A Garden in the Sky

SM Sky Garden
SM Sky Garden

A garden in the sky flies high north of Metro Manila. SM City North Edsa‘s much anticipated newest outdoor attraction on the second floor called the Sky Garden will formally launch on Friday, May 29.

Built at the heart of Quezon City north, the long awaited opening of the elevated park is finally coming to completion. It was the former parking lot in front of the main mall.

Sky Garden
Sky Garden

It’s now getting the finishing touches of the facades since it started construction about mid of last year. The sudden change actually came as a surprise to many mall shoppers as Shoe Mart (SM) had just built an adjacent building – The Block, a few years ago.

Reminiscing & Looking Back

I still remember back in the 80’s, more specifically in 1985, when the first supermall in the Philippines was built – the SM City North Edsa.  One of my uncles brought me to this newly opened mall as we just live a few kilometers away at Balintawak, north of Quezon City.  It was really an awesome experience since the place was so big. My cousines even call it ‘the Mansion.’ Our weekly grocery habits then transferred from the old “Glo-ri Supermart”  located along Del Monte Avenue, to that of SM City’s Supermarket.

Just like most Chinese family in the Philippines, we have a big clan with 4 uncles, two aunties, and the eldest – my dad. Add to that their children – my cousins and we are like one barangay in two cars in convoy going to ‘SM City.’ And of course,  ‘Angkong‘ (grandfather) and ‘Ama‘ (grandmother), would not allow us to leave them at home. Especially that they are the ones who are ‘taya‘ (in charge of paying our shopping bills).

SM City North Edsa Sky Garden
SM City North Edsa Sky Garden

The Old Has Passed, The New Has Come

Twenty-Four years after, much have changed now. My uncles and aunties all have their own families and they live in different households. ‘Ama‘ has passed away and ‘Angkong‘ is now wheelchair-bound. The same with SM City North, much have changed. From the single main building, they expanded to having the annex and the carpark through the years.

A major addition to the cluster of buildings was ‘The Block‘ which was followed by the reconstruction of an even bigger annex building and the latest – the truly awesome Sky Garden.

Sky Gardens Green Carpets
Sky Garden's Green Carpets

Details

The biggest mall in the Philippines now brings the concept of ‘green’ to another level by coming up with a family-friendly park right beside the mall.

Sky Gardens Roof Garden
Sky Garden's Roof Garden

Filled with different trees, plant variants and green carpet grass, a family can enjoy the whole 15,500 square meters of open-air outdoor park.

It’s For Everyone

It has dining establishments for the hungry dad, retails shops for the shopaholic mom and entertainment centers for the kids.

The open-air park was also made pet-friendly for the animal-loving patrons.

SM also made sure that the Sky Garden considered PWD (persons with disability) customers.

Interestingly, the management  limited the commercial establishments to occupy only about 15% of the total floor area, or 2,000 square meters of the Sky Garden to maintain its unique space dynamics and a cozy atmosphere for the people.

Roof Garden
Roof Garden

Food, Food, Food!

Dining spots are predominantly grills and cafes that suit the open-air outdoor set-up. These include Padi’s Point, Ineng’s BBQ, Pixie’s Sinugba, La Mesa Grill, Marina, and Gerry’s Grill. The coffee shops will never be complete without Coffeeworks, Coffee Experience, and Starbucks which is situated as a floating coffee shop amidst a small pond. Other establishments include Cello’s Donuts, Freshbar by Big Chill and Kitchen of Cakes & Coffee, among others.

The long curvilinear Sky Garden also serves as a shaded common access point for the whole mall as it links the main mall building, the Block, the new Annex building and the car park.

The Sky DOme

The Sky Garden‘s most prominent attraction would be the Sky Dome. It is a huge half sphere protruding structure on the west side of the park highly visible along Edsa and nearby places.

Sky Dome
Sky Dome

The Sky Dome is an amphitheater that can house an audience of about 1,200. It is suitable for concerts, conferences, and exhibitions; the latest of which are the concerts of international singing child wonder Charice Pempengco and American Idol star David Cook.

The Sky Dome
The Sky Dome

Other attractions include the Roof Garden and Water Features including a floating restaurant that will house a world-famous coffee shop and a man-made water-fall.

Water Features: A Man-Made Waterfalls
Water Features: A Man-Made Waterfalls

I’m just glad that SM City North Edsa continues to improve this mall which stood witness to the growth of our extended families through the years, or rather, decades. It was the mall where we spent our weekends to bond and share our cheers as a family. Until today, though distant apart since some of our relatives now live in different parts of Metro Manila and as far as Makati, we still have our annual reunions in the restaurants here.

SM City North Edsas Sky Garden from afar
SM City North Edsa's Sky Garden from afar

It has, and it continues to be the vessel which binds our family together – that is SM City North Edsa to my family, then and now.

More SM City North Edsa Sky Garden Pictures including the Press Walk last Monday: Enjoy your photo tour. 🙂

SM City North Edsas Sky Garden
SM City North Edsa's Sky Garden
SM City North Edsas Sky Garden
SM City North Edsa's Sky Garden
Sky Garden Press Launch
Sky Garden Press Launch with Mr. Hans Sy
Sky Garden Press Launch
Hosts Mark Nelson et. al, with the Laptop Winner
Sky Garden Location Standee
Sky Garden Location Standee
One of Sky Garden Sculptures
One of Sky Garden Sculptures
Sky Garden Sculptures
Sky Garden Sculptures
Sky Garden Sculptures
Sky Garden Sculptures
Sky Garden Sculptures
Sky Garden Sculptures
Sky Garden Sculptures
Sky Garden Sculptures
A wide shot of the Sky Garden
A wide shot of the Sky Garden beneath the really blue sky
Another Angle of the 1,200-seater Sky Dome
Another Angle of the 1,200-seater Sky Dome
Tiled Walkway along the Sky Garden
Tiled Walkway along the Sky Garden

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2480/3569476538_6baf3ef222.jpg

Waterfalls in the Middle of the City!
Waterfalls in the Middle of the City!
Sky Gardens Shaded Walkways leading to the Mount
Sky Garden's Shaded Walkways leading to the Mount
Refreshing Sounds of Fountain Water
Refreshing Sounds of Fountain Water
A Bonsai Garden along the Pond
A Bonsai Garden along the Pond
Padis Point - One of the many dining spots @ Sky Garden
Padi's Point - One of the many dining spots @ Sky Garden
Marina Restaurant has a fantastic spot just right above the Waterfalls!
Marina Restaurant has a fantastic spot just right above the Waterfalls!
More angles and walkways
More angles and walkways
Shaded Walkway to the Mount
Shaded Walkway to the Mount
A Pink Bonsai Plant on the Pond Water Feature @ Sky Garden
A Pink Bonsai Plant on the Pond Water Feature @ Sky Garden

This is the end of your amazing SM City North Edsa Sky Garden Photo Tour. 🙂 And let me end this article with a 5-minute video of some of SM’s top executives giving a brief history of SM City North Edsa:

26 thoughts on “A Garden in the Sky

  1. Nice! I’ve been waiting for this part of SMNE to open. I’m a The Block-er, pero I’m getting bored there na. I’m sure my kids will love the open spaces at the Sky Garden for running and playing.
    Great photos, sago! I’m going to Trinoma parking soon to get a photo like your last one. 😀

  2. @Zorlone, Reel – thanks for visiting! 🙂

    @imom- haha! yeah but official opening is May 29. Coz now, some sculptures are not yet finished and only a few shops have opened.

  3. Thanks for sharing this….heard also that there will be an IMAX in SM North….It is being constructed now. They said announcement is already posted in the area where it will be in the main building.

    Carpark plaza has also closed. Wonder what they will be putting up there…another surprise?

    But this garden is really cool!

  4. I like SM’s concept of the Sky Garden. Unique. Relaxing ambiance because of the landscape that incorporated water as one of its key elements. To think you’re on top of a busy intersection!

    Very informative post! 😛

  5. waw, great pics!

    i love the sky garden. when i’m there i feel like in some island because of the color scheme they used – blue and green.

    imax in sm north? waw! sana nga hehehe

  6. Very informative post complete with photos to show us the colorful Sky Garden in the daytime.

    I hope you don’t mind if I post a link of this entry to my blog entry too about Sky Garden…

  7. Beware of Padis point Bar .they will add extra items to your bill , which is what hapened to me and my friend they tried to add two extra food orders and 10 extra beers which was almost 1000 peso extra ..it took over 1 hour to finally get it corrected and they admitted a mistake was made ..so beware ..keep track of the food and drinks that you order

  8. wow, really nice pics and very informative post!!! gee, i enjoyed the tour, thanks. i look forward to visiting the place sooner..

  9. I just wantto inquire if the are available commercial places in the Sky Garden where we could rent. I am from SK International Beauty Centre, our business is wellness and beauty services and with the Sky garden ambiance i believe it would be nice for us to be able to rent a place there so conducive for the beauty and relaxation of the client.

    Hope you could provide us information on this

  10. I hope someday I could visit it someday…..With someone with me of course. I would like to visit Sm Mall + the bakery & most of ALL the garden their talking about. We saw it on TFC & I hope someday when the right time comes I could be there & check-out the place ourselves right? Sounds cool to me yet its seems relaxing just to hang-out over ther…..Hehehe…..Anyway Im ALL ready for some R& R myself….How funny ha?????? Yap I know…I hope someday will see it………That’s ALL.

  11. Gosh..I can’t wait to get back there & just my available time to just unwind from ALL the stress we have in our everyday LIFE…. Yikes….Good luck….for us.(:

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