By Joy Angelica Subido

"A higher level of luxe.” This, says architect Dan Lichauco, will be the styling trend of the future. While a primary benefit of condominium living is proximity to the workplace, the usual payoff is smaller, albeit highly efficient living spaces. This is what drives condominium dwellers to be more selective about their purchases; to opt for a few excellent pieces in lieu of accumulating a hoard of generic clutter.

“There will be greater attention to detail,” continues Lichauco, managing partner of Archion Architects, who says that he adheres to the principle that “design is driven by who the buyer is and we match the look with the client’s personality.” He observes that even today, “Filipinos tend to take the expanded family factor” in furnishing a home. He notes that while foreigners usually have stronger ideas about what they want, “clients are more practical overall.”

For the Twin Oaks Place project of Greenfield Development Corporation, Lichauco designed interiors that maximize available space to achieve a spacious feel. He employs moveable elements to transform an area to suit the resident’s specific needs. In the standard or premium studio units with a floor area of 31 to 36 square meters, for example, a bed can easily fold into a wall should more space be required for entertaining guests. Likewise, there are attractively designed room dividers to separate sleeping and living areas. Depending on the unit owner’s particular preference, these could be moved to make the living quarter bigger than the sleeping area, or vice versa.

The surprise is that the customized look should not cost an arm and a leg. Lichauco says that astute shopping from the usual affordable furniture outlets, combined with intelligent planning, will allow a unit owner to create a distinctively designed home. One bit of advice from Lichauco, whose firm is known for achieving a “clean” and organized look: “Find a stabilizing factor; an element that can tie in the visual clutter.”

As an example, he mentions that a well-made bed becomes a stabilizing factor so that a room filled with a clutter of objects can actually look clean.

For the techno-savvy market however, luxe living at the Twin Oaks Place means living in a future-ready home. The development is a pioneer in the Philippines for the application of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) technology in a residential condominium building.  This means that instead of using copper wiring to transmit data, voice and video, Twin Oaks Place uses fiber optic cables to connect from utility and content providers such as Internet, cable TV and telephone. The main advantage of this technology is that each unit owner can subscribe for up to one gigabyte of bandwidth. The building is ready to handle future upgrades from providers of content and other electronic gadgets.

A visit to the Twin Oaks Place showroom allowed us to experience firsthand the applications of FTTH technology. Fiber optics not only allow for high-definition teleconferencing; it also enables residents to control the lights, curtains, air conditioning, and entertainment systems (both music and TV) in their respective units by remote control. This is done through an iPad (or an iPhone, iTouch or laptop.)

For Apple TV applications, residents can access movies via the Internet with just a click of their remote control; or use the AirPlay function, which allows them to transmit pictures from wherever they are to the television set. This is done via their iPhones.

Security in the building is enhanced with an IP phone that functions as a telephone and intercom. All Twin Oaks Place units come with an IP Phone that allows residents them to screen would-be visitors at the receptionist’s desk.  The units are also provided with a Home Gateway which is the residential unit’s connection to the Fiber Optic Network and Wi-Fi router. The state-of-the-art technology is backed by Cisco Systems.

“Our goal is to remake this part of the metropolis into the first smart and connected city in the country,” says Jeffrey Campos, Greenfield Development Corporation president and chairman of the board. “Built on twin foundations of technologically advanced infrastructure and environmentally-aware planning, we aim to provide cosmopolitan culture and the convenience of modern living.”

And undoubtedly, this development is technologically luxe.