The new NUH Medical Centre is an integral part of the National University Hospital's redevelopment plan to meet the expanding and increasingly sophisticated healthcare needs of Singaporeans.
At NUH, they believe that patient-centric tertiary medical care must go hand in hand with breakthrough translational research complemented by innovative and rigorous training of healthcare providers. Guided by this belief, NUH has embarked on building up the physical infrastructure for well-trained healthcare professionals to engage in cross specialty collaborations to boost the potential for breakthroughs in research which will eventually translate into better treatments and patient care.
Located directly above Kent Ridge MRT Station on the Circle Line, the 20-storey building is due for completion in 2013. It will house the National University Cancer Institute, Singapore, specialist outpatient clinics, ambulatory surgical facilities, clinical support services such as pharmacies and a diagnostic imaging centre to provide one-stop care for patients; as well as amenities like retail shops, food outlets and a supermarket.
The new 30km long Thomson MRT line will have 22 stations, six of them will be connected to all MRT lines and the upcoming Downtown Line (DTL).
It will be the sixth Mass Rapid Transit and the fourth fully automatic and driverless system line in Singapore. The whole line will be completely underground.
The line, which is 30 km (19 mi) long and consists of 22 stations, will run through the north-south corridor, starting in northern of Woodlands area, passing through the industrial estate of Sin Ming, down to the residential Thomson area and the shopping districts of Orchard and Marina Bay, before ending at Gardens by the Bay. Residents in the heartlands of Sembawang, Nee Soon, Ang Mo Kio, Bishan-Toa Payoh and Moulmein-Kallang will benefit from faster and more direct connections to the city. It's expected cost is around $18 billion.
Traveling from Sin Ming to Gardens by the Bay would apparently save 25 min of travelling time from the current 65 min for the journey.
It is one of four more rail systems to be built by 2020. The other three rail systems are the Circle Line, the Downtown Line, and the Eastern Region Line. Together, the four will extend the rail network from the current 138 km of track to 278 km by 2020. When completed, it will improve movement in the city centre, with a train station within every 400m on average, roughly equating a five minute walk. Its network density will rise from 31 km per million residents today to 51 km per million. This will surpass what Hong Kong and Tokyo have today and is comparable to current densities in places like New York and London.
The spectacular 40-storey PSA Building is an established landmark in the Alexandra Precinct and affords commanding views of one of the world's busiest harbours and the dramatic Singapore skyline.
Complimenting the office tower is the Alexandra Retail Centre (ARC), a three-storey retail centre, which is currently being redeveloped to serve as a convenience mall for office tenants in the PSA Building as well as the working population from the neighbouring office buildings. Offering a wide range of services and retail options, ARC will comprise three floors of retail space with a net lettable area of approximately 89,000 sq ft.
Situated a mere 10 minutes' drive from the CBD and five minutes drive from the HarbourFront MRT Station, the PSA Building is easily accessible via major expressways and has access to the Circle Line MRT. Tenants also enjoy the added convenience of having a shuttle bus service connecting the PSA Building and the HarbourFront Centre. This runs every 10 minutes during the lunch hour and morning and evening peak hours.
The Alexandra Retail Centre (ARC) offers the much desired convenience to the estimated 100,000 working population as well as residents in the vicinity. Built to house an inviting retail environment¸ the comprehensive array of stores at ARC is punctuated with open spaces and generous walkways which offer visitors a conducive shopping experience. The retail centre will offer a varied mix of food and beverage, supermarket, lifestyle, services and retail tenants.
Set amidst offices, schools, residences the ARC complements the amenities centre at Mapletree Business City and provides the ideal retail solution for the large population in the vicinity when it is opens in the fourth quarter of 2011.
Stadium MRT Station was commissioned through the Marina Line Architectural Design Competition jointly organized by the Singapore Land Transport Authority and the Singapore Institute of Architects. The open, anonymous international competition, requiring no track record is acknowledged by the industry as one of the best run competitions held in Singapore to date. The Land Transport Authority continued their commitment to design throughout the design development and construction phases.
Stadium MRT Station is designed to enhance the urban quality of the surrounding areas as well as to provide world class transport facilities. Located at Stadium Boulevard, Stadium MRT Station will serve the surrounding entertainment and leisure facilities as well as the nearby East Coast condominiums by way of the pedestrian bridge across the Kallang River.
The station design has been shaped by the need to accommodate surge crowds from the Singapore Indoor Stadium, Kallang Theatre and the National Stadium. The introduction of the MRT system into the area will change the nature of the precinct from a primarily vehicular area to a pedestrian place. The station forms a strong armature in the area, which future developments can be plugged into and organized around.
To address the large ground-level crowds, the station has been designed with an at-grade, open-air concourse and plaza. The open-air concourse prevents crushing and panic situations that could occur with crowds squeezing into confined, below-ground spaces. The ground-level entrance plaza will also create opportunities for the surrounding developments, currently inward-looking, to create and enhance external, ground-level activities. Shady trees, benches and meeting places will make the MRT plaza a much-used integral part of the use of this recreational and residential area. The station is open-ended, and designed to link to future developments in the area at ground level.
Inspired by landscape forms and the art of Richard Serra, the form of the station is generated both by the flow of crowds down into the station, and inflected by the massive, curved forms of the stadium. The design contrasts a linear element against a curved one. The interior of the station abstracts geological forms, creating a shimmering, glassy grotto below the opaque massive elements above. Pedestrian movement dramatizes perception of the space, as the escalators slide below the curve above, transporting commuters from the concourse at grade to the platform at basement 2.
The station creates a major dramatic space that gives the public a moment of spatial grandeur in their daily commute, as traditional train stations in Europe do. A central skylight creates an attractive, day-lit platform. Openings in the above-ground forms allow views down to the platform from the ground level plaza. The ribbed aluminium cladding system was custom designed by the architects to create an ambiguous material, sometimes soft like fabric, sometimes hard like stone, sometimes metallic, that changes with the quality of light and the time of day. A single extrusion can be orientated 4 ways to create endless variation in the relationship of the panels. The grey, stepped, curved forms preserve a memory of Singapore’s National Stadium, soon to be demolished.
FOUR new MRT stations will be built on the East-West line, extending the rail system's reach into the Tuas industrial estate. This new rail project is estimated to cost $3.5 billion and will include the cost of the new stations, a new depot, 13 new trains and a viaduct running parallel to the train line.
When completed in 2016, the new 7.5km extension is expected to cater to 100,000 passengers daily. The recent extension of Boon Lay to Joo Koon station now serves about 60,000 passengers daily. From Joo Koon station, the line will extend further westwards to serve commuters heading to Tuas, Tuas Crescent, Tuas West and Tuas Link. Trains will end their journey at the new 26ha depot, the fourth depot in Singapore. It will fit 60 trains, compared to Bishan's storage of 37 trains.
There's also good news about the Circle Line. The last stretch of 12 stations from Marymount to HarbourFront - which includes Holland Village and Caldecott stations - will open this year. Sixteen more trains will also be added to meet an increase in ridership. This will increase the total fleet of Circle Line trains by 40%. The trains are scheduled to arrive around 2015.
Rochester Mall, with a retail space of 100,000 sf, is part of the mixed development comprising a 366 unit condominium and a 271 room business hotel named Park Avenue Rochester. By 2011, Rochester Mall will be the lifestyle mall that integrates food with activities and events. Featuring specialty restaurants and cafes, education, services and conveniences, Rochester Mall addresses not only the lifestyle needs of the family but also serves as a social gathering place for the professionals, business executives and students in the vicinity.
Strategically located along Buona Vista Road, Rochester Mall is a stone’s throw away from Buona Vista MRT station, at the confluence of East-West MRT Line and Circle Line. Rochester Mall is set to become the talk of the town, bringing modern arts and cultural zest of life to the community.
Singapore's latest underground retail space Esplanade Xchange has officially opened. With 26 new tenants which include a mix of retail and F&B options. The Esplanade Xchange is also a short walk away from Marina Square and Suntec City. It is sited above the Esplanade MRT Station, and is the first Xchange along the new, partially-opened Circle Line.
The Circle Line (CCL) which is set to fully complete from 2010 onwards, will cut travelling time and allow commuters to bypass busy interchanges like City Hall and Raffles Place. Costing $6.7 billion, the CCL will be a fully underground orbital line linking all radial lines leading to the city. The line will interchange with the North-South Line, East-West Line and North East Line. The CCL will be 33.3 km long with 29 stations. Starting from the Dhoby Ghaut station, it will run through some of the busiest corridors in the city and end at HarbourFront station on the North East Line.
The Circle Line Stage 3 that connects Bishan on the North-South Line and Serangoon station on the NEL was opened for revenue service on 28 May 2009. More stations on the Circle Line such as the Thomson and West Coast Stations will be opened subsequently to enhance the reach and connectivity of the Circle Line, and allow more people to benefit from the MRT. To enhance the accessibility of the Marina Bay area to the rest of the island, LTA will also build and open the Marina Bay station as part of the CCL extension beyond Bayfront station in 2012.
Using the CCL, commuters will be able to bypass City Hall or Raffles Place stations. This way, they can trim travelling time and avoid transfers at the busy major interchanges. Similarly, those travelling from Bishan to Buona Vista will soon be able to reach their destinations faster as they no longer need to transfer across different rail lines.
As the line runs through some of the busiest roads in Singapore, its stations are located underground so as to free up land for other uses. In carrying out construction works, we need to divert traffic through the affected areas. Where possible, there will be lane for lane replacement.
Traffic diversions aside, the construction of the line poses other challenges. For example, engineers face soft soil conditions at the future Millenia and Nicoll Highway stations. They also have to be cautious when boring tunnels under the Kallang Basin. Other challenges include the interface of tunnels with the Kallang Paya Lebar Expressway tunnel, the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System and PowerGrid's cable near the Upper Paya Lebar/ Airport Road junction.
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