Bel-Air Townhouse
Can an urban home rebuild our connection to nature?
The Bel-Air Townhouse confronts the steady loss of nature in Metro Manila, one of the most densely-populated and congested cities in the world.

Location
Manila, Philippines
Research Areas Parametric Design
Typology Housing
Size
Small
Status Complete
Project Team Carlos ArnaizJun DengHaoran WangMagda Fronska
We consider each project on its own terms and develop tailored responses. Learn about our vision and mission.
Our design for the Bel-Air Townhouse revisits the story of a house and its garden. Instead of the traditional courtyard house with a garden in the center, or a classical villa with a garden viewed from afar, the Bel-Air Townhouse transforms the garden into a series of horizontal strata for inhabitation. Wrapped by floating gardens, the building redefines the domestic interior as a collection of spaces nested within landscapes that have themselves been turned inside-out. It thus becomes an architectural experience inseparable from the gardens as 3-dimensional volume.

Our approach is strategically driven and informed. Click here to learn about our process.
In response to the diminishing green spaces in Manila, our vision of urban townhouses reconnects people with the lush forests that once defined the city’s equatorial environment. The townhouse applies principles of metabolic architecture, modular systems, parametric design, and resiliency to create homes that are adaptable, efficient, and deeply attuned to their environment—offering a new idea of urban life with nature as both memory and future.

