Megaworld integrating museums, artworks in township development

MANILA, Philippines — Megaworld Corp. is integrating museums and urban artworks in its various township developments across the country.

The company opened last week the P110-million Iloilo Museum of Contemporary Art (ILOMOCA) inside its 72-hectare Iloilo Business Park township in Mandurriao, Iloilo City.

ILOMOCA senior vice president Kevin Tan said the goal is to have similar projects in Megaworld’s other developments.

“ILOMOCA is a concrete manifestation of our goal to create urban townships that have their own charm and character. We want to curate our developments in such a way that they seamlessly blend with the local culture and promote tourism,” Tan said.

It is a 3,000-square meter museum, the first contemporary art museum in the whole of Visayas and Mindanao. It features three main galleries that showcase thee artworks of both national and local Ilonggo artists. The museum also has a theater room called The Box and a Museum Shop which sells merchandise customized with some works of renowned artists.

Aside from ILOMOCA, the company is putting up another museum in its 35.6-hectare township in San Fernando, Pampanga.

The ‘heritage’ museum at the Capital Town, meanwhile, would pay tribute to the historic Pampanga Sugar Development Co., where the township is located.

There will be also be significant artifacts of the old sugar central, which will be integrated within the proposed mall development that will also take some design inspirations from the sugar central.

Megaworld also plans to build another museum at the 30-hectare The Mactan Newtown in Cebu.

Tan said that in every township that they build, they would like to see arts, culture, history and heritage to be part of the development’s overall character.

“This way, we don’t only build communities. We build destinations that promote tourism,” Tan said.

The company sees tourism as one of the key drivers of its existing and even upcoming township developments.

“During the past years, we saw the influx of tourists in our townships, particularly in our lifestyle malls, because of what we offer beyond shopping and dining,” he said.

At Megaworld’s Venice Grand Canal in McKinley Hill, visitors from various parts of the country and the world have come to see the beautiful architecture, and they end up dining and shopping in the mall, Tan added.