To the south west of Funtasy Island off Batam and just 16km away from Singapore, built on the seabed like the traditional Kelong, will lie the AquaVilla.
Imagination, originality and a love for Nature are the roots of AquaVilla’s architecture. Each villa has thoughtful and ingenious design features to cultivate an intimate interaction with the oceanic environment around you. One is the living area’s wall panels, that you can slide away to transform your home into a completely open villa filled with sea breeze and light. Another is the circular staircase that leads both upstairs to the bedrooms and down below the villa. This staircase actually leads right down to the seabed that is then only revealed at low tide, offering you an entirely new space to explore. Just some of the exciting ways AquaVilla will shape your experience with Nature.
Inspired by the delicate outline of a jewel necklace, AquaVilla has an intricate arrangement of over 108 villas that offer everyone a lovely, lingering view. Looking out, you have the spectacular infinity of sky and sea. Gazing in, you have the serenity of the landscaped lagoon, all for the exclusive few in AquaVilla.
Commissioned by the Housing and Development Board as an exploration of the future of affordable public housing, WOHA‘s public housing design for Skyville @ Dawson consists of 960 new homes. Their project is currently under construction and is estimated to be completed by February 2015. The design focuses on 3 themes – community, variety and sustainability.
There is a variety of community space. Each home is part of a Sky Village: 80 homes which share a naturally ventilated community terrace and garden. The block is composed of 3 villages, stacked 4 high, for a total of 12 villages. Other community areas include: the Community Living Rooms at ground level, which provides seating areas overlooking the park and is located on the main entrance route of the development; the Landscaped Park, which retains enormous historic rain trees and provides two community pavilions, play and fitness areas, courts and lawns; the Rooftop Park, which houses a 400m jogging track and rooftop pavilions which support a PV array that powers the common lighting; the Urban Plaza, located along a public linear park and provides supermarket, coffee shop and retail spaces.
The design gives variety by offering you flexible floor plans with a column free and beam free main space, eliminating waste and allowing diverse lifestyles, such as home office or loft living as well as future flexibility.
SkyVille has been awarded Singapore’s Green Mark Platinum rating, the highest rating possible. The project uses passive means and avoids the use of energy-intensive solutions rather than using high technology. Every unit is fully naturally ventilated, with every room (including bathrooms and kitchens) having windows. The common areas, lift lobbies and access walkways are all naturally ventilated and lit. The apartments are cross ventilated, with CFD simulations performed at the block and unit level. The units use passive means for comfort – all walls have vertical and horizontal sun breakers to shade both the walls and the windows, all windows have overhangs and special mid-height top hung panels that direct breeze to seating height and allow the windows to remain open during the monsoon period, the units face north and south and have openings on all sides.
PV cells at the rooftop power the common areas and a swale which is a major landscape feature treats storm water before discharging it to the storm water system. The project uses landscaping throughout the tower in the sky villages, additionally it covers 50% of all roof surfaces. Two major landscaped external spaces totaling 1.5Ha are provided.
The design studio for SCA Design is a result of an internal design competition held within ONG&ONG (SCA Design is a member of the ONG&ONG Group). This competition turned out to be an exciting journey as all set out to challenge conventional standards that define traditional workspace and finally created an inspiring environment for young creative minds to thrive and develop in.
SCA design studio reinvents typical office culture and develops a sense of belonging for existing staff. Aesthetically pleasing and comfortable, the newly installed office reinforces SCA’s longstanding belief in its people and their welfare.
The creation of this modular and dynamic space promotes conversation amongst team members, encouraging interaction in an open plan studio which reflects unity.
Their design inspiration comes from Herman Miller’s core products; Work Chairs.
The Herman Miller store is expressed as a porous plywood envelope forming an independent entity that plugs into the shop space of Xtra. This lightweight envelope allows visual links yet maintains the identity of both stores.
Just as the Herman Miller work chairs are designed to adapt to your postures and movements, the Herman Miller skin is moulded to adapt to existing structures and your movement patterns. The continuous surfaces forming the façade, walls, ceiling and entrances invite you into the store and guide you through the experience.
The complex envelope is pieced together using simple three-legged plywood component panels designed with interlocking lap-joints. The panels are “stitched” together forming the rigid, woven double-layered envelope. Customised panels are limited to the weaving as well as doubly-curved surfaces. There are approximately 4,000 wooden pieces that complete the whole design.
The parametric surface modulates light and views into a flexible, open space. The plywood material forms a warm and casual ambience while its structure and assemblages express the dynamic process that combines technology with design.
The design for this Malaysian-Singaporean joint venture actively engages the space of the surrounding city to form a new civic nucleus in Singapore’s modern metropolis. The two towers are not conceived as autonomous objects, but defined by the spaces they create around them.
The design for DUO subtracts circular carvings from the allowable building volumes in a series of concave movements that generate urban spaces, a kind of "urban poché" that co-opts adjacent buildings and symbiotically inscribes the two towers into their context.
By generating the massing through a subtractive process, the elevations of the new towers are reduced to slender profiles. Vertical facades rise skywards along the adjoining roads, while a net-like hexagonal pattern of sunshades reinforces the dynamic concave shapes. The duo of tower volumes is further sculpted to feature a series of cantilevers and setbacks that evoke choreographed kinetic movements of the building silhouettes.
The buildings dematerialize as they reach the ground to provide a porous permeable landscape traversing the site. Leisure zones and gardens act as a connector between multiple transport hubs and establish a flow of tropical greenery and lively commercial activity, accessible to the public 24 hours a day. A plaza, carved into the center of the towers and integrating the neighboring building as part of its perimeter, forms a new public nexus between the historic district of Kampong Glam and the extension of the city’s commercial corridor.
Multiple levels of vertical connectivity give access to large elevated terraces for the hotel and residents, a public observation deck and a sky restaurant atop the office/hotel tower, while establishing a direct connection to the adjacent underground MRT subway station. Vehicular traffic is lifted off the ground to allow an uninterrupted pedestrian circulation. Extensive landscape areas at the ground levels, elevated terraces and roofscapes provide accessible green space equal to 100% of the site area.
Construction is scheduled to start in 2013, with completion pencilled in for 2017.
26,700m2 lot bounded by Ophir Road, Beach Road, Rochor Road, North Bridge Road and Fraser Street
Pan Pacific Singapore recently unveiled an $80 million transformation. It is the most extensive transformation in its 25-year history which impresses with a revitalised lobby and guest rooms, new and refreshed dining concepts and a unique Pacific Club experience.
The hotel now boasts 790 redesigned rooms, innovative and new dining concepts and a unique Pacific Club on Level 38, with 24 hour service offerings and enhanced technology.
Setting the tone for the revitalised Pan Pacific Singapore is their fully transformed lobby with an upgraded arrival experience supported by integrated mobile check-in technology. Upon arrival, you no longer need to check-in the traditional way at the ubiquitous reception counter, as associates personally attend to you and handle the process via an iPad. A 22-metre long bar is the centrepiece of the Atrium where you can enjoy a drink while being checked-in. Handmade timbre pods with adaptable booth-seating arrangements add to the welcoming and engaging atmosphere in the lobby.
A unique Pacific Club now occupies the top floor of the hotel at Level 38, providing spectacular panoramic views of the surrounding Marina Bay district and the South China Sea. Designed to blend you business and leisure needs, the Pacific Club experience comes with special round-the-clock privileges and services such as refreshments and cocktails, as well as personalised guest services.
Each redesigned room is fitted with guest-centric and functional enhancements, which includes a thoughtfully appointed workspace with an ergonomic Herman Miller desk chair, a bathroom with premium HansGrohe fittings and wireless internet access.
You can enjoy a 24-hour services and cutting-edge technological features such as Internet protocol (IP) telephony and internet protocol televisions (IPTV) which offer an unbeatable choice of entertainment and services at the touch of a button. An enhanced entertainment system enables you to “plug and play” your mobile devices with the TV, while a “smart energy management” system helps conserve energy by allowing you to customise your room temperature settings, and by automatically returning the lights and air conditioning to an energy-saving standby mode when the room is vacant.
A private family residence designed by K2LD Architects, situated on a uniquely shaped triangular plot, the Winged House frames the site with two prominent forms: the trapeziums. These forms open towards the main view at the back of the site where 3 existing majestic palms are, and of lush greenery. These embracing forms carve out and frame a middle garden for friendly and private gatherings.
In response to the tropical climate context, the formal exploration took a turn from cutting openings from a pure trapezoid form to separating roof from form. The form draws from the understanding of traditional Malay architecture where the house itself is climatically responsive to bring you comfort. The form of the traditional Malay house is reinterpreted into folding trapeziums whilst keeping its climatic purpose of bringing in fresh air into its interior space. Elements such as the extended overhanging eaves and the double pitched roof are adopted into the form. The extended overhanging eaves are manifested in the form of extensive roof overhangs for the naturally ventilated spaces, which are enjoyed with much shelter and shade even during the seasonal heavy rain downpours.
The traditional double pitched roof is translated into the separation and staggering of the roof form. This split of the roof achieved a play of light and shadows into the interior space. Spaces such as the double volume dining room, the 2nd storey passageway and the large patio are all celebrated with the overlapping split roof and its light play. This slot is further enhanced at night with concealed light fittings illuminating the split. The staggered roof form also creates for the possibility of the penetration of natural ventilation into the living spaces.
Materiality is key to strengthening the relationship of the two winged forms, its space in-between and roof on roof. In the intermediate space between two forms is the main entrance foyer and living room which is flanked with two feature natural split granite walls, contrasting its heavy presence with the lightness of the roofs and vertical timber lines of the house. Timber is extensively used throughout the house, choosing a lighter species of timber (Burmese Teak) for the underside of the roofs versus the darker wood (Chengai) as the infill medium (ie: the sun-shading screens) to create a play of depth of the façade. The vertical timber screens not only help in providing shade from the harsh sun, but it helps blend the house with the lush vertical tree trunks of the surrounding greenery.
JKC1 is one of three "good class bungalow" plots carved from a larger plot developed by the Keck Seng Group. The house sits on a slight incline and overlooks a pool in the front yard, following the Feng Shui belief of balancing the "mountain" and "water" elements.
The first floor’s living and dining area is a vast and continuous space providing an unobstructed view of the pool and front lawn. The generously proportioned kitchen with laundry area is located to the back of the house together with the garage.
A centralised, combination staircase leads up into the open courtyard directly above the kitchen. To the left, is the master suite with bedroom, walk-in wardrobe and bathroom, while the children’s bedrooms and adjoining playroom occupy the opposite side. In the middle, a multi-purpose family area takes up the front section, while the back area houses an additional room. From the courtyard, a spiral staircase ascends onto the terrace that can serve as a BBQ or entertainment area where you can take in the beautiful views of the surrounding greenery.
Generous use of space is what distinguishes this house from others, making it a welcome relief from Singapore’s high-density urban environment.
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