FROM ZERO TO SKYLINE: SELF-MADE ARCHITECT OF TAIPANS GILBERT YU

In the world of Philippine architecture, where blueprints are often drawn from established traditions and privileged pedigrees, the story of Gilbert Yu reads like a thrilling, uncharted plot. It is a narrative not just of buildings that scrape the heavens, but of a man who built himself from the ground up, brick by visionary brick.

- will soon flourish WILSON LEE FLORES

The book on Gilbert Yu authored by The Philippine STAR business editor Iris Gonzales

The recent launch of his biography, The Life and Adventures of Architect Gilbert Yu, penned by The Philippine STAR's very own Business editor and Op-Ed columnist Iris Gonzales, was more than a literary event; it was a testament to a life of formidable grit and creativity. Fittingly, the celebration was held at the Manila Diamond Hotel, one of the many landmarks that bear his indelible signature.

Gilbert Yu's journey is the stuff of classic self-made lore. He began with what he candidly calls "zero" — zero knowledge, zero experience, zero resources. Yet, from that void of possibility, he conjured some of the nation's most notable residential projects, pioneering a revolutionary build-to-own model that reshaped the developer-architect dynamic.