February_1966 — Page 51

Column-free interior in new

in new 12-storey

Quezon City, Philippines

12-storey office block at

SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM

BUILDING

JUAN F. NAKPIL & SONS

architects and engineers

WILLIAM GOLANCO & CO.

general contractors

WHAT

WHAT is believed to be the largest office building in the Philippines has been completed on a two hectare site at East Avenue, Quezon City.

This is the Social Security System Building, a composite design of a two storey block with a dominating 12- storey office tower. It was planned by Juan F. Napkil and Sons.

With a height of approximately 200 ft.. excluding the elevator tower, the reinforced concrete rigid frame struc- ture is fully air-conditioned and has a total floor area of approximately 430,000 sq. ft. Planned to serve both the immediate and future needs of the system and its members, the building will accommodate a staff of 1,500 which will occupy the first eight floors, with the remaining four floors for lease to private companies.

A feature of the building is the elimination of interior columns in the office tower allowing a flexible layout for the partitioning. Providing a 60 ft. span, the supports are made of composite concrete and structural steel columns.

Curtain walls are of glass, steel frame, precast concrete panels, porce- lain enamel spandrels with concrete mullions and aluminum sun shades to reduce glare and heat. Precast con- crete diffusers on the east and west side were designed to give a strong light and shadow pattern to the struc-

ture.

Folded Plate Roof

Reached from the street level by an open ramp and protected by a folded plate canopy, the main en- trance leads into a spacious lobby and

Far East Architect & Builder February, 1966

Front elevation looking south south-east. In the foreground is the two-storey administrative wing which features precast reinforced concrete panels with gratita washout finish around windows on both sides. At the front end of this wing, the lower portion is treated with an adobe random ashlar finish, while the upper portion is plain gray marble washout with stone-cut scoring to produce the effect of giant panels of marble slab.

The central portion of the building is occupied by the lobby display and main entrance cапору. Lobby and canopy are roofed with a series of folded plates comprising reinforced concrete slabs.

The 12-storey tower is T-shaped on plan. The stem of the T houses four elevators, public toilets, main stairway, airconditioning machine rooms and elevator lobby. The cross of the T is the space alloted to the general offices and the two fire escape stairs on each end.

louvre window awnings

In elevation the tower displays continuous aluminum supported on vertical aluminum rectangular stanchions from the third floor up to the parapet of the deck roof. On the extremities of the T-plan are skewed walls with a network of precast reinforced concrete sun baffles at the elevator lobby and fire escape windows.

The deck roof is the 13th floor and is finished with red ceramic clay tiles laid on top of a five-ply membrane waterproofing. The deck affords a spacious recreation

area.

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