AECOM wins design competition for new Senate building

After three months from the call for expressions of interest to join the Global Conceptual Design Competition for the new home of the Philippine Senate or Bagong Senado in February, AECOM rises above the 40 firms that expressed interest. Earlier today, the five shortlisted firms—Leeser Architecture, AIDEA, AECOM, Henning Larsen, and Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects—presented their design at the current Senate building in Pasay. AECOM’s design was declared winner later.

The Senate Committee on Accounts, with the Bases and Conversion Development Authority (BCDA), judged all five firms were by using a comprehensive scoring system with these three components: the Technical Score comprising 40% of the overall score; the People’s Choice at 5%; and the Executive Ranking at 55%. With this said, AECOM beats the other designs with a mere 0.36-point difference from the second choice.

“We like to extend our warmest congratulations to AECOM. There is no doubt that your conceptual design for the Senate’s permanent home best represents the honor, dignity, and legacy of this independent institution,” Sen. Panfilo Lacson, Chairman of the Committee on Accounts, in a press release confirming AECOM’s win.

Here’s a recap of AECOM’s winning design:

AECOM will now have the opportunity to undertake the Detailed Architectural Design of the Project upon successful selection of the Design and Build Contractor by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for the development of the new Senate building.

The call for expressions of interest started in 14 February to 16 March 2018, with no designs involved yet, and received a total of 40 firms expressing intent. Sixteen of the interested firms are local, while 24 are foreign. Among the 40 firms, only five are shortlisted and briefed in 4 April. The designs of the shortlisted firms were then released in 22 May.

Construction of the new Senate building is expected to happen from January 2019 to December 2020.