PGAA Creative Design

The Iloilo Esplanade covers nine kilometers on both sides of a 4.5 kilometer stretch of the 10-kilometer Iloilo River. This stretch has nine bridges bridges (eight crossing it and one over the mouth of an estero emptying into the river). Two of these bridges are pedestrian/bike bridges, while the rest either have bike lanes, but all can easily be crossed by pedestrians. All this connectivity is what makes the Iloilo Esplanade successful. All current nine segments can easily be reached by everyone, via a short walk or bike ride from the surrounding districts of the city. This is the challenge of the Pasig River redevelopment project. So far, the Pasig has only one pedestrian bridge and even if an esplanade could be developed on both sides of the 26km river access to the various sections are currently difficult in many areas.

The Pasig River is inherently beautiful, but we need to maximize what planners call its affordances. These are its functions as recreational amenity for the public, as well as its environmental role in the natural processes that impact our metropolis. This can be achieved by conserving heritage sites and structures like this, the Isla de Convalencia in the middle of the Pasig (much like the Ile de la Cité on the Siene River in Paris), by ensuring its banks are accessible to the public as mandated by law, as well as to by making sure we do not pollute the river. What do you think? (The images are of the island in 1936 and last week).

Sunday evening esquisse (quick design exercise): National Artist Jose Zaragoza's landmark Commercial Bank and Trust building (now BPI) at the corner of Yuchengco St and Escolta was completed in 1969. Its strong modernist geometry had always dominated that section of historic Escolta and also could be seen from the Muelle de la Banco Nacional on the Pasig. Today Zaragoza's masterpiece has been obscured by neglect, blighted by cables and posts and its facade ruined by the building of a Barangay Hall. A Pasig River Ferry terminal completes the injustice by marring the view from the Pasig. The law states all works of Nacional Artists should be conserved. With the ferry terminals undergoing a renovation (by the MMDA), Manila could share in the renovation to incorporate the barangay hall atop the terminal thus freeing the space on Yuchengco St for conversion into pedestrian-friendly plazoleta (small plaza). This would allow the Zaragoza building to be seen and appreciated again and also help connect the Escolta to the existing Yuchengco Plaza (actually an esplanade built recently). The whole length of the Muelle de la Banco Nacional (the old name of the 'plaza') could be expanded in width by a means of a small cantilever over the river and by restricting vehicular traffic. What do you think?