SM MALL OF ASIA

Construction

The mall is the centerpiece project of SM Prime at the SM Central Business Park, where five one-story buildings serve as the company's corporate offices (the sixth building being occupied by TeleTech Holdings, Inc. as their flagship site in the country). Construction began in mid-2002 right after the completion of a contemporary medical school, dining strip and residential complex at Macapagal Boulevard, adjacent to the SM Central Business Park.

The SM Mall of Asia’s design team includes Arquitectonica, design Architect; Robert Carag Ong and Associates, architect of record; GHT Services, project manager, and Hilmarc Construction (for the South Parking Building, Main Mall, and Entertainment Mall) and Monolith Construction Development Corp. (for the North Parking Building), general contractors.

The mall would have opened before Christmas Day of 2005 but had been delayed due to hitches in the delivery of construction materials. Frequent rains in the last quarter of 2005 also delayed the turnover of mall space to tenants. SM Prime decided to move the opening date to March 3, 2006.

On February 27, 2006, local newspaper Manila Standard Today, reported that a team of Pasay City engineers found huge cracks underneath the structure, which was causing the structure to vibrate.[10] When questioned about the inspection, the Pasay City Engineering Department denied making any statement regarding defects in the Mall of Asia. Engineer Edwin Javaluyas, Pasay City engineering officer, in his letter to SM Prime Holdings Inc., said he never stated that the city hall’s engineering department inspected the Mall of Asia on February 23, 2006.[11]

SM Prime however decided to move the opening to May 21 of that year. Jeffrey Lim, corporate information officer of SM Prime Holdings, emphasized that a rescheduling of the mall’s opening was made to give the company an opportunity to allow more tenants to open shops and denied that the change was due to structural defects.[12]

On May 20, 2006, the mall was officially inaugurated by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo with a special screening of Everest in the San Miguel Coca-Cola IMAX Theater. The movie was shown three days after tri-athlete Leo Oracion reached the treacherous mountain’s summit.

The Mall of Asia was constructed within the reclamation area. It is built on 19.5 hectares of reclaimed land and has a gross floor area of 390,193 square meters. The mall is located at the southmost tip of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue. A roundabout was constructed in the front of the mall with a huge bronze globe similar to that of the Universal Studios Theme Parks and the Unisphere in Flushing Meadows Park in New York City. On November 18, 2009, the globe was turned into an LED Globe also known as GlobAmaze. The first and only full global video display in Asia with its high resolution and full display graphics made possible by the LED’s 26,300 pieces of point lights. This cutting edge LED technology is among other things, weather-proof, has superior brightness, and a long lifetime.[2]

Its the largest mall in the Philippines.

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BARCELA, KRISTINE JANE B.