Asian elegance in South Forbes

Manila Bulletin
December 2, 2009

Zen is a concept that most people fail to fully comprehend. To translate it in architecture is even more demanding.

With only a handful of architects who can execute such a concept, Cathay Land president Jeffrey Ng has chosen Arch. Ed Ledesma, a master of minimalism, to design the main features in Tokyo Mansions – the Meiji model mansion and the Tokyo Mansions clubhouse.
Tokyo Mansions is the most serene and contemplative enclave of South Forbes Golf City, the country’s largest fully-integrated and all-themed golf resort city at the Metro Sta. Rosa-Tagaytay corridor. In this community, the Japanese philosophy of building with nature permeates all throughout.

Faithful to tradition. To the Japanese, striving for quiet nobility and restrained elegance remain the highest goal of artistic achievement. Arch. Ledesma achieves this with a balance of materials, color, volumes, and natural elements.

The Meiji exterior extols the beauty of simplicity and austerity with its pristine-white walls and clean yet expressive lines from the ground to the steep, black Japanese tile roof – free from ostentatious ornamentation often used in classical Western design. The tranquil waters of the pools finished in black tiles create soft reflections of the gently swaying bamboo flanked against the wall, symbolic of a calm spirit.

“Clear glass windows surround the whole second floor to illuminate the living spaces inside while the extended eaves help with reducing the glare,” Arch. Ledesma said. “At night, when all is lit from within, the house will glow like a Japanese lantern.”

Upon entering, one is awed with the openness of the whole ground level that allows the entire space to become the main room of the whole house.

The interior space can be divided by sliding screen dividers hidden within the walls that mimic the traditional shoji. The high ceiling and the sliding glass panels, Arch. Ed believes, counteracts the limiting defined space of living area.

The second floor values the hierarchy in the Japanese home where one wing of the house is devoted to the master suite while the children’s bedrooms are all on the opposite end.

As nature intended. At the end of the road from the village gate is the Tokyo Mansions clubhouse, which is striking in its simplicity with the symmetrical layout of the two function halls – wood-clad columns and beams supporting an enormous roof with a five-meter overhang on all sides, with sliding glass panels for walls – lending the illusion of lightness.

The clubhouse is located on a ridge where it slopes down several meters to the rear, to a river runs along the perimeter. A double-level infinity-edge pool was called for and the cascade effect it creates is most soothing to the senses, especially when spending time at the adjacent Japanese garden.

Manila Bulletin
December 2, 2009

Developer: Cathay Land

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