breathing SPACE

From contemplative homes to playful urbanscapes, Brooklyn-based architect AYA MACEDA draws upon the concept of "maaliwalas," making spaces that breathe. The ebullient cofounder of ALAO walks us through a heartfelt body of work: joyful, worldly, and distinctly Filipino.

- SANDRA TAN

Picture your earliest memories. Can you recall the first house you lived in? The floor where you took your first steps?

Aya Maceda speaks in vivid detail of her family home in Quezon City: a collaborative effort by her mother, Teresita Gimenez-Maceda, and architect Jesus Gueco. “The whole house just breathed,” she says. “I remember the sense of exhale as you entered, being cocooned in this warm, bright space.”

Shaded under a large old talisay tree, its robust adobe-clad entrance offered a welcome arrival. A broad timber door opened into a thoughtfully planned inner sanctum, with narra and kamagong hardwood floors and walls. Places to gather and connect segued naturally into spots for quiet solitude. Bedrooms were positioned around a light-filled, double-height courtyard, inundated with greenery.

The house brimmed with Filipino art, objects Teresita collected in her travels, as an author and professor of Philippine Studies and Literature. Nicknamed Mapayapa, this peaceful environment instilled an early appreciation for space in young Aya, sparking a lifelong fascination for Indigenous heritage, design and creative expression. After 43 years in the Gimenez-Maceda family and with her mother’s passing, the house was recently sold. But the lessons learned within its walls remain alive in every project.

“Thinking of the values I seek to apply in my work, there is a direct line to my childhood home. I often find myself returning to it,” says Aya. “Our perimeter garden was full of orchids and ferns. My dad Vic had a habit of talking to plants… now I find my-self doing that, too.” Fond memories of home served as a comforting anchor, as Aya’s physical base moved with her globetrotting architectural career.