I featured this house early this year. This is Ana Rocha's house by the beach in Batangas. She doesn't like calling it a "beach house" though it sits right on the beach. She has created a space that's more than that. This is her creative haven. She comes here to recharge, relax and entertain friends. Ana is an artist and entrepreneur. She owns a ( Read more... )

As promised, I am posting some stories from my Urban Zone features. We shot this late last year. Cheese Ledesma-Ong is the entrepreneur behind Big Chill, Nami and SOFA School of Interior Design among other brands. She and her husband have a knack for fixing up old houses. This is their latest "project" - a 1970's home with huge dramatic arches in ( Read more... )

.


( Read more... )

The last UZ episode featured this beautiful house by the sea in Bataan. It was built and designed by Mike Pena, an architect we've featured many times. This project was special because he worked with his own son Paul, who recently got his own architecture license. And even more special because it is his own weekend home ( Read more... )

Last night's house in Urban Zone got so many Twitter reactions and wall posts on facebook. I learned a lot from the owners of this house - that you can live in a vast space even if your lot area is just 140 square metres; and that even a triangular shaped junkyard could be transformed in to the land of your dreamhouse; and that solar panels are ( Read more... )

Resorts World is another world. Completely different from what I am used to. It has a glitzy Vegasy feel. Perhaps because of the casino world attached to it. And because I do not gamble, I feel very foreign there. My SIL is in town visiting and we had to show her what was new in the last 12 months. So we walked through the casino. In case you ( Read more... )

Just trying out this badge business ( Read more... )

.

Shot some UZ spiels in Ito Kish Store in LRI last week.


( Read more... )

Hope you enjoyed watching UZ last night. I was seriously in awe of the house. Mike Pena, the architect, never fails to impress me. He does modern-tropical-green architecture really well. I was very conscious about saying "wow" too much, as I often do when I am really impressed by a home. Last week someone said I was "O.A." with my wows. And on the ( Read more... )

If you're an avid viewer of Urban Zone, you wouldn't want to miss tomorrow's episode. We are showing a house with impressive architecture. I don't want to give spoilers because I want you to a) watch the show so our ratings stay up and b) be surprised by what we reveal. That's tomorrow night after Sunday's Best on ABSCBN (we are the show before ( Read more... )