Parqal Mall makes it to 2024 World’s Most Beautiful Emporiums list
Filipinos have a deep-seated love affair with malls, in fact, the Philippines boasts the largest shopping center in Asia. This passion was recently recognized globally when a newly opened mall in Parañaque City was named one of The World's Most Beautiful Emporiums for 2024 by the Prix Versailles architectural competition.
Prix Versailles annually recognizes achievements in architectural design, with categories such as airports, campuses, passenger stations, sports, museums, emporiums, hotels, and restaurants.
Parqal Mall, located in Aseana City of Parañaque, is one of the seven buildings that made it to the list.
Parqal is a five-hectare development stretching from Diokno Avenue to Macapagal Boulevard that opened to the public in September 2023. It is also owned by D.M. Wenceslao and Associates, Inc., a property developer in the Philippines.
On its official website, Parqal is a wordplay between “park” and “kalye,” which means street, describing the place as a “convenience of urban living” meeting the charm of well-designed public spaces.
“Far from dressing itself up in the usual environmental finery, Parqal imposes its inclinations by encouraging people to move about walking, cycling, or taking public transport within a complicated architectural setting, making use of both Filipino tradition and Chinese and Spanish influences,” Prix Versailles wrote in a statement.
Other buildings included in the list are the Dior boutique in Geneva, Switzerland; SKP shopping mall in Chengdu, China; Nouvelles Galeries in Annecy, France; Sabyasachi boutique in Mumbai, India; Bookshops in the Colosseum in Rome, Italy; and the Boucheron Ginza store in Tokyo, Japan.
Last year, Prix Versailles recognized Clark International Airport in Pampanga as one of the 24 World’s Most Beautiful Airports.