Confluence of art and tourism
‘Tis the season for overseas Filipinos to come home and spend the Yuletide holidays with their families and friends. Tourist arrivals in the Philippines are projected to reach an all-time high of seven million this year, including “balkbayan” visitors or Filipinos who have become citizens of other countries.
State-run agency Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) is inviting former Filipinos and foreign nationals aged 35 and above to apply for the special resident retiree’s visa (SRRV). This nonimmigrant visa provides its holders with multiple-entry and indefinite stay status in the country. The PRA has simplified the application process for the SRRV, which is deemed more flexible than comparable visas issued by other Asian countries.
Century Properties Group (CPG), a Philippine Stock Exchange-listed real estate developer, offered to assist balikbayans and expats seeking to gain permanent residence through the SRRV together with their spouses and dependents. Recently, CPG launched its 142-hectare leisure and tourism estate in the Calabarzon Region near the scenic foothills of Mount Batulao.
More than a third of this mixed-used development is devoted to Batulao Artscapes, a 54-hectare property dubbed as “the World’s First Livable Art Park and Art Venture Community.” Nestled between the beaches of Nasugbu and the mountain ridge city of Tagaytay, it covers the first phase of CPG’s horizontal project in Batangas province.
Batulao Artscapes primarily caters to active retirees, weekend adventure seekers, design enthusiasts, and families who want to own dream rest houses for life. It will have a retirement village component featuring world-class exclusive vacation amenities, a lake with a wedding chapel, a man-made beach with a clubhouse, and art-cum-adventure or “artventure” facilities such as sports park, flavor park, and art park with museums designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects.
Three Filipino architectural firms are being tapped to design Batulao Artscapes’ first three villages, namely: Budji Layug and Royal Pineda’s Budji+Royal Architecture+Design for the Collection Village; Kenneth Cobonpue’s Hedera Homes for the Commune Village; and Ed Calma’s Polygonal Successions for the Cluster Village.
A fourth section called the Curated Village will contain a dozen one-of-a-kind homes by international architects and designers, including Philip Johnson Alan Ritchie Architects, Studio Libeskind Design, Marmol Radziner & Kravitz Design, David Salle & AA Studio, AFGH for Wallpaper, Marcel Wanders, Daphne Guinness, and Elizabeth de Portzamparc.
In terms of accessibility, the art park with a cool climate is just a two-hour drive from Metro Manila’s central business districts via four access points: the South Luzon Expressway; the STAR Tollway to Tanauan exit; the Cavite Expressway, and the Daang Hari road toward the Nasugbu-Kaybiang Tunnel. This will be reduced to less than an hour once the Cavite-Tagaytay-Batangas Expressway is completed.
Designer homes created by globally revered names in architecture and design will be showcased as livable art in Batulao Artscapes. These homes shall be constructed using a combination of conventional methods and prefabrication by Revolution Precrafted – the world’s only multi-branded housing company with a collection of limited-edition properties consisting of stunning homes, designer museums, unique pop-up concerts, and cutting-edge hotels.
Revolution Precrafted has forged partnerships with preeminent artists like Zaha Hadid, Richard Dupont, Jean Nouvel, Sou Fujimoto, Paulo Mendes da Rocha, and Ronald Ventura. It employs the prefab concept to simplify the process and address “pain points” in traditional property development by drastically reducing production time. This results from a combination of celebrity design philosophies, state-of-the-art technology, and the highest quality controls at competitive prices.
CPG head of investor relations Kristina Garcia said: “Art is the driving force behind the entire development of Batulao Artscapes, and not just an afterthought. Our vision is to create a design-driven community that celebrates art and adventure in an expansive natural landscape. It’s where you can elevate your daily living to a fine art.”
She disclosed that the tourism venture forms part of the Century 2020 strategic business plan of expansion into allied real estate segments, including the trailblazing Century City township in Makati City; Acqua Private Residences & Novotel Suites Manila in Mandaluyong City; and Azure Urban Resort Residences in Parañaque City.
With the exponential growth of domestic tourism in the Philippines reaching more than 45 million passengers per year, the development of leisure-oriented zones will be boosted further by the influx of foreign tourists and retirees in the years ahead.
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