English urban planner Sir Ebenezer Howard was concerned about the deteriorating conditions of the environment in large cities brought upon by the increasing population. He recognized the need to carefully plan housing, thus the birth of the great 20th century urban planning concept, the Garden City Movement.
Under the said movement, developments contain proportionate areas of residences, industry and agriculture. Howard's idea combined the town and country to provide people with an alternative to working on farms or in "crowded, unhealthy cities.” (Howard, E [1902], Garden Cities of To-morrow [2nd ed.], London: S. Sonnenschein & Co, pp. 2–7).
Such is the kind of life awaits future residents and guests of the 251-hectare Arden Botanical Estate, the Philippines’ first-ever botanical-themed township located at the boundary of Trece Martires City and the municipality of Tanza in Cavite.
A joint development by Megaworld, the country’s leading developer of integrated urban townships, and its subsidiary Global-Estate Resorts Inc. (GERI), Arden Botanical Estate is surrounded by natural rivers and organic gardens. It features wide, tree-lined roads and avenues, lotus ponds, as well as residential and leisure villages, commercial areas, sports and adventure parks, and a mixed-use district among others.
Within the township are two sprawling residential villages: the 18.1-hectare Arden Botanical Village and the 15.2-hectare Arden Westpark Village. GERI launched the three phases of its newest village, the 18.3-hectare The Lindgren, which offers 11 different Scandinavian-inspired house and lot design options.
Megaworld commissioned renowned Filipino landscape architect and environmental planner Paulo Alcazaren to put together the design behind Arden Botanical Village and the 8.3-hectare Arden Botanical Estate Town Center, a sprawling and vibrant hub that will have commercial and retail spaces, alfresco dining areas, landscaped gardens, parks, an events place, and children’s playground. It will also feature its own Lombard Walk, a Breathing Chapel, an amphitheater, flower garden, flower tunnel and more.
“As is the DNA of Megaworld in any case, the idea is to break out of the box and create a more humanly scale place that melds the architecture with the landscape,” Alcazen said.
Traversing the entire township from the entrance along Governor’s Drive in Tanza is a six-lane, tree-lined avenue that leads to the Welcome Pavilion and the Town Center. Both will be surrounded by arcaded and alfresco commercial areas.
The property will also have its flower farm, flower tunnel, The Little Botanist playground, and the first-of-its-kind Breathing Chapel, allowing residents and visitors to commune with nature and enjoy the bounty and beauty of Philippine flora.
Arden Botanical Estate will include other sustainability features such as the use of solar streetlights, electric shuttles for transport, stormwater recycling, permeable pavements for driveways and parking, and organic fertilizers and pesticides for gardens.
Arden Botanical Estate is just a little over an hour away from NAIA via CAVITEX, CBTEX (Silang Interchange) a convenient 45-minute drive, and CALAX (Governor's Drive Interchange) a mere 15 minutes away. The Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge is also just a quick 15-minute drive. It is also nearby the tourist destinations Nasugbu at just an hour and 32 minutes away, and Tagaytay which is just 53 minutes away.
