Philippine Star
December 12, 2009
The first Christmas was marked by a simple birth in a manger on a silent night when three kings were led to the holy site by a single bright star. Bringing with them gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, they paid homage to the child who lay in a bed of straw, but was designated to become the King of Kings.
No doubt about it, the celebration of Christmas has changed in a big way. The stark difference is evident in our commemoration of the important event today. With endless holiday tunes blaring full volume and kilometers of bright lights strung up in wire, the season is anything but silent. In addition, a resultant rise in power consumption taxes power systems, while spate of feasting and gift-giving results in voluminous mountains of trash.
But make no mistake about it. We are not a modern-day Scrooge who enjoys raining on everyone’s favorite holiday. We love the camaraderie of the get-togetherness, the festive lights and the gift-giving just as much as the average person on the street. But with all the environmental catastrophes we have been witness to, we see even more the need to be more responsible and creative to lessen the carbon footprint resulting from the season’s merry making. We realize that key concepts like “sustainability” and “green-living” are no longer just buzz words. They are ideals of life that should not be set aside for any season; are necessary for humankind to survive. And thus, we recognize that all efforts, geared towards sustainability are worthy of praise.
 The Christmas installations like those at Ayala Land’s NUVALI development are noteworthy for their use of sinamay, bamboo, and other recyclable materials. “Sustainable living is the bedrock of the NUVALI development, so when we were requested to conceptualize environmental installations for Christmas, our approach would evidently reflect key principles of sustainability – recycling, renewable materials, lower carbon footprint and so on,” says Ma. Asuncion “Baby” Imperial-Anne of B+C Design. Baby is one-half of the design team with her husband Coco Anne. As artists trained in New York and Paris, they are attentive to the reality that the art world can do much in educating and influencing the public to embrace key green principles.
 Since its launch in April, this is the first Christmas NUVALI will be open to the public. In the Ayala Land tradition of brightening up Ayala Avenue and Bonifacio Global City for the season, NUVALI carries this on as the Christmas destination south of Metro Manila.
“The constant challenge for NUVALI is how we can deliver on our sustainability commitments even in the usual things we do,” says Rivka Nagtalon, marketing officer of Ayala Land. “Every opportunity to choose to create something is an opportunity to choose to create something sustainable. The Christmas installation pieces were the same way. It was a choice between doing something the usual way, or consciously opting for what would be more sustainable – environmentally, economically and socially.”
“As a design practice, we should try to be leaders in communicating the idea of sustainability,” Baby says. “One goal is to encourage the public’s creativity by opening up possibilities by creating tangible examples of sustainable design. Filipinos are very creative and it’s more a matter of direction.” She continues, “Environmental design is one field that should be pushed as a pushed as a progressive or contemporary approach to reflect the real meaning of Christmas.” Therefore, the use of renewable materials is vital. “Sinamay is made from abaca and its production has a low carbon footprint. It is also carbon neutral and renewable,” she says. “Likewise, bamboo is not only renewable; it is also fast-growing and sourced locally. They are both wonderful materials to work with – organic and flexible, with a life of their own.”
Rivka adds, “Bamboo is one of the plant species that we will be propagating in NUVALI to enhance the natural environment. It is considered one of the fastest-growing plants releasing 35 percent more oxygen, and sequestering up to 12 tons of carbon dioxide per hectare. In fact, different bamboo species form part of the ongoing volunteer tree-planting program designed to enhance NUVALI’s Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary.” She continues, “the use of bamboo for the Christmas pieces made perfect sense.”
The basic shape from which the installations are built up is the triangle. “Only one shape is used to grow organically from the landscape into the sculptural representations of the traditional Christmas shapes – a tree, Christmas balls. What we strove to achieve was to create vistas leading one element to another, while connecting with the landscape,” explains Baby.
The installations at NUVALI are not built tall because of the wind factor in the area but complement the horizontal expanse of space. “Not all the triangles are covered with sinamay to allow the eye to move through the installations and connect with the land. The triangles become points of convergence. Like the landscape, not one view is the same; it is constantly shifting. We did this to work with the landscape and the built environment – specifically the Evoliving Center that springs up from the land in geometric planes.”
One of the interesting design elements made use of PET bottles. B+C talented design team was also able to fabricate ingenious crystal-like balls that resemble snowflakes. These take on a beautifully striking glow when lit. “We took the opportunity to partner with San Migel Yamamura Packaging for the PET bottles,” Rivka quips. “By taking a simple idea and choosing to work with a partner whose core competency is to produce and recycle PET bottles, we were able to take one more baby step towards creating that tangible example of sustainable design Baby mentioned.”
Recycled PET or polyethylene terephthalate bottles take on new life not only as new containers for various products, but also as polar fleece material or synthetic fabrics for clothing and tote bags. The excess bottles donated by SMYP will be reused for the tree-planting program.
Baby brushes off the concern that long-term recycling for Christmas decoration every year would impede creativity and result in a dull, stale look if used each time. She is a firm believer that uniqueness and freshness could be achieved by “endeavoring to keep an open mind and open spirit.” We could perhaps be inspired by the panoramic NUVALI landscape – to look beyond, see things in a different way, and be able to strive to create even better each time.
The fulfillment that she gets for every project well done is immeasurable. “This is not only our area of expertise. It is what we are: Designers. We are constantly expanding our visual vocabulary to be able to give shape to what needs to be expressed for each project in ways that are compelling; constantly hoping to create new ways of seeing and being. So whether it is a visual identity system or an environmental installation, we absolutely revel in the creative energy of each and every project.”
 But what element of the installation design makes it distinctly Filipino? Baby Imperial pauses reflective before answering, “I don’t know that we were trying to make it distinctly Filipino. On hindsight, perhaps I could say that it is the contemporary representation of the parol. But the spirit of the convergence is distinctly Filipino. NUVALI, as a township development, is about communities and bringing people together; bringing people and nature together.” And it occurs to us that the spirit of togetherness is the Christmas spirit, too.
“Sustainability in Christmas terms is a ‘renewal’ and ‘rebirth’. It is the cycle of giving, not only to each other, but to the environment and ultimately, to our children’s future,” concludes Baby.
We couldn’t agree more. Enjoy weekends at NUVALI this Christmas season beginning today.
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