Interview
Andy Locsin on Botanika Nature Residences’ unique green and sustainable architecture
Nestled in the most exclusive part of Filinvest City, Alabang is the lush Botanika Nature Residences, the flagship project of luxury real estate brand, Filigree. With its impressive green features and rich ambiance, Botanika is like an oasis in the city—a personal nature sanctuary. “This is the first project we worked on with the Filigree team,” beams Andy Locsin, the amiable administrator and design consultant of Leandro V. Locsin Partners, as he talks about Botanika Nature Residences, the first tower of which was completed on schedule and is now ready for occupancy. The firm of Leandro V. Locsin Partners handles numerous projects at any given time, but for Locsin, Botanika is something that is unique and special.
The interview is set in the midst of the building’s impressive atrium where scenic elevators on both ends provide residents with a most enviable view day in and day out. The presence of water features plus the expanse of greenery that surround the space, not to mention the constant breeze, provide them an opportunity to enjoy a relaxing environment in their own vertical home. It is easy to forget that you are actually in a condominium complex in the middle of the city.
“An important aspect of Botanika that attracted us to the project is that the developers wanted to build in a responsible way. From the very beginning, there was an intention to ensure that this building in one way shape or form be certified by the sustainability organisations like BERDE (Building for Ecologically Responsive Design Excellence) of the Philippine Green Building Council,” Locsin notes.
“The project was conceptualised [together] with overseas firm Architecture International (AI) with John Sheehy and Bill Higgins,” Locsin shares. “We were tasked to work hand in hand with them to ensure that whatever conceptual design AI came out with was properly interpreted and actually buildable in the Philippine context. It was a very fruitful kind of collaboration and a very meaningful one,” he adds.
In fact, from planning and construction down to delivery, the development team made sure that
the building’s environmental performance was in line with the goal to achieve the PHILGBC three-star BERDE rating for design, a feat they were proudly able to attain, allowing for a more enriched and sustainable lifestyle for Botanika’s discriminating residents.
Key factors that led to the building’s BERDE certification include the 2.7-metre ceiling height that translates to less energy consumption and better cooling capacity; underground parking resulting in more freedom of space; and the green roof effect. Add to this, Botanika’s distinctive architecture.
Locsin explains that Botanika is purposely designed to have an iconic leaf shaped structure, intentionally set wide apart, with a distinct terraced layout that assures residents of unobstructed views of the green expanse beyond as well as utmost privacy. Botanika also harmoniously co-exists with its environs and is designed to respect, complement, and even give back to the natural order of things, with its well-thought out landscape architecture by AECOM, a design and construction firm in Singapore.
“The Filigree team also talked a lot about community, of village life,” says Locsin. “In many ways if you look at the plan as described, Botanika is very much more like a single detached residential house in a residential village.”
The expansiveness of the outdoors is translated indoors through Botanika’s generously sized condominium units: two-bedroom suites, three-bedroom flats, three-bedroom garden bi-level units, five-bedroom garden bi-level units, and a grand penthouse, measuring a spacious 343 square metres.
For Botanika’s common areas, the Singapore-based interior designer Isabelle Miaja of the Miaja Design Group created an elegantly modern yet warm design that embraces the building’s verdant orientation. Amenities for the residents’ leisure and enjoyment are in keeping with Botanika’s nature theme. This includes tiered kiddie and lap pools surrounded by a lush landscape and a sun deck; a spacious veranda; an outdoor play area with treehouses; and an open-air amphitheatre.
For those who seek an urban oasis, Filigree’s Botanika Nature Residences offers modern, upscale, and green living right in the metro.
“From the very beginning, there was an intention to ensure that this building in one way shape or Form be certified by the sustainability organisations