Service Provided: Resort master planning
Location: Panglao Island, Bohol
Client: Grand Benedicto
Design Period: 2011 - 2015
Collaborators: Nakpil Architecture
Area: 38,000 sqm (3.8 hec.)
The BE Grand Resort is a 3.8-hectare resort development consisting of a hotel block, villas, and various amenities. It is noteworthy because the villas were to be connected by a lagoon pool system that would allow guests to swim up to their units.
The site being mostly coral rock posed a challenge in the design as it was difficult and costly to excavate. Building the structures and amenity areas above grade was the solution to save on site preparation and construction. The villas were built on stilts on three different levels, and the pools were also built above grade. Native shrubs and trees found on site were conserved reused as part of the landscape.
Although the site lacked a beachfront, the consultants devised a solution by developing a new concept of the ‘infinity beach’. A 2,000 square meter beach was provided above the coral rock. The ‘sand’ found in the site was soft limestone material whose consistency was similar to beach sand. Near the water’s edge of the property were three coves in the coral rock. These were developed with amphitheater-like steps in two of the larger ones for ease of access. The third was designed as an anchor point for a floating pier, which would allow guests to get to bancas and shuttle boats about seventy meters off the property. These would also make for minimum disturbance of the foreshore.
