to rear to prevent recirculation. The facility can be lengthened or shortened depending on need and can likewise be aggregated in modules to accommodate many more patients. The facility embodied speed, scalability and simplicity in its structure.
Prescient and purposeful, the pavilion consisted of an adaptable wall system that can transform into short-term relief spaces we might require in times of increasing uncertainty. Built with familiar and readily-available materials, the EQF is easily replicable and scalable not only in Metro Manila but throughout the country as well. William Ti, Jr. champions democracy in design, providing an open source link for the EQFs drawings in the hopes that communities take up the same agency and quick mobility that has been displayed since the conception of this project. After four months of actively building EQFs, WTA Architecture and Design Studio, together with its partners, friends and fellow advocates, accomplished 75 facilities across Mega Manila.
World Architecture Festival is the world’s largest international architectural event. It includes the biggest architectural awards programme in the world, dedicated to celebrating excellence via live presentations to delegates and international juries. In 2021, twelve big-picture architectural initiatives addressing some of the world’s most pressing challenges have won the first of this year’s WAF Awards. The WAFX Award winners are all selected from entries to the Future Projects category in the WAF Awards Programme, for their ambition and scope.
Manila, Philippines, July 24, 2021 – WTA Architecture and Design Studio is proud to announce that the firm’s project – Horizon Manila – is a final winner in the Water Category and has been shortlisted for the Future Projects – Masterplanning Category at the World Architecture Festival 2021.
Horizon Manila is a 419-hectare reclamation project that is currently the largest reclamation project in the City of Manila. The project is meant to serve as a new hub for growth and development for one of the densest and largest mega cities of the 21st century. Its concept – the Manileño – presents a bottom-up community-centric organic growth model in contrast with the archetypal command-driven top-down master plan. It centers on creating shared experiences and building distinct community identities by establishing soft boundaries and edges.
This masterplan is composed of 3 islands bisected by a 4 km long canal park that recalls the identity of the Tagalog (River) people who settled along the mouth of the Pasig River. It focuses on people and local activities as the main determinant for diverse and organic growth. The goal is to grow 28 unique communities or barangays along the water’s edge. Each of the 28 communities will have its own development guidelines and will promote mixed-use development in each locality. Barrier-free developments with complete accessibility for all, such as open spaces and parks, will be obligatory and urban infrastructure promoting social connectivity will be the defining framework for the city. 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.
Principal architect William Ti, Jr. presented the Horizon Manila Project during the WAF Futures online event last July 14, 2021. You may view his presentation by accessing the Day 3 World Architecture Festival Live Stream.
World Architecture Festival is the world’s largest international architectural event. It includes the biggest architectural awards programme in the world, dedicated to celebrating excellence via live presentations to delegates and international juries. In 2021, twelve big-picture architectural initiatives addressing some of the world’s most pressing challenges have won the first of this year’s WAF Awards. The WAFX Award winners are all selected from entries to the Future Projects category in the WAF Awards Programme, for their ambition and scope.
Twelve Luxury Flats was lauded for providing exclusivity while still offering social spaces and amenities within its dense neighbourhood. WTA’s designs for Twelve Luxury Flats, a mid-rise medium density residence, translate the urban sprawl into height by stacking 12 residences into a smaller footprint. Each unit provides the same size as a typical townhouse with a greater degree of privacy. There are no walls that you share with neighbors, no visibility of your movement through the front door or windows. However, a number of shared community spaces are located on various floors to encourage stronger bonds among neighbors. WTA has always been actively pursuing the development of more sustainable living conditions for the city—one that allows for comfortable and attractive spaces with friendly neighbors in a smaller footprint and impact on our environment.
The Asia Pacific Property Awards are judged by an independent panel of over 80 industry experts. Judging focuses on design, quality, service, innovation, originality, and commitment to sustainability. The judging panel is chaired by Lord Caithness, Lord Best, and Lord Waverley, members of the House of Lords in the UK Parliament. GROHE and American Standard are the 2021-2022 Headline Sponsor of the Asia Pacific Property Awards.
The firm, despite challenges faced during a year of lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, continues to provide dedicated service to its clients. Aiming to accomplish projects within set timelines, the firm has also learned to adjust and consequently apply new design solutions to its projects in order to address current and future challenges in health and well-being. WTA is honored to be part of the top ten awardees and plans to continue to provide the best design service for its clients.
The BCI Asia Top 10 Awards provides an overview of the regional building and construction industry by recognizing the top architectural firms and developers that had the greatest impact on the built environment in Southeast Asia.The annual BCI Asia Awards—now into its 16th year—recognises developers and architecture firms that have built and designed the greatest volume of buildings, as well as ecologically sensitive projects and impressive interiors in seven Asian markets: Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. This event seeks to encourage the creation of socially responsible architecture, and remains one of the most coveted awards in the regional building industry while serving as a platform for domestic and international networking among elite architecture firms, property developers, manufacturers and service providers.
[lgc_column grid=”50″ tablet_grid=”50″ mobile_grid=”100″ last=”false”][/lgc_column] WTA Design’s William Ti Jr reflects on this year’s World Architecture Festival, Manila’s Anthology Festival,...
