The Corner House by Monash University Department of Architecture

At the vibrant junction of two major streets in San Juan, Manila, The Corner House emerges as a bold response to the city’s need for climate-conscious public architecture. Designed by the Department of Architecture at Monash University, this dynamic urban intervention reimagines how built space can embrace the tropics, celebrate public life, and resist environmental uniformity.

A Sanctuary Within the City

The Corner House was conceived as a refuge from the density and intensity of Manila’s fast-paced urban environment. In a city where public open-air spaces are rare and precious, the project introduces a multi-level, open-air atrium that acts as both a gathering place and a cooling void. The ground plane cascades upward, drawing pedestrians into a four-story vertical courtyard where floating glass restaurant boxes and terraces hover within the atrium’s spatial drama.

The building’s orientation and form respond directly to the region’s tropical monsoon climate. A breathable envelope system—comprising motorized louvered walls, roller blinds, and operable glazing—allows for maximum natural ventilation and daylight when conditions are favorable. During heavy rains and storms, these elements close to create a weather-sealed, yet light-filled interior, demonstrating the building’s fluid adaptability.

Architecture as Urban Circuit

One of the most iconic elements of The Corner House is its 500-meter spiraling ramp, which wraps, punches through, and connects every level of the building. This gently ascending path is far more than vertical circulation—it serves as a multi-programmed urban promenade. It accommodates jogging circuits, art exhibitions, pop-up dining experiences, and communal events, inviting users to engage actively with the architecture.

The ramp also dissolves barriers between exterior and interior. As users rise through the space, they encounter changing vistas, microclimates, and social zones, emphasizing movement and interaction over isolation and enclosure.

Climate-Responsive Materiality

Material selection was driven by a sustainability-first mindset. A lightweight steel framework minimizes embodied energy and allows for open, airy spaces. Ceiling fans and cross-ventilation strategies maintain year-round comfort without dependence on mechanical cooling systems. The interior’s dichroic skylights cast ever-shifting washes of color across floors and walls, imbuing the space with vibrancy and wonder as daylight shifts throughout the day.

The structure’s architectural flexibility not only supports environmental performance but also offers users agency—they can open, close, linger, or pass through based on their own comfort, needs, and time of day.

A Rooftop in the Sky

The journey culminates in a rooftop event terrace, a place of social intimacy and elevated quiet. Here, bermed landscaping wraps the edges of the platform, subtly controlling views to the city while creating a verdant buffer. Colorful skylight cubes serve a dual function—glowing furniture for evening gatherings and sculptural daylighting features during the day.

These cubes, like the ramp and atrium, reflect the project’s deeper ethos: that architecture should never be static, but rather evolve alongside the city and its inhabitants.

A Living Framework for the Future

More than a building, The Corner House represents a prototype for future urban public spaces in tropical megacities. It champions modularity, breathability, and multifunctionality, turning the traditional typologies of the enclosed tower and air-conditioned mall on their heads. It offers a new model of tropical architecture—responsive to climate, generous in spirit, and deeply embedded in its community.

By weaving together movement, weather, greenery, and human interaction, The Corner House reclaims the corner lot as a civic asset, and in doing so, redefines how we gather, move, and cool ourselves in cities shaped by heat and humidity.

Photography: Jar Congenco & Greg mAYO