Credit: Tom Epperson

There are complexities with having a vertical resort. You have to encourage people to move up through the multiple levels
– Samantha Drummond, founder, Habitus Design Group

The final phase of Solaire Resort North, a five-star integrated resort in Quezon City, Philippines, is now complete.

This is the second Solaire-branded property in the Philippines, which is owned and operated by Bloombery Resorts. Bloombery is a company owned by Filipino billionare Enrique K Razon Jr, who is the chair and CEO of port operator International Container Terminal Services.

The 38-floor US$1 billion (€867 million, £751 million) resort has 530 guestrooms, 14 dining venues, a multi-modal event space, as well as a health club and spa.

Parts of the 1.5-hectare skyscraper resort opened in May last year but the vertical resort has only recently launched in its completed form.

The luxury lifestyle destination’s architecture is by Aedas, while the interiors are by Samantha Drummond, founder of Habitus Design Group.

Drummond’s brief, when her business was appointed in 2018, was to create a destination that would set a benchmark for the region, elevate the local economy and reenergise local and international tourism in the area.

The interiors concept was designed to provide an urban tropical oasis in direct contrast to the crowded urban experience of modern Manila.

The botanical theme is found in more than 12,000 drawings and motifs around the resort, in addition to real plants and those referenced in sculpture, chandeliers and commissioned artworks.

Drummond told Spa Business, "The design vision was to create a sophisticated sense of place where international and local palettes were harmonised and innovation and artistry brought together. There is quite simply no other hospitality destination of the same scale in the region that has received the same attention to detail as Solaire North."

Within the resort’s 30m-high atrium, the branches of a sculpture called Mangrove by glass artist Nikolas Weinstein weave through the space. Described by Solaire as the largest glass sculpture in the world, it’s a statement piece that conducts natural light differently throughout the day, providing guests with an immersive kalaidoscopic experience from every angle.

It measures 28.1 metres in length, is 53.4 metres wide and 26.7 metres wide.

Mangrove took four years to create, including six months of installation, and required cross-collaboration between Weinstein, Drummond and the manufacturing teams, including design engineers Arup. Arup was enlisted to ensure the integrity of the structure in the case of seismic conditions, because the Philippines are located within the earthquake prone ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’.

Drummond said: “There are complexities with having a vertical resort. You have to encourage people to move up through the multiple levels. I thought that by having a transparent glass sculpture that captures the daylight from the skylight above and embellishing it with theatrical lighting so that it would take on a different character at night, guests’ curiosity would be sparked and they would want to explore the higher floors. And then there is the ‘wow’ factor. Mangrove is spectacular, timeless and quite simply unforgettable.”

The Wellness Spa

The property’s spa measures 1,370sq m, in addition to a 380sq m infinity pool that overlooks hanging gardens that run down the spine of the tower.

It has seven treatment rooms, one of which is a double.

The facility, which is open between 12 noon and 2am, is located on the seventh floor of the building. The reception is watched over by bululs, traditional carved ancestral figures that locals used to place in their fields to guard their rice crops.

The treatments focus on Filipino holistic therapies, including Hilot therapeutic massage – designed to restore balance and harmony to the body, mind and spirit.

The spa’s facial skincare partner is Algotherm.

There is also a salon offering hair care, manicures, pedicures, make up application and waxing services.