The Century Properties Group (CPG) recently held #RoadTripToBatulao to celebrate the local food, arts and music attractions of this 142-hectare property in Nasugbu, Batangas.
The event is CPG’s follow up to a bike trail event held last summer which highlighted the project’s active components, including a 7-kilometer bike trail that drew more than 200 bike enthusiasts. This time, CPG gave visitors a preview of Batulao Artscapes’ creative components as the world’s first “livable art park”, and community.
Launching a revolution
At the center of the festivities was Revolution Precrafted, a Manila-based start-up that has so far pre-sold pre-sold 477 vacation homes worth P2.94 billion within the first 36 hectares of the development.
Launched late last year, Batulao Artscapes offers approximately 2,000 homes within the first 36 hectares of the 142-hectare development.
The development has attracted local homebuyers who are seeking for a weekend retreat, as well as active retirees who are looking for secondary homes surrounded by nature and a cooler climate, according to Tim Hallett, president of Century Properties Leisure and Hospitality Inc.
“This community is the first of its kind in the market. We are excited to bring something that combines art, nature, and adventure into this property,” said Hallet.
Completing the livable art park concept are vacation amenities. The Active component includes bike and jogging trails, a man-made beach, a sports park, and wellness hotel.
Construction of the first phase of the project has begun with the first batch of homes targeted for completion in early 2019.
CPG is also incorporating lifestyle investment properties into the Batulao project by means of a 500-room art-inspired condominium inside the 2.5-hectare Art Park, as well as 30 resort villas. The condominium will feature the designs of select artists in the building’s façade and exterior walls.
Blazing a trail in construction
Revolution Precrafted is looking to blaze a trail in the emerging sector of property technology, or proptech, by supplying limited-edition, luxury prefabricated homes—composed of modular parts that can be snapped together on-site like Lego bricks—to a global market primed for new modular dwelling options.
“We want to be the Ikea of homes,” said Jose Roberto Antonio, the founder and chief executive of Revolution Precrafted. “We want to be able to create homes that can be built in 60 to 90 days, as opposed to two years.”
Revolution Precrafted’s expansion initiative comes at a time when residential property prices are surging across Asia’s major economies, and prefabricated homes are increasingly viewed by many experts as cheaper and faster-to-build alternatives to traditional housing units.
Such modular buildings have already become commonplace in larger markets, such as mainland China and the United States.
But while there are many companies around the world that specialise in modular homes, Antonio claimed that Revolution Precrafted was the first one to focus on luxury prefabricated homes.
The firm sells directly to property developers that establish the sites for prefabricated homes. Its first 100 units are being installed in Batulao Artscapes, a project under the Antonio family-owned CPG.
Heavyweight line up
Three Filipino names lead the roster for Batulao Artscapes’ first three villages: Architect Ed Calma’s Polygonal Successions will make up the Cluster Village. Designer Kenneth Cobonpue’s Hedera Homes will be the main feature of the Commune Village. Budji+Royal Architecture+Design of Budji Layug and Royal Pineda will fill the Collection Village with their Tranche and Facet Homes.
The fourth section, called the Curated Village 1, will feature twelve one-of-a-kind homes by international architects and designers, including David Salle + AA Studio for the “Billboard Home”, Marcel Wanders for “Eden”, Marmol Radziner & Kravitz Design for the “Instrumental Home”, Philip Johnson Alan Ritchie Architects for the “Modular Glass House”, Elizabeth de Portzamparc for the “Butterfly Home”, AFGH for Wallpaper for the “We Home”, Studio Libeskind Design for “Adaptation II”, and Daphne Guinness for the “Daphne Skin Home."
Home prices range from Php4 million for a 56-square-meter unit at the Cluster Village to the larger homes at the Curated Village, which start at Php 17.4 million and come with their own private pool and guest home.