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WTA Architecture and Design Studio

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WTA Architecture and Design Studio

WTA Design Studio is a multidisciplinary group of young and idealistic architects and designers based in Manila, Philippines.
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WTA Design Studio is a multiple award-winning group of young and idealistic architects and interior designers, and urban planners and engineers based in Manila, Philippines. The office participates in a wide range of socially relevant design activities with a focus on beautifying Manila and building a better city. WTA focuses on finding solutions for the dichotomy of big and small projects, and si

mple and complex ideas. The firm emphasizes the design process where ideas are broken down and evolved in the studio and projected towards the surrounding community and city.

24/08/2026

WTA, project consultants, construction partners, and company executives joined Golden Bay in officially marking the beginning of construction for Garden City, a mixed-use residential development in Bacoor, Cavite.

The milestone was commemorated during the Contractor Partnership Ceremony and Official Groundbreaking Ceremony on 16 July 2026, bringing together key partners who will help transform the project’s vision into reality.

Designed by WTA, Garden City will feature six residential towers alongside commercial spaces, green areas, communal spaces, and amenities designed to foster wellness, connection, and community.

More than a condominium development, Garden City aims to transform high-rise living into one whole community—where architecture, landscape, and everyday experiences come together, with people and nature at the center.

Tower 1 is targeted for completion by December 2028, with two additional towers expected in 2029. Phase 2 will further expand Garden City as a distinctive residential and commercial destination in Bacoor.

20/08/2026

Get the exclusive limited edition WTA Shared Ground Artbook only at Anthology Festival 2026!

This hardcover book explores shared ground through the eyes of Potato as he journeys through the city and visits various WTA projects.

The book is free and will be given away to the first 300 festival attendees who visit all Ground Works installations and participate in the Living Anthology Exhibition.

Grab your tickets now to get your copy and join us in our journey.

19/08/2026

Situated within the complex of a bread factory, the goal for this house is to find the balance between openness and privacy, walls and fenestrations, and permeability and enclosure.

The Brick House achieves this through patterned brick walls that allow filtered views and natural ventilation while maintaining privacy. Pocket gardens between the brick screen and the house soften these openings with vegetation, creating an additional layer of enclosure. Above, clerestory windows and skylights rise beyond the brick walls, drawing abundant natural light into the interior.

17/08/2026

The design draws its name and form from the biblical account of the feeding of the multitude, where five loaves and two fish fed thousands, and the surplus was gathered into twelve baskets. That story of abundance and gathering became the conceptual thread for the building’s architecture.

In Bicol, basket-weaving is a defining regional craft: abacá fiber, woven by hand, shaped by generations of local skill. The basilica’s sanctuary translates this weave into masonry, its coursed volcanic stone echoing the same logic of overlapping, interlocking material that defines a woven basket. The result is a structure that reads as both vessel and shelter; built to gather 3,000 people the way a basket gathers and holds.

Paired with a bell tower silhouette drawn from the Cagsawa Ruins and a material palette of volcanic stone native to the region, the design roots itself firmly in Bicol’s landscape, history, and craft traditions.

14/08/2026

Scandinavian design meets organic simplicity in the interiors of a condominium development in Bacoor, Cavite.

Natural wood, neutral tones, and organic textures are paired with clean lines and simple forms to create spaces that are warm, functional, and cohesive. The design places emphasis on materiality, proportion, and understated details, allowing each amenity to feel distinct while maintaining a consistent visual language throughout the development.

The result is a contemporary approach to shared spaces that balances everyday functionality with comfort and a strong connection to natural elements.

13/08/2026

People of WTA: Meet Rochelle Ong — Associate Director

UST Architecture batch salutatorian. Thesis of the Year awardee. Top 9 in the Architecture Licensure Examination. Roch joined WTA straight out of university, drawn to how much research and thinking goes into the way we design.

Nine years later, she’s leading one of our studios.

Roch has grown with WTA through projects of increasing scale and complexity—from office and high-rise residential developments in Makati, San Juan, Quezon City, and Cebu to commercial developments in Cavite, housing communities in Surigao, and now healthcare. Today, she leads teams working across housing, residential, commercial, and healthcare projects.

She also heads WTA Workshops, our continuing professional development program that brings specialists, technical learning, and new ideas into the studio so learning at WTA doesn’t stop when school does. She also oversees our Library & Digital Resources, helping build the knowledge base that supports the practice.

Outside the studio, Roch is usually at a local gig, exploring a museum or park, sweating it out at Zumba, or rolling dice with her husband and friends over a D&D campaign or board game night.

Roch started at WTA as one of the country’s most promising young architecture graduates. Nine years later, she’s helping lead the practice and helping develop the generation coming up behind her.

12/08/2026

Architecture becomes a narrative of legal education through a sequence of spaces that embody the journey of every aspiring jurist.

The building is organized into three layers that reflect the journey of legal education. The upper layer houses the classrooms, fostering growth, community, and the development of future legal professionals. At its core, the library serves as the intellectual heart, preserving knowledge and cultivating wisdom. Anchoring the composition, the mock trial courts form the foundation where learning is applied, transforming theory into practice and preparing students for the realities of the legal profession. Interwoven throughout these three layers are shared grounds of learning, interaction, and connectivity, creating moments of exchange that reinforce collaboration and collective growth.

Together, the law school building forms layers of which it creates a cohesive environment where education is not confined to individual spaces but unfolds as a continuous journey from learning, to understanding, to the pursuit of justice.

Architecture

11/08/2026

People of WTA: Meet Johana Heinzelmeier Xarpell—Senior Architect

Johana is a Senior Architect in WTA’s Master Planning team, bringing an unusually multidisciplinary perspective shaped by architecture, engineering, urban planning, and experience across France, Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines.

Educated in France, she holds a Master’s degree in Architecture from ENSA Toulouse and a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering from INSA Toulouse, alongside postgraduate training in architectural and urban programming in Paris. She is also HMONP-qualified, the French professional accreditation that enables architects to practice independently.

Before moving to Manila and joining WTA, Johana spent five years with AREP in France, working on major transport and infrastructure projects for SNCF and progressing from architectural studies to project management and multidisciplinary coordination. Her international experience also took her to Nihon Sekkei in Tokyo and engineering consultancies in South Korea—giving her a perspective that moves comfortably between design ambition and technical delivery.

At WTA, Johana works across master planning, institutional, hospitality, mixed-use, and infrastructure projects, with a particular interest in universal design, accessibility, sustainability, and human-centered environments. She brings the rigor of an engineer, the spatial thinking of an architect, and the wider lens of an urbanist to the studio.

Having built her career across three continents, Johana sees architecture as more than designing buildings. For her, it is about navigating complexity—bringing together people, systems, culture, and place to create environments that are resilient, inclusive, and built to last.

10/08/2026

Healing begins with the spaces we create.

Designed as a compact yet highly functional primary healthcare facility, this clinic demonstrates how thoughtful design can elevate the patient experience while serving communities of any scale, regardless of location. Every space is planned to maximize efficiency without compromising comfort, proving that even the smallest healthcare facilities can foster dignity, reassurance, and a sense of care.

Healthcare spaces should do more than accommodate care. They should help people feel cared for. For this community healthcare clinic, color, texture, and pattern become more than aesthetic elements. They are carefully integrated as architectural tools that create intuitive wayfinding, reduce the stress of navigating unfamiliar spaces, and give each area its own identity. The result is an environment that feels warm, welcoming, and human, helping patients, families, and healthcare professionals feel at ease from the moment they arrive.

07/08/2026

People of WTA: Meet Carmelo Arancon — Associate Director

leads one of WTA’s design studios, overseeing high-end residences, commercial masterplans, and competition entries.

An ARB/RIBA registered architect and graduate of The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, he trained in London on major transport and infrastructure projects before trading the city’s grey skies for the Philippines’ significantly bluer ones. He joined WTA in 2021, bringing an international perspective to the practice.

His portfolio spans a standalone commercial building, a suspended installations exhibited at Festival des Architectures Vives in Montpellier, France, and a township development in Bohol—a project made even more meaningful by his family’s Bolanon roots. He has also taught architecture alongside our Principal Architect at Taylor’s University in Malaysia.

Outside the studio, Melo is usually running, at a spin class, or convincing himself that a weekend hike counts as relaxation. He’s a familiar face around Manila’s creative scene—from exhibitions and pop-ups to the occasional late-night gathering—and is the driving force behind WTA’s unofficial run club, always rallying the team for hikes, beach trips, and the next finish line.

Address

224 Ortigas Avenue, Greenhills
San Juan
1102

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 6pm
Tuesday	9am - 6pm
Wednesday	9am - 6pm
Thursday	9am - 6pm
Friday	9am - 6pm

Telephone

+6325704148

Website

http://www.wtadesignstudio.com/

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