Monday, August 06, 2007 The Heritage Man By Jenara Regis Newman
ARCHITECT Augusto “Toti” Villalon is a “cultural heritage planner.” It is therefore not surprising that in the Philippines, he is one architect who is most visibly concerned with heritage. He recently launched a book, Living Landscapes and Cultural Landmarks, featuring world heritage sites in the Philippines at the Unesco World Heritage Center in Paris.
The five heritage sites, Toti says, are the Tubbataha Reef, the Puerto Princesa Underground River, the historic city of Vigan, the Rice Terraces of the Philippines in the Cordilleras and baroque churches in the Philippines: the church of San Agustin in Paoay, Ilocos Norte; the Santa Maria de la Asuncion church in Ilocos Sur; the San Agustin Church in Intramuros; and the Santo Tomas de Villanueva church in Miagao, Iloilo.
Based in Manila, Villalon was the architect of choice when the Aboitizes restored Casa Gorordo to the museum that it is today. If he is seen often in Cebu lately, it is because he, in partnership with Landco Pacific Philippines, is developing his “heritage,” a vast tract of land in Guadalupe hills now being converted into Monterrazas de Cebu.
The development, coming from both Villalon and Landco, will tend to be different from the other subdivisions in the city.
For one, the architecture will be “modern Filipino with big windows to let the air in, higher ceilings, high roofs and wide overhangs to keep the rain and the sun out. Pinoy architecture is very, very good, but not many people do it.
The houses that come from my office are like that. Hopefully, Monterrazas will jumpstart that fashion for it is already beginning,” Villalon says.
For Monterrazas, he says, it is very important to have control over the kind of houses to be built there because, as it is, the developers have had to reconfigure the lots available to ensure that every lot will have a good view of the city. If one overbuilds, the view will be lost or the sun may be blocked. For Villalon, Monterrazas will “be high quality all the way. As much as possible, it will be movement friendly with lots of forested areas and big ponds to gather water to be reused for non-potable purposes. It will be a family oriented place and we’re working on small neighborhoods for family compounds that end in a cul-de-sac.”
Villalon, under Genvi Corporation managed by lawyer Dindo Perez, is developing another area, also in Guadalupe, for socialized housing. Still in the planning stage, he says it will “include a definite program for the people that will be relocated there. There will be a public school. It will be a neighborhood community with economic activity for the people there. The idea is to make everything sustainable, taking from the earth and giving back.”
For Villalon, a world class Cebuano whose influence has been felt elsewhere, this is his way of “giving back,” and Monterrazas de Cebu is his way of showcasing Filipino heritage and architecture in modern terms.
