Living in harmony at Rhapsody Residences

MANILA, Philippines - Expectant mom Criscel June Añana listens to the angelic music of the Libera, an English boys’ choir, from her mobile phone to relax inside her condo unit at Rhapsody Residences, a resort-themed residential community of DMCI Homes in Sucat, Muntinlupa City. And as the soothing sound rests her body and mind, the unborn child in her can also relax. The harmony between music and mom and between mom and baby parallels the beautiful bond that Rhapsody Residences fosters with its dwellers.

Añana, who is eight months pregnant with her first baby, says, “I like all the amenities here.” The 27-year-old owns a two-bedroom unit at Carillon, one of the nine residential buildings in Rhapsody Residences along the East Service Road. “When our relatives visit, they enjoy the swimming pools a lot.

The swimming pools, together with the gardens, cabanas and open lounges around it, not only establish Rhapsody Residences as a resort community in the city. Both outdoor and indoor amenities fulfill the harmony that DMCI Homes promotes between homeowners and its self-contained community. Rhapsody Residences is in tune with modern urbanites’ need to have a quiet place to relax or have an active lifestyle.

Says Añana, “After I give birth, I will swim, work out and jog to lose weight.”

She also likes the entertainment room in the Rhapsody Residences’ clubhouse where she and her husband hosted the birthday party of her grandmother and a family reunion at the venue last October. They had videoke fun and potluck party from afternoon to evening.

 â€œThe audio-visual room is very spacious; we all enjoyed it,” says Añana, adding that around 20 people fitted inside the AVR.

Like the outdoor amenities, the Neo-Asian buildings and home units are designed to make living in Rhapsody Residences in harmony with nature and dwellers. The eight five-storey and one 10-storey buildings named after musical instruments are laid out in a 3.8-hectare land like an orchestra for efficient use of space. Each building has a garden atrium in the ground floors and single loaded corridors in the upper floors that allow plenty of fresh air and natural light to come in.

 â€œWhen you go out of the unit, the breeze is good especially in the veranda area,” she says. All buildings have basement parking, elevators, roof deck laundry cage, 24/7 roving security guards, fire alarm and fire hose cabinets, automatic fire sprinkler and fire suppression systems, fire exits, CCTV cameras, and backup power generator. Space-efficient and stylish units are fully functional with living and dining areas, two bedrooms, kitchen, toilet, balcony, electric and water meters. DMCI Homes, the country’s premier medium-rise condo developer, put high quality craftsmanship into each unit and backs this up with a 2-year warranty.

 â€œWe looked for condo units at Bonifacio Global City but they were small. I can’t live in a home with limited space. Then we learned DMCI Homes has bigger condo units so that’s where we made rounds,” says Añana recalling how they found Rhapsody Residences last year.

Rhapsody Residences  is near the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) Sucat interchange and Sucat Road, near shopping malls, hospitals, schools, business districts and the airport. The couple, who previously rented an apartment in BGC to be near the call centers where they work, considered the location when they looked for a new home.

 â€œWe learned to love the place because traveling to the office is still convenient with the SLEX here. Commuting to Makati, where I work, is also easy,” says Añana. “On weekends, we go out to SM City BF Parañaque, Market! Market! or SM Aura.”

Five more buildings finished in 10 months

After completing the first building in Rhapsody Residences, named Carillon, in December 2012, DMCI Homes finished one building every two months thereafter. The Cello was completed in February, the Clarinet in April, the Harmonica in June, the Lyre in August and Mandolin in October. The three remaining buildings are scheduled for completion in 2015. The Marimba is expected to be finished in January, the Viola in May and the Maraca in June. The Viola is the only 10-storey building in Rhapsody Residences. To date, five floors of the building are already built.

DMCI Homes attributed the on-time completion of the buildings to proper work sequencing that adheres to construction schedule and to the help of Design and Engineering Department, Quality Management Department, suppliers and subcontractors. Around 1,000 workers and subcontractors worked in a single shift to complete the five Rhapsody buildings in 10 months, according to Engr. Rannie Calimbas, DMCI Homes Assistant Vice President for Construction. The workers came from other DMCI Homes projects and each of them was assigned to jobs according to their trades and skills.

 â€œAll buildings at Rhapsody were completed on time and have undergone a comprehensive testing and commissioning witnessed by our Quality Management Department,” says Engineer. Rannie Calimbas “This assures unit owners and the Property Management Office (PMO) of compliance of the buildings with the specifications and relevant codes.”

The completed buildings also satisfy DMCI Homes’ quality standards. This means the best materials from trusted suppliers were used and the units were thoroughly inspected from design and construction to turnover. Individual units also were field-tested for actual use before delivery and checked on how they behaved in building-wide scenarios or what we called the 102 point inspection system.

Rhapsody Residences has two-bedroom units in nine sizes with the smallest at 50.5 square meters fit for startup families and the largest at 82.5 sq. m. ideal for homeowners with grownup children. All units have living and dining areas, kitchen, toilet and balcony. Ground floor units open to a garden atrium in each building. Units in upper floors do not directly face each other because of single-loaded corridors, a design that also allows plenty of fresh air and natural light to come into the building interior.  There are also scenic elevators giving unit owners a view of garden atriums whenever they go up and down of their buildings.

A Property Management Office (PMO) oversees day-to-day needs of all residents including community activities and handle the upkeep of the shared amenities.

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For inquiries on DMCI Homes Rhapsody Residences, call 324-8888 or visit the www.dmcihomes.com.