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Three of the best and brightest names in design, master planning and construction have come together to tackle what could be a mammoth of a project that would put Clark in the economic map of the country and raise the benchmark in Philippine design and construction.
In what could best exemplify the modern-day bayanihan, the development of New Clark City marks the first time Budji+Royal Architecture+Design, Aecom and Alloy Clark — in cooperation with the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) — would collaborate.
A key component of this ambitious project in the sprawling 9,450-hectare portion of the former American military base in the environs of Tarlac is the 200-hectare National Government Administrative Center (NGAC), as the name suggests the hub of government offices outside Metro Manila.
Construction of Phase 1A of NGAC, site of the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games which the Philippines will be hosting, is now in full swing.
Filipino architecture
Architect Royal Pineda of Budji+Royal sees the New Clark City as an opportunity to highlight the modern Philippine sensibility of design that goes beyond aesthetics; it is a showcase of Filipino identity in its most responsive and practical sense.
“Budji+Royal was brought in to bring the soul of modern Philippine sensibility that celebrates the `Filipino-ness’ inside us. But we need to be progressive; it needs to go with the times. The modern Filipino lifestyle has evolved and is in fact global,” said Pineda.
For Budji+Royal, New Clark City will be a “gift of luxury” that the Philippines can offer the world in terms of its design-honest to its environment, authentic in its purpose.
Pineda drew parallelism to the “bahay kubo” (nipa hut) in conceiving the design of the buildings.
“The bahay kubo was designed based on logic. The floor was raised because it gets muddy when it rains; the roof is pitched high to shield the family from the rain. All of those were reactions to the needs of that time. The essence of bahay kubo is not the look but the truthfulness.
The bahay kubo was representative of that era. We need to present our own era by just being honest. But we have to respond; we don’t need to copy from somewhere else, “ Pineda said.
“In Philippine architecture, there is always that confusion because of our history of having been colonized. They say we have been the melting pot… (I say) let us graduate from that. It is all about authenticity. Influence is good; it’s fine but you have to discover why it is good for the Filipino lifestyle. If it is not our own discovery, we cannot claim it,” Pineda said.
This project would be so authentic that it is practical, he said.
For one, the development is will integrate lahar concrete in the structures such as panels and walls, making use of the abundant volcanic debris left by the Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991 in the provinces of Tarlac and Pampanga.
In using lahar for some of the structures, Pineda said New Clark City will be defining a standard for the material.
“This is not a backyard thing because we are building a city, not just a house. There is modularity and multiplicity so there should be precision. Lahar is a good material but you need to add modernity, add technology in the system of putting it together,” Pineda said.
A technology applied to the process will make the structures bullet-proof and water-proof.
Smart and resilient
In its masterplan, New Clark City was conceived by urban planning experts Aecom and the other collaborators Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corp. for Transport and Urban Development (JOIN) of Japan and Surbana Jurong of Singapore as the new metropolis of the future: smart, green and resilient.
“When we started New Clark City we looked at the broader context of BCDA wanting it to be the Clark Green City back then (while pursuing its mandate in) the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. BCDA had wanted the city to act as a catalyst of development. New Clark City (aims to) do away with the obstacles of congestion, and deal with the disasters. Resilience, that was the birth of New Clark City,” said Sylvester Wong, vice president for strategies and development of Aecom.
Wong said the beauty of Tarlac and Pampanga and the unique and strategic location of Clark may have been among the reasons why the Americans chose it as the site of their Air Force base.
“It was a resilient place with resources,” he said.
The planners had those characteristics in mind in planning New Clark City
As international master planners, Aecom pursues infrastructure development that are fully-integrated.
“We think wholistically. We are a platform to bring best practices and expertise in city planning to local practitioners,” Wong added.
Wong said while BCDA has had quite a success in land conversion with Bonifacio Global City (BGC) which rose from the former Fort Bonifacio in Taguig, the magnitude of New Clark City — which is over 30 times the size of BGC — makes the development a monstrous task.
Yet Wong sees this as a lesson for the planners: Not to make the same mistakes now plaguing BGC.
“BGC and New Clark City are different. In the past 10 years of BGC’s development, there has been a lot of successes but a lot of challenges as well,” said Wong, citing the lack of affordable housing for workers and of transport links in BGC.
Designed to be a walkable place, New Clark City will have commercial, retail, and residential buildings close together that they would be within a five-minute walk one another.
“New Clark City gives us a chance to give those principles . With the walkability of New Clark City, people don’t have to bring their cars to work, taking the pressure off the road,” Wong said.
Those things are carefully thought of, he added.
“Every place has a carrying capacity and with good planning, we could determine how much activity that place can support, how many movements and occupancy, and how much resources these will take up,” Wong said.
According to Wong, the planners had at the very start decided to dedicate 60 percent of the development to open spaces and leave the conservation areas alone with due respect to the indigenous peoples inhabiting the place.
No pressure
In October 2019 or in just over a year, Alloy Clark should be able to deliver Phase 1A in time for the SEA Games the following month.
With limited time (18 months) and for the same budget (P13 billion), Alloy Clark is confident it would be able to deliver this phase ahead of schedule, according to its president Patrick Nicholas David.
“That is what we signed up for and we knew what we were getting into,” David said.
David said construction of all the features of Phase 1A is on 24/7, with 7 of the country’s best contractors mobilizing equipment and materials and 1,500 workers on site.
Some of the concrete slabs are pre-cast offsite and then assembled in the area so ground works on site would proceed unhindered.
“We are moving simultaneously. We are targeting 5-percent achievement each month to complete the project in 18 months. In fact we are building the stadium at half the time (it takes for stadiums to be normally built),” said David.
Phase 1A will house government residences totalling 500 rooms to be used initially by the athletes in the SEA Games. It will also have a separate athletes village comprising 500 units that can accommodate 1,000 athletes.
A world-class Sports Complex with an Aquatics and Athletics Center will serve as venue for the athletics and water sports events. The Stadium will have a seating capacity of 20,000 while the Aquatic Center will have a seating capacity of 2,000.
Simultaneously, Alloy Clark is coordinating with the BCDA for the utilities like power, water, drainage, telecommunication and sewer lines to make sure these are ready to accept future improvements in the first government office which would be delivered in Phase 1 A.
Alloy Clark is well aware of BCDA’s objective to have a facility that could be used after the games.
“Part of the program is that (Phase 1A) is not just for the now. BCDA is spending time and effort to have a legacy plan after the SEA Games, not just one and done. There is legacy planning,” David said.
David said available technology and smart planning would future-proof New Clark City for generations.
That considered, the engineering will be ahead of the curve, and well prepared for climate change.
For example, the river walkway within the area will also act as a flood mitigating structure.
“We know we can execute a better city… not just on the drawing board but according to the masterplan,” David said.
Connectivity is an advantage in New Clark City.
Linked to the capital by roads and bridges via McArthur highway, Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and the North Luzon Expressway, New Clark City will offer easy access as well through the planned rail project between Metro Manila and Clark as well as the proposed cargo rail between Subic and Clark and the development of the airport in Subic.
Pineda said Phase 1A, when delivered, will send a strong message. “It can change the infrastructure standard in the country.”
“Every contractor and developer has to somehow be at par. It will be raising the bar (of construction),” Pineda said.
New Clark City is one of the BCDA’s projects under the Build, Build, Build infrastructure program. |
