Juan Pablo Ramírez Castellanos

Art plays a major role in Bantimex’s philosophy, and the developer has several groundbreaking projects that can both contribute to the environment and also uplift artists at the same time.

What projects are you currently working on?

Looking at the real estate sector from a group perspective, after doing a great deal of research, we have determined that there is currently a greater capacity to move units built in Riviera Maya, and that is where we are 100% focused. The second place where I see extraordinary potential is Los Cabos, followed by the usual cities like Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey, and Querétaro. We have investments in Puebla, Querétaro, and San Miguel de Allende, and the newest area we have entered is Riviera Maya. Markets in the interior of the country, with the exception of some cities, are contracted, and, for builders like us, that makes it difficult to develop projects. Tulum has a special focus because it operates differently. What we are doing are two specific things. The first is respecting the percentages that it marks for construction; for example, Tulum requires us to leave 40% of free land in green area. On the other hand, there are no public services there, and the water is taken from the subsoil. Every time there is a development, you have to build a well and extract water from it. On the issue of waste, it is the same. What we are looking for is putting forth the best available technology to make it sustainable. Another important part is the vehicular issue; the number of vehicles in Tulum will undoubtedly grow exponentially in a few years, and many of the developments there currently do not have adequate parking. We are already taking all this into calculation. Another thing we are doing is promoting the use of electric vehicles. We will bring a brand of electric motorcycles to the region and set up an agency to sell them. We will also set up chargers in different places around Tulum. We are taking a long-term perspective on specific situations, namely water, waste management, energy, and transportation.

What is the role of art in the philosophy of Bantimex?

Regarding our projects, we want to extract the world of art from museums and bring it to the people. Generally, museums are always a space where a small number of people who have a taste for the museum go to; in reality, art is locked in a box and does not come out. Talking to artists nationwide, we all agreed that we wanted to create something that we could take abroad. So, the first part of the group’s philosophy comes from the statement of making Mexico the largest urban art gallery in the world. That is the group’s main mission. We spoke to artists and asked them to create a work for a specific project to be built, and based on that project, the architectural studio develops the concept of the entire construction. We did it the other way around rather than just developing a project and then placing a statue or some paintings there. Here, we gave priority to the artwork and build based on the art. For example, in Tulum we have a project inspired in the Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch, a complex of 120 units completely inspired by and is a direct textual extraction of a painting from the part of Eden. Then, we have another complex in Tulum where an artist painted the complex, and that painting was transferred by the architect to reality. This is also from a top artist who appeared in Forbes. We are setting an example with our own actions of how it can be developed contributing to the environment from an artistic point of view, first, by placing the artist’s work in the public part of complexes, buildings, or houses so that everyone can see it, and by having an inscription with a QR code that provides more information and brings users to the artist website that can better contextualize the work. That becomes a hotspot in the city, develops into an attraction, and promotes tourism development.