The Pasig City Parks Riverfront project is a system of waterfront parks that create recreational space, mitigate flooding, and redevelop natural habitat to create a cleaner, healthier Pasig River. The declared “dead” Pasig River has been revived by a mix of governmental and grassroots efforts that have had promising results in cleaning the river. As a result, the new administration seeks to continue these efforts through design and to reclaim these spaces for the citizens of Pasig. The Pasig Riverfront Project develops a community and environmental infrastructure that reinterprets the unique forms of a riveren people—as a series of floating parklets. On the river, floating parklets are reminiscent of the coconut rafts traditionally used to transport the fruit through the area’s waterways. These floating parks include amenities for sports, play, cultural events, and transit. They also protect a narrow habitat to restore the mangroves on the river embankment. These trees clean the river while also providing the rich habitat to reintroduce fish, mollusks, and native birds to the water’s edge. Further down-river a series of playful park follies, drawn from the history of the river’s fishing industry. These Salambaw bounce with the waves and reposition themselves with the tides.
Statement Of Design Excellence
Cultural Sustainability: The project recognizes the importance of history towards the development of new design as a way to enrich and preserve cultural identity. Careful research of historic maps, images, and photographs revealed a number of critical design opportunities that we have sought to tie into the design including: the recognition of a currently hidden but very culturally important precolonial dynasty at the existing site, the local flora and fauna at the water’s edge, the forms of commerce such as coconut rafts and salambaw, and the multitude of uses along the waterways. This allows us to reconnect the population to the cleaner, healthier Pasig River waterway.
Ecological Sustainability: The project will float at the top of the water so as not to obstruct the movement of water while still protecting a new mangrove edge. These mangroves will become home to fish, mollusks, and invite the return of native birds to the area.
