Hasta La Ideas

World Architecture Festival 2012: in our final movie from the World Architecture Festival we take another look at the World Building of the Year, Gardens by the Bay, as Wilkinson Eyre Architects’ Paul Baker explains how the design team used vertical planting to create “some real drama in a very flat landscape.”

Officially the award was given to the architects for the cooled conservatories at Bay South, but at the ceremony director Paul Finch explained that they wanted to recognise the whole team that worked on the enormous tropical garden in Singapore, which also features tree-like towers covered in climbing plants.

“One of the rather amazing things about Singapore is that things do grow,” says Baker, discussing these vertical gardens. He explains how around the world vertical planting requires “a lot of irrigation and a lot of work” but in this project they could easily “put things in the air and get them to survive”.

Bay South is the largest and first to complete of three landscaped gardens at the 100-hectare Gardens by the Bay site, which is sited on reclaimed land that had been a park before. Baker discusses how the government took a “brave decision” to keep the area as a large park, which in turn “increased the commercial value” of land at the perimeter. “I think they had some very good foresighted thoughts about how to make this a special place,” he says.

Read more about Gardens by the Bay in our earlier story. You can also watch our interview with Baker just after receiving the award, or hear more about the project from architect Chris Wilkinson.

We’ve published a series of interviews with award winners at the World Architecture Festival. See all the movies, plus more stories about WAF 2012.

Photography is by Craig Sheppard.

The post We wanted “real drama in a flat landscape”
– Paul Baker on Gardens by the Bay appeared first on Dezeen.

World Architecture Festival 2012: architect Kerry Hill won the award in the housing category at the World Architecture Festival with his design for an apartment building in Singapore and in this interview we filmed he discusses how he believes the nation is developing an “emerging approach to design” rather than an architectural style.

Hill, an Australian architect, moved to Singapore in the late 1970s and he describes how “the standard of architecture” and the “sense of architectural community” has significantly improved since then. ”More and more the quite important and certainly the more interesting buildings are being done by home-grown Singaporeans,” he explains.

Martin No. 38 is the architect’s first housing project in Singapore and comprises a series of apartment blocks in a former warehouse area near to the Singapore River. The architect describes how the building was driven by the climate as much as the programme. “The trick with building in the tropics is not to exclude the sun, but to invite it in through a series of filters,” he says.

These filters take the form of a louvred facade system that residents can control, allowing them to “mediate climate, noise and privacy”. Each apartment also has an open-plan layout for additional flexibility, while terraces are created at the base of each building as “outdoor living spaces”.

However, Hill also explains how he thinks the design scene “isn’t just about apartments” in Singapore. ”I simply think that Singapore is maturing and the design community is emerging as a force,” he says. “It is a place today where developers understand that good design sells.”

We’ve filmed a series of interviews with award winners at the World Architecture Festival. See all the movies we’ve published so far, including our interview with architect Chris Wilkinson about the World Building of the Year.

See all our stories about WAF 2012 »

The post “I hope that Singapore doesn’t have a style”
– Kerry Hill on Martin No. 38 appeared first on Dezeen.

World Architecture Festival: in this movie we filmed, architect Vo Trong Nghia explains how the house he designed with a vertical garden on its facade incorporates natural daylighting and ventilation systems that are invaluable in Vietnam, which experiences heavy rain and high temperatures, but often suffers day-long power shortages.

Named Stacking Green, the building won the award in the house category at the World Architecture Festival in Singapore earlier this month and is located in Ho Chi Minh City.

“In Vietnam we have many problems with energy and electricity, it can stop many times a day,” Nghia tells Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs. During these times light is able to filter into the house through the inner wall of glazing, but the twelve layers of plants in front prevent direct sunlight from passing through and increasing the internal temperature.

Natural ventilation also comes through this planted facade. ”To invite wind into the house you open a window and then the air goes through the vertical garden,” he says. “Even when it is raining you can open the windows.”

Nghia also discusses how Vietnam is “developing so quick,” but shouldn’t fall into the easy trap of following the architectural styles of western countries. “The climate is totally different, yet we almost do the same thing,” he says, before explaining why he designed this house for the continuous “hot summer” rather than for the changing seasons of Europe.

Read more about Stacking Green in our earlier story, or see more stories about Vo Trong Nghia.

We’ve filmed a series of interviews with award winners at the World Architecture Festival. See all the movies we’ve published so far, including our interview with architect Chris Wilkinson about the World Building of the Year.

See all our stories about WAF 2012 »

The post “In Vietnam we have problems with energy”
– Vo Trong Nghia on Stacking Green appeared first on Dezeen.

World Architecture Festival 2012: architects Kristen Whittle and Ron Billard explain how meerkats, fish and open-plan offices for consultants helped provide better care for sick children at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, the winner in the health category at the World Architecture Festival.

Above: photograph is by Shannon McGrath

Billard Leece Partnership and Bates Smart collaborated on the design of the hospital, which replaces an existing facility, and the architects describe their decision to remove private rooms from the wards as “one of the most transformational things” they did with the new building. “By interacting with other professionals, [the doctors] are looking at solving problems in a holistic way,” says Billard.

The pair also describe the challenges of redesigning a “much-loved institution.” The new building centres around a six-storey atrium containing grass-like green spaces, a meerkat enclosure and an aquarium. Billard explains how these devices were intended to create spaces that are “relaxing, not stressful” for children. “Hospitals can be pretty scary places,” he says.

Above: photograph is by Shannon McGrath

Rooms in the each of the wards offer views over the gardens and courtyards. ”The amount of beds in this hospital is more or less the same as the existing facility, so even though it is a much bigger building, there is only the same amount of beds, says Whittle. “The idea is not to deal with vast quantities of kids, but more become a specialist model for only the acute problems.”

Above: photograph is by John Gollings

We’ve filmed a series of interviews with award winners at the World Architecture Festival. See all the movies we’ve published so far, including our interview with architect Chris Wilkinson about the World Building of the Year.

See all our stories about WAF 2012 »

The post We “convinced” doctors to move to an open-
plan wing – Kristen Whittle and Ron Billard appeared first on Dezeen.

World Architecture Festival 2012: in this movie, Australian architect Jeff Morehen of Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp tells Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs how the workplaces of the future should be “more hybrid in their nature” and accommodate public facilities, just like his Darling Quarter offices in Sydney that won the office category at the World Architecture Festival this month.

Located beside the harbour, the building curls around a large open space to create a public park and children’s play area. “Putting an office in a park was quite an unusual commission,” says Morehen, before explaining how his team had to overcome the “corporate nature and privatisation” that usually accompanies this kind of commercial building.

Above: photograph is by Florian Groehn

The architect compares the project to some of the public buildings his studio has worked on. “Often libraries that we’re invited to do are more than a library, they become a community meeting space with a whole series of overlaid functions,” he explains. “I think it’s very natural that we start thinking about that for our workplaces.”

Cafes, bars and restaurants line the edge of the ground floor, creating open spaces that can also be used as workplaces. Morehen describes how the current generation of office workers are “no longer tied to desks” and can use the city as their workplace. ”No longer are we individuals just tapping away at computers, he says. “More and more we’re collaborative and we need a range of settings to do that.”

We’ve filmed a series of interviews with award winners at the World Architecture Festival. See all the movies we’ve published so far, including our interview with architect Chris Wilkinson about the World Building of the Year.

See all our stories about WAF 2012 »

Photography is by John Gollings, apart from where otherwise stated.

The post Workplaces can become “more hybrid in their
nature” – Jeff Morehen on Darling Quarter appeared first on Dezeen.