SM City Baguio Pays Price for Unique Design

Dean Christopher Espina (he'll always be a "Dean" to me) visited Ateneo De Davao Arki this afternoon to conduct a lecture about Fire Safety and other arki stuff (but mostly about fire safety). I haven't been reading much news lately, but his story about the SM Baguio's teflon roof made me rush to our library and search for this article. The article was written by Vincent Cabreza for the Inquirer.


BAGUIO CITY -- The first shopping mall in the country not to use concrete walls and roofs in order to allow in air and sunshine was one of the casualties when Typhoon "Igme" (international code-name: "Mindulle") struck the city this week.

SM Prime Holdings Inc.'s SM City Baguio had to deal with a virtual waterfall that crashed down to its main shopping and promenade level at the facility's upper ground floor, when its uniquely designed roof failed to block Igme's sustained rains and strong winds.

In a statement, the Shopping Center Management Corp. (SCMC), which supervises all SM malls, said "corrective measures are being done with regard to drainage work to be able to handle extremely strong typhoons and rains."

"We are doing our best to be able to serve our customers and tenants better," it said.

Leo Bernardez, city engineer, said they had tried to discourage SM owner Henry Sy from pursuing an architectural design that capitalized on Baguio's cool climate.

The mall's roof consisted of five overlapping skylight canopies that are made from imported Australian teflon. The canopies are arranged in such a way that both sunlight and strong breezes reach the promenade areas on the mall's ground floor.

Jose Siao Ling, Sy's architect, also raised promenade verandahs on each level that open toward some of the best views of Baguio City, said a local architect, who is associated with Siao Ling.

"This is an excellent design. It offers (tourists) a view of what is very good about Baguio. This is the first mall where Sy relented to the clamor for a different design. It took (Siao Ling) months to convince Sy," the architect told the Inquirer.

SM suggested that the design follow the prescriptions of one of its critics, Virginia de Guia, a former Baguio mayor, who is crusading for the preservation of the city, according to a letter obtained by the Inquirer.

De Guia had been suspicious of SM's entry into Baguio because she feared that a "shoebox-like mall" would disrupt Baguio's landscape.

But it was Baguio's weather that finally convinced Sy to approve the unique design, the Inquirer source said.

The source said Siao Ling's design cut down the mall's air-conditioning cost by 50 percent.

"It is unfortunate that despite its fantastic design, it did not stand its first storm," he said.

The mall is located on top of Luneta Hill, which overlooks downtown Baguio.

"From that height alone, it would have been vulnerable to high winds. Baguio rains fall sideways because of the unusual wind acceleration. We are, after all, the highest city in the country," Bernardez said.

Siao Ling installed retractable glass gates around the terraced patios to address the problem of rains. An SM official said all of the patios were shielded by the glass gates, except for the second floor.

But Siao Ling's remedies did not anticipate the intensity of Igme's rains, which poured down the open skylight canopies toward the ground floor.

Several stall keepers in the mall said they were caught off guard by the storm, although all of them were assured by the SM management that the glass gates alone would be sufficient to hold off stormy weather.

The rains drenched at least 26 shops, but SM City Baguio declined to provide details about the damages.

A manager of Fabric House, however, complained that the run-off water poured toward their shop. It was aggravated by a hole on their ceiling, where more run-off water passed through.

"We asked (the management) if they can shoulder the repair cost, but we were told they would do repairs charged against our insurance," the store manager said.

Worst hit was the Baguio Pet Habitat, which affected nearby Musar, a shop selling musical instruments.

SM City Baguio compensated by setting up sandbags around these shops. Their crew went on a 24-hour cleanup duty, siphoning off water.

The typhoon, however, did not discourage people from flocking to the mall.

Many actually found the "SM waterfall" an amusing sight and people walked through the mall with their umbrellas.

"But we can still save this design. I was thinking of building another level of teflon roofing that would cover all of the canopies, since that is the only weak spot in SM's nature design. We just need to convince (Sy) to shoulder the expensive remedy," the Inquirer source said.



a view of the atrium




a view of the entertainment area