No_9_September_1968 — Page 15

PHILIPPINES

HOTEL ENTERPRISES OF THE

PHILIPPINES INC.

owners

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN & ASSOCIATES

architects

PACIFIC HOUSE (ASIA) LTD.

interior design

DCCD ENGINEERING CORP.

engineers

D.M. CONSUNJI, INC.

construction managers

Another view of the lobby from mezzanine level with the main entrance in the background

Far East BUILDER, September 1968.

Detail of lobby

and lounge area

TH

'HE days when a comfortable bed and good food were all that was asked of a first-class hotel are long past. Today's hotels, offering enter- tainment, shopping and recreation, are self-contained resorts,

Now the new Sheraton-Philippines in Manila goes a stage further. It is both a resort and a cultural centre.

Original paintings, serigraphs and etchings by contemporary Philippine artists adorn every quarter of the hotel and are complemented by modern sculptures and carefully selected antiques.

Architect, Leandro V. Locsin, himself an authority on oriental ceramics, was given a special art fund by the hotel owners to acquire for the hotel locally excavated Chinese por- celain, Muslim brassware, woodcuts and artifacts, mostly of the Spanish. times. He was also given a free hand to commission originals from local artists.

To list all the works and their artists would read like a gallery catalogue, but notable among them are the 60 paintings of facades of Philippines churches, executed by Rody Ragodon. Distributed in the guest rooms, they show the baroque and European influence in Philippine church architecture of Spanish times.

Another eye-catching piece is the abstract mural-collage in acrylic by Arturo Luz for the wall which faces

THE SHERATON HOTEL

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