Federal Land NRE Global, Inc. (FNG) earned two honors at the 2026 PropertyGuru Philippines Property Awards: Best Sales Gallery Architectural Design for the Riverpark Gateway District Showroom and Best Sales Gallery Interior Design for The Observatory Sales Pavilion.
In this Q&A with PhilSTAR Property, Ar. Gilbert Berba, FNG’s Urban Planning and Design Group Head, discusses the thinking behind the award-winning spaces and how the company’s Filipino-Japanese partnership shapes its approach to design.
PSTAR: What role do sales galleries play in communicating the larger vision and identity of a development?
BERBA: Showrooms are often the first physical touchpoints that consumers—future homeowners, young professionals seeking their first space, families planning to build their roots—have with developments.
This role goes beyond presenting floor plans or specifications. It must give people the holistic experience, the sense of what it would be like to live, work, and spend time in that place.
The materials, scale, lighting, and even the way information is presented should all work together to communicate the character of the community. We treat showrooms not just as previews, but as ambassadors for our developments.
PSTAR: What design principles guided the Riverpark Gateway District Showroom?
BERBA: Like everything we do at FNG, we go back to our roots of being a Filipino and Japanese company.
The design brings together Japanese principles of intentionality, functionality, and a strong connection to the surrounding environment with Filipino ideas of warmth, openness, and hospitality.
You can see this in the clean architectural lines, warm natural materials, expansive glass-and-wood façades, the relationship between indoor and outdoor spaces, and the use of textures and landscaping to soften the built form.
PSTAR: How did you translate the character of The Observatory into its Sales Pavilion?
BERBA: The Observatory is located in a dynamic part of Metro Manila, so we wanted the sales pavilion to offer a sense of calm and respite from the energy of the city while keeping its charm.
We kept the palette light, using natural wood tones and incorporating greenery. Large windows allow the city to remain visible while the interior creates a quieter, more intimate environment.
One touch we are particularly proud of is the immersive AV room themed around Shibuya. It gives visitors a sense of the energy and character that inspired Sora, The Observatory’s first residential tower.
PSTAR: How does the partnership behind FNG influence your approach to design?
BERBA: The partnership between Federal Land and Nomura Real Estate gives us the opportunity to bring together two complementary perspectives.
Japanese practice brought a discipline around precision. Nothing gets added without purpose. Our Filipino instinct brought warmth and made us consider how people will gather in and move through a space.
In the spirit of kaizen, we don’t see any of this as finished. Every project teaches us learnings that we carry into the next one.
We found that the best moments in our work happen where those two cultures meet rather than compromise each other. Close collaboration between our partners and Filipino experts results in innovation.
For FNG, the wins affirm an approach that brings Filipino and Japanese perspectives together to create places designed around how people experience them.
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