The Oasis of Gateway

The Oasis of Gateway

by: Samantha Deoferio

The Oasis in Gateway Mall, Araneta Center, Cubao, Quezon City, is a 406 SQM courtyard in a shopping mall, designed by PDAA Partners Landscape Architects under the employment of Araneta Center Inc. It serves as a breathing space for shoppers who want to relax and unwind and is actually a high-end food court for some restaurants in the Gateway Bistro.

As soon as I stepped into the Oasis, it felt as if I was entering a paradise in the middle of the hustle bustle of the shopping mall. There were really high palm trees in the center of the courtyard which stretched up to the top floor. The reception desk was a fancy bar-like counter with a waiter behind it. From there, you could choose which restaurant’s menu you would take and order from, or in my case, I took the menu of all the restaurants.

The waiter then assisted me to my table in one of the podiums across the bridge. From there I could actually hear water fountains and the breeze sweeping across the trees. There were even koi ponds surrounding the garden. Yes, it was paradise.

Being constructed last 2004, the Oasis garden is deemed as a 21^st century garden primarily because of its fusion elements. The garden is actually a tropical landscape by its softscape, and Zen by its hardscape, primarily because of the koi ponds, waterscape, and the Chinese temple-like bridges and pathways connecting podiums of different elevations. The garden is also wrapped by curtain wall three storeys high on all sides and the sky as its ceiling. On the podiums, dining sets are assembled under a large picnic umbrella. The air inside the garden, unlike outside the mall, feels like a cool refreshing one, probably contributed by the high volume of plant life and dynamic waterscape. The reception desk as mentioned above is of modern architecture – glass and steel – another element that makes Oasis garden in-line with modern, 21^st century gardens.