The typical bahay kubo or nipa hut inspired Balay’s design elements. In keeping with the times, it’s also a green mall with the green rooftop designed to absorb the heat from the sun to save on energy. Some of the design highlights include the use of terraces, very much like the Banaue Rice Terraces, to give the mall a more spacious look, as well a an art gallery with a full photocalytic glass curtain wall.

Vavic dela Pasion led the team that designed SM Balay, and won P20,000 worth of SM gift certificates. Other team members include Andrea Santos, Alyanna Ignacio, Donna Rabe, Lea Cruz, Verna Sarrage and Joseph Macapagal.

Andres de Dios, Jr., last year’s grand prize winner, won second prize with his SM tropical mall design. SM tropical mall consists of five interconnected buildings, which fuse together nature and culture with modern solutions and technology. Andres says his design was inspired by resorts in the Maldives and his desire to address the people’s basic need to be in touch with nature and the community. A handicraft product designer, Andres won P13,000 worth of SM gift certificates for his design.

SM Sea-ty, the third prize winner, was another entry by architecture students of Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila. The design is a take-off from the Mall of Asia concept, which features a mall beside a body of water. What they envision to be the Pearl of the Orient features floating gazebos, view decks, as well as clam shell and pearl highlights. The SM Sea-ty design team, which is headed by Jorge Bernard Morelos, includes Jennibeth Cabrera, Tara Lou Baldonado, Rhea Angeline Alegrid, Allan AJy Quesada, Benhamin Saya, and Raphael Villanueva.

This is the second year that SM City Manila has undertaken its Design Your Own SM Mall competition. Open to architecture students and designers, this year’s theme was Modern Asian and it challenged the creativity and style of its participants.