Another 5th

Right in front of yesterday's InterCon stands the newest mall in the Ayala Commercial Center: Glorietta 5. It's so new, not all the shops and restaurants are open yet. It's not just a mall though since it also has office spaces—probably the five floors above the balconied levels. I like the building's stark, very graphic design.

Soldiers with a taste for luxury

Across yesterday's Glorietta 5 is one of the entrances to the sprawling, original Glorietta which is actually several interconnected malls. 1 to 4 should be in there somewhere. When I was much younger, these shopping centers were all separate buildings until the property arm of the Ayala Corporation, which owns all the land in the Ayala Commercial Center, decided to put them all literally under one roof. It has a big, circular area in the middle for mall events, with a stage for performances and a playground for children. When walking from the Ayala Station to Greenbelt, I usually cut across inside because of the airconditioning. The two tall towers connected to the mall are the Ascott Makati with its luxurious serviced residences, a cross between a hotel and an apartment. It used to be called the Oakwood Premier and this was where a group of more than 300 soldiers decided to hole up when they mutineed against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2003. It was soon after the Oakwood Mutiny that Ayala Land turned over management of the serviced residences to the Ascott Group.

It's in the details

From the glass and concrete of the Glorietta area, we are now on the footbridge crossing Makati Avenue into the warmth and lushness of Greenbelt, still a part of the Ayala Commercial Center. This is the driveway and bridge between Greenbelt 4 (the building on the right) and Greenbelt 3 (off the picture to the left). I already posted photos of Greenbelt 2 and Greenbelt 5 in the past. Don't you just love that bridge and stairwell?