SURBA

Location: Philippines

Palo Pavilion

How can design help rebuild a community?

The Palo Pavilion recreates a beloved public recreation facility that was destroyed by Hurricane Haiyan in 2013. The gymnasium is equipped with public seating, storage, bathrooms, lockers, and an elevated stage for public performances. Both a public gathering space and an athletic facility, the Pavilion incorporates physical activity into community members’ daily routines.

We consider each project on its own terms and develop tailored responses. Learn about our vision and mission.

Whole Building Sustainability
The Pavilion’s roof, which resembles an animal shell, is made up of a network of modular steel and wood beams, strategically placed with parametric design techniques to direct drainage and capture storm-water. This approach demonstrates regenerative health, ensuring the building serves not only as shelter but also as part of a sustainable urban ecosystem. The alternating curvature of the supporting beams creates windows that allow natural light to enter and reduce energy demand. These windows open outward to the landscape, creating a dialogue between the pavilion, the environment, and the community.

Integrating the building into the community
The alternating curvature of the beams reinforces the connection between interior activities and the natural surroundings, fostering a sense of place and social cohesion. The Pavilion serves as a node in a broader distributive network of civic spaces, helping to heal and rebuild the community through shared infrastructure and culture.

Osmeña Avenue

How can a physical installation evoke the energy and movement of a city?

In 2012, CAZA was asked to propose a public art installation for Cebu’s Osmeña Avenue, a major thoroughfare in the city.

Street-level view of Osmeña Avenue installation with angular concrete volumes beside the road.
Osmeña Avenue

We consider each project on its own terms and develop tailored responses. Learn about our vision and mission.

The project was meant to act as a gateway, a landmark that visitors and residents alike would see as a grand welcoming into the city. Our design is inspired by the movement of cars and individuals. The work is made up of several stone-like monoliths that have the words ‘CEBU CITY’ engraved into the ‘material’ using anamorphic perspective. As you get closer to the city and into the old part of town, the repeated text turns into abstracted lines of vibrant colors.

The physical structure of the project allows people to visually experience this work from different angles. This changing landmark thus becomes a marker of both welcome and farewell for people entering and leaving the city.

Public view of Osmeña Avenue installation with slanted canopy structure and crowds.
Osmeña Avenue

Our approach is strategically driven and informed. Click here to learn about our process.

The installation leverages modular components and parametric design techniques to create its dynamic form and shifting visual experience, reflecting Cebu’s vibrant urban energy.

Elevation drawing of Osmeña Avenue installation spelling “CEBU CITY.”
Osmeña Avenue
Site plan of Osmeña Avenue streetscape zone with green and geometric interventions.
Osmeña Avenue

North Cinemas

Can cinema spaces still foster collectivity in a disembodied digital age?

We have designed three new cinemas as urban spaces that foster collectivity in our highly-mediated environment. The internet is said to have so many connections that it has no inside. Our cinemas materialize a world of manifold forms and colors that represent an interiority that is beyond our immediate grasp. The act of movie-going is a collective one that promises an opening of ourselves to other worlds.

Interior rendering of a cinema stairwell with glowing golden lattice ceiling and people ascending and descending wide dark steps.
North Cinemas

We consider each project on its own terms and develop tailored responses. Learn about our vision and mission.

The floors, walls, and ceiling of each of these cinemas visualize different possible kinds of networks: nets, webs, grids, and planes fold open the limits of an interior space to suggest passages to unknown regions of our imagination. Designed using modular strategies and parametric architecture, the cinemas respond to specific environmental conditions such as lighting and occupation, so that the nature of the surface, the perceptibility of the space, and the sensation of the crowd change—emphasizing the critical but fragile relation between space and collectivity in the post-digital city.

MX Convention Center

How can we bring more cohesion to a massive, multifaceted convention center?

CAZA was tasked with renovating all public interior spaces of the MX Convention Center in Pasay, Philippines—the country’s largest private convention venue, which has hosted world leaders such as Barack Obama and Shinzo Abe.

Hallway of MX Convention Center with bold yellow diagonal wall stripes.
MX Convention Center

We consider each project on its own terms and develop tailored responses. Learn about our vision and mission.

The Center is a sprawling 16,060-square-meter complex with a network of interconnected rooms for events and gatherings. CAZA’s goal was to create a sense of visual coherence and help visitors navigate the building more intuitively through a strategic system of design interventions.

Color was applied to guide visitors both vertically and horizontally—from parking garages to upper-level meeting halls—while also punctuating the entrances to individual conference rooms. CAZA also developed an iconic parametric logo of overlaid lines, which directs visitors throughout each floor and serves as a recurring motif in the furniture and human-scale elements throughout the Center.

Interior wall of MX Convention Center with overlapping green and blue diagonal stripes.
MX Convention Center

Our approach is strategically driven and informed. Click here to learn about our process.

By integrating modular and parametric design principles, the MX Convention Center achieves clarity, cohesion, and a refreshed identity.

Meeting room corridor at MX Convention Center with bright yellow-green accents.
MX Convention Center
Elevator and stair access wall at MX Convention Center with green and blue diagonal stripes.
MX Convention Center

Metropolitan Museum of Manila

How to reinvent the first contemporary art museum of the Philippines?

This new 3,000 sqm space, spread over three levels in Bonifacio Global City, marks a new epoch for the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, which first opened in 1976.

Shaded courtyard at CAZA’s Metropolitan Museum of Manila with café seating under trees and dappled light.
Metropolitan Museum of Manila

We consider each project on its own terms and develop tailored responses. Learn about our vision and mission.

The design pays homage to the landscapes of the Philippines, drawing inspiration from its forests, volcanic history, and the geocultural richness of its archipelagos. Modular moveable wooden decks and tables animate the palm-planted entrance plaza, creating flexible gathering centers that echo the geographic form of the Philippine islands. The color palette evokes the country’s beaches — rich green foliage, muted earth tones, and white sands — while earth-colored pavers and pebbled areas lend a casual rhythm that continues the beach motif.

Visitors pass into the lobby, a lush space inspired by the experience of the forest. Here, an arcade of green steel tubes envelops the grand double-height reception area, calling to mind tree canopies and filtered light. The reception lounge is finished in mossy greys, with concrete floors and walls the color of volcanic ash, evoking solemnity. Reeded glass partitions separate the ground-floor galleries from reception, creating a play of opacity and transparency.

Daylit “Skyroom” with sculptural white stair and pebble-shaped seating on a raised wood platform.
Metropolitan Museum of Manila

Our approach is strategically driven and informed. Click here to learn about our process.

On the second floor is the Sky Room — a lighter, more ethereal space than the earthy reception lounge — where bluer hues and softer materials predominate. Designed as a place of reflection and solitary contemplation, the Sky Room features islands of seating emerging from a sculpted terrazzo floorscape with projection screens on two sides. The flowing forms of the Sky Room are informed by parametric design, recalling the rippling patterns of karesansui, traditional Japanese rock gardens. A staircase enclosed in a folding translucent mesh rises from the Sky Room, adding a sculptural presence and enclosing visitors in airy mesh folds as they ascend to the upper galleries.

Skyroom interior with suspended translucent veil revealing stairs above and terrazzo “pebble” benches below.
Metropolitan Museum of Manila

In addition to the lobby and Sky Room, the program includes galleries, offices, and conservation areas. Circulation spaces are conceived as spacious, cathedral-like halls filled with natural light, enabling the display and transport of large-scale artworks while organizing visitors’ routes through the museum.

The new Metropolitan Museum of Manila, a contemporary reinterpretation of Filipino identity through modular flexibility and parametric design, opened to visitors in January 2022.

Meridian HQ

How can a new office building help define a burgeoning cosmopolitan district?

Situated along Roxas Boulevard Waterfront Park, Meridian HQ was conceived as both a multipurpose office building and a civic anchor, embedding sustainability and urban vitality into Manila’s fast-growing entertainment district.

Exterior rendering of Meridian HQ with surrounding plaza and greenery.
Meridian HQ

We consider each project on its own terms and develop tailored responses. Learn about our vision and mission.

The building’s lightweight architecture expresses a sense of openness and energy efficiency. Its rectangular upper level rests delicately atop two spherical domes, creating a visual effect of weightlessness while minimizing material use and reducing structural loads—a hallmark of metabolic architecture. The façade, composed of clear glass tubes, harnesses natural light and ventilation, lowering energy consumption and reflecting the building’s energy-conscious ethos.

Designed with modular planning principles, Meridian HQ can adapt to future programmatic shifts, making it a resilient addition to the cityscape. At its base, public gardens and civic amenities invite the community in, connecting the building to the rhythms of everyday life in the surrounding cosmopolitan district. The parametric design of the structural and façade systems ensures optimal performance in terms of light diffusion, thermal comfort, and spatial flexibility.

Daytime rendering of Meridian HQ with elevated structure and shaded plaza.
Meridian HQ

Our approach is strategically driven and informed. Click here to learn about our process.

With its gardens and lightweight form, Meridian HQ becomes a mini oasis amid the density of Manila, just steps from Manila Bay, the Mall of Asia, and some of Asia’s largest casinos. This project reconnects the modern district to the city’s historic downtown, offering a sustainable and refreshing presence that reflects Manila’s ambitions for a vibrant, resilient urban future.

Floor plan of Meridian HQ showing organized office layout and circulation.
Meridian HQ
Second floor plan of Meridian HQ with program zones and circulation flow.
Meridian HQ
Section drawing of Meridian HQ showing interior workspaces and structural supports.
Meridian HQ

Megamall Mixed-Use Complex

How might we create a vertical sanctuary within a horizontal density?

For this urban complex, CAZA envisioned a lively mixed-use environment that would accommodate luxury condominiums and a three-story commercial center at the base. Informed by the exterior verandas and courtyards, new dramatic sky terraces surmount the building, extending a vertical sanctuary amidst the horizontal density of the Malate district.

Street view of the Megamall Mixed-Use Complex with glass towers and green façade.
Megamall Mixed-Use Complex

We consider each project on its own terms and develop tailored responses. Learn about our vision and mission.

Malate is a historic urban core where density increased at a rapid pace. This mixed-use complex replaces an old, mid-century building in disrepair and links a public podium with a series of high-rise residential towers.

Angular tower of the Megamall Mixed-Use Complex with patterned façade and colors.
Megamall Mixed-Use Complex

Our approach is strategically driven and informed. Click here to learn about our process.

The design of the complex takes a layered approach that optimizes the programming while accommodating ground floor uses. Through modular planning and a parametric design strategy, the solution blends public, semipublic, and domestic spaces within a singular identity and offers an elegant architectural response to the urban pressures of Manila.

Colorful high-rise towers of the Megamall Mixed-Use Complex above curving podium.
Megamall Mixed-Use Complex
Exploded axonometric of Megamall Mixed-Use Complex Scheme A with towers, mall, and base.
Megamall Mixed-Use Complex
Exploded axonometric of Megamall Mixed-Use Complex Scheme B with pyramid tower.
Megamall Mixed-Use Complex
Exploded axonometric of Megamall Mixed-Use Complex Scheme C with sculpted towers.
Megamall Mixed-Use Complex

Megamall IMAX & Skating Park

How can an indoor skating rink blend into a shopping mall's constellation of amenities?

For SM Megamall—the largest mall in Asia at the time of its construction—CAZA created an amenities program that interweaves recreational experiences with the shopping areas to create a new center for public life in Manila. The programs include an ice-skating rink and a 251-seat IMAX Theater, attracting visitors from throughout Manila and generating foot traffic for the retail areas.

Architectural floor plan of the IMAX lobby at Megamall Bowling by CAZA.
Megamall Bowling

We consider each project on its own terms and develop tailored responses. Learn about our vision and mission.

Bold graphic accents and sleek textures define the spaces, which reinterpret vernacular geometries through a modular and parametric design approach, creating a contemporary and inviting atmosphere that complements the mall’s retail offerings.

IMAX lobby interior at Megamall Bowling with illuminated ceiling and geometric seating by CAZA.
Megamall Bowling
Theater corridor at Megamall Bowling with illuminated ceiling modules and IMAX signage by CAZA.
Megamall Bowling

Megamall Cinemas

How should a movie theater respond to a modern, highly-mediated environment?

We have designed three new cinemas as urban spaces that foster collectivity in our highly-mediated environment. The internet is said to have so many connections that it has no inside. Our cinemas materialize a world of manifold forms and colors that represent an interiority that is beyond our immediate grasp. The act of movie-going is a collective one that promises an opening of ourselves to other worlds.

We consider each project on its own terms and develop tailored responses. Learn about our vision and mission.

The floors, walls, and ceiling of each of these cinemas visualize different possible kinds of networks: nets, webs, grids, and planes fold open the limits of an interior space to suggest passages to unknown regions of our imagination. Designed using modular strategies and parametric design, the cinemas respond to specific environmental conditions such as lighting and occupation, so that the nature of the surface, the perceptibility of the space, and the sensation of the crowd change—emphasizing the critical but fragile relation between space and collectivity in the post-digital city.

Megamall Bowling

What kind of bowling alley befits the largest mall in Asia?

When the SM Megamall opened in Manila in 2014, it became the largest mall in Asia and the second largest in the world—a commercial hub designed to accommodate thousands of visitors daily. CAZA was commissioned to create one of the mall’s main public amenities: a 15-lane bowling alley complete with a billiards area, refreshments bar, and communal seating.

Megamall Bowling

We consider each project on its own terms and develop tailored responses. Learn about our vision and mission.

To meet the scale and dynamism of the mall, CAZA employed modular planning and parametric design strategies, ensuring that the space could adapt to different crowd sizes and maintain a cohesive visual language. The colorful accents and zig-zagging linear lights on the walls and ceilings create an animated, playful atmosphere that echoes the energy of the surrounding retail and entertainment environment.

Malls are often criticized for being impersonal and disconnected from community life. In response, CAZA’s design integrates commerce, leisure, and social interaction into a modular spatial system that fosters a sense of belonging. By layering programmatic elements—bowling, billiards, dining, and casual gathering—within a single cohesive design, the project activates the space as more than just a recreational venue: it becomes a lively node in a larger urban network.

Entrance to Megamall Bowling with illuminated glass and seating area.
Megamall Bowling

Our approach is strategically driven and informed. Click here to learn about our process.

Megamall Bowling exemplifies how modular and parametric approaches can transform a commercial amenity into a community-centered experience, balancing efficiency with vibrancy to create a memorable leisure destination.

IMAX lobby interior at Megamall Bowling with illuminated ceiling and geometric seating by CAZA.
Megamall Bowling
Theater corridor at Megamall Bowling with illuminated ceiling modules and IMAX signage by CAZA.
Megamall Bowling
Modern men’s bathroom at Megamall Bowling with blue sinks and colorful ceiling by CAZA.
Megamall Bowling
Pool table gaming area at Megamall Bowling with linear lighting by CAZA.
Megamall Bowling
Lounge and resting area at Megamall Bowling with diagonal ceiling lighting by CAZA.
Megamall Bowling
Axonometric diagram of folded metal ceiling panels for a bowling alley.
Megamall Bowling
Floor plan of Megamall bowling alley with lanes, game areas, and facilities.
Megamall Bowling
Architectural floor plan of the IMAX lobby at Megamall Bowling by CAZA.
Megamall Bowling

Marian Church

Can places of worship enhance our connections to the natural and the spiritual?

The design of Marian Church weaves the building into the surrounding environment, using the terrain to encourage people to gather and experience the sacred space as a community. The slopes flanking the Church form a natural amphitheater where people can come together to attend mass. This open-air amphitheater faces the interior garden, connecting the adoration chapel, sacristy, and priest quarters with the main congregational hall through a modular and distributive circulation network inspired by metabolic architecture.

Interior of Marian Church’s congregation hall with vaulted arches, wooden accents, and pendant lighting.
Marian Church

We consider each project on its own terms and develop tailored responses. Learn about our vision and mission.

Solitude and togetherness
People enter the Church from multiple points and move across the grounds, each following an individual journey that invites solitary contemplation and prepares them for communal worship in the congregation hall. The design’s parametric principles guide this flow, balancing energy and spiritual connection.

Central aisle view of Marian Church interior with high vaulted ceiling and large stained-glass windows.
Marian Church

Our approach is strategically driven and informed. Click here to learn about our process.

Building on tradition
The congregational hall’s vaulted ceiling references Gothic, Romanesque, and Renaissance traditions of sacred architecture. Parametric design shapes the clerestories between each vault, allowing natural light to enter and animate the sacred space, while maintaining harmony with the surrounding landscape.

Exterior view of Marian Church with arched roof shells, bell tower, and landscaped forecourt.
Marian Church
Exploded axonometric diagram of Marian Church showing spatial program and circulation paths.
Marian Church

Lio Masterplan

Does deconstructing traditional folk architecture create opportunities for a new architectural identity?

Lio Beach is situated between El Nido Bay and tropical forests on the island of Palawan. The masterplan deconstructs traditional Filipino architectural elements, stitching the built environment into a woven landscape to create a unique resort destination. Designed as a sustainable and car-free neighborhood, the site employs a holistic approach to development.

Evening beachfront scene at Lio Masterplan with people gathering under palm trees and wooden pavilions.
Lio Masterplan

We consider each project on its own terms and develop tailored responses. Learn about our vision and mission.

The resort focuses on public plazas that are inland extensions of the beach, each offering a different town experience. The smallest, on the western edge, is quieter. A central plaza holds family-focused offerings in terms of lodging and shopping. Finally, the largest one is lively and contains millennial-type spaces. This mixture of areas lets individuals curate their own experiences. Variety, scale, and form allow the masterplan to extend organically and bring in other developers. To this effect, CAZA created a 350-page zoning guidebook to encourage growth.

The masterplan responds to the wind and solar patterns, minimizing energy use and maximizing comfort. By looking at traditional folk architecture in the Philippines, the resort defines a new architectural vernacular and creates a sense of identity for the local community through modular, parametric design, and regenerative strategies that enhance resiliency and support distributive networks of development.

Daytime beachfront scene at Lio Masterplan with people swimming, sunbathing, and walking near wooden villas.
Lio Masterplan

Our approach is strategically driven and informed. Click here to learn about our process.

Inspired by local context
Lio Beach Masterplan will be recognized worldwide as a distinctly Filipino tourist destination and sets a precedent for a contemporary architecture tradition along the island’s coastline.

Diagram showing roof form evolution of Lio Masterplan from Ifugao and salakot hat inspiration to clustered layouts.
Lio Masterplan

Lio Market Hall

How can a contemporary market hall nod to a community’s cultural traditions?

The Lio Market Hall reinterprets the traditional Ifugao salakot hat through a modular and parametric design approach, multiplying its iconic form into a rhythmic architectural field. This creates a memorable identity for the town while providing a flexible, column-free shelter for a range of community and commercial activities.

Lio Market Hall viewed from the beach with open stalls and surrounding crowds.
Lio Market Hall

We consider each project on its own terms and develop tailored responses. Learn about our vision and mission.

Drawing on principles of metabolic architecture, the design fosters a lively, adaptable environment that supports the social and economic “metabolism” of village life. The pyramid-shaped structural volumes are engineered for energy efficiency, minimizing material use and allowing natural ventilation and daylight to flow through the space.

Forest-side view of Lio Market Hall with stalls visible under angled roofs.
Lio Market Hall

Our approach is strategically driven and informed. Click here to learn about our process.

The ground plane links the adjacent commercial strip to the mangrove park, layering horizontal wooden surfaces to encourage smooth pedestrian circulation while celebrating the natural and cultural landscape. The roof’s muted tones foreground the vibrancy of the surrounding environment, reinforcing the hall’s role as a subtle but vital part of the community’s fabric.

Lio Market Hall in rainy weather with people sheltered under the roof.
Lio Market Hall
Exterior view of Lio Market Hall framed by trees with light filtering through roof.
Lio Market Hall

La Salle Academic Complex

How do we design for the future of education?

Our design for the New Academic Complex for De La Salle University’s Biñan campus acts as a figural interpretation of the curriculum of the future.

We consider each project on its own terms and develop tailored responses. Learn about our vision and mission.

The future of education will blend together structured knowledge with the supple agility of nature. Similarly, our highly tactile building combines a grid with soft, natural curves that form the edges of the facade, using parametric design to balance form and function.

This building is a hub for data computation and logistics, as well as a learning environment for students. A modular floor plate empowers teachers and administrators to plan for the growing needs of the student body, while supporting regenerative health through daylight, fresh air, and access to green spaces.

Our approach is strategically driven and informed. Click here to learn about our process.

A simple and efficient 9-square structural grid supported by an organic-shaped building deck allows for an infinite number of classroom configurations with room for gardens, balconies, and breakout spaces. Three classroom clusters share the same 9-square grid, making it easy to share resources, distribute utilities, and interchange layouts. To reduce travel distances and ensure ease of movement, two circulation cores are located in the middle of the classroom clusters.

Communal facilities are located on the ground floor, classrooms in the middle, and administration at the top with access to a garden-filled roof terrace. The ground floor is lifted on 8-meter high pilotis and placed on a curvilinear plinth that extends outwards, creating smooth transitions between the surrounding landscape and the building. Spacious, monumental entries in the cafeteria, library, and auditorium enhance the student experience by providing expansive views of the campus.

Hue Hotel

How can architecture embrace the spirit of a place?

The design for Hue Hotel rethinks what tropical architecture can be in the 21st century. Embracing the lush climate but drawing attention inward, the bulbous design arrays a stack of interlocking rings that produce a procession of social spaces across terraces, roof gardens, and hotel amenities. Guests move between the shared communal spaces in the central enclosure to a collection of bespoke private rooms along the upper reaches of the building, demonstrating principles of metabolic architecture that support both environmental and social systems.

Interior of Hue Hotel’s restaurant with intricate patterned partitions, circular black ceiling lights, and panoramic windows.
Hue Hotel

We consider each project on its own terms and develop tailored responses. Learn about our vision and mission.

Communal spaces
Social spaces and gathering areas are integrated into the modular interlocking ring structures, designed using parametric design to optimize form and airflow while maintaining harmony with the tropical climate. The interiors create dramatic and unexpected effects with local materials, offering elevated environments that feel rooted in their place while also promoting resiliency and sustainable development practices aligned with eco-industrialization.

Daytime view of Hue Hotel’s pool courtyard framed by curved balconies and a circular poolside bar.
Hue Hotel
Upward view from Hue Hotel’s pool courtyard toward the curved balconies and open sky.
Hue Hotel