Hasta La Ideas

Dezeen and MINI World Tour: Colin Seah of Ministry of Design shows us examples of how Singapore is responding to the challenge of housing a growing population without sacrificing its green spaces in our second movie from the city.

“It has been a perennial issue,” says Seah. “How do you house five to seven million people on an island that would fit into Lake Geneva?”

“The government could have just said: ‘let’s not control it, let’s have sprawl and have more people living in houses’. But the strategy instead was to protect public spaces and green areas.”

Seah takes us to three of his favourite architectural projects around the city, which each tackle the challenge in different ways.

The first is The Pinnacle@Duxton by Singapore architects Arc Studio, a vast public housing complex comprising seven 50-storey tower blocks connected by large bridges and a sky garden at the top.

“It’s amazing because on the same piece of land that housed 150 houses [they have built] up to six or seven times the number of family units,” says Seah.

“The top level is open to the public, because it is public housing after all. You have a 360 degree panorama of Singapore.”

Next Seah takes us to The Interlace, a new private housing development designed by former OMA partner Ole Scheeren, who has since set up his own studio.

“Instead of having these tall vertical towers, they broke them down to horizontal towers,” says Seah of the complex, which comprises 31 six-storey blocks stacked diagonally on top of each other.

The blocks are arranged around large hexagonal communal courtyards, while the roofs of the lower blocks provide smaller gardens for the blocks stacked on top of them.

“Everybody has a chance to use them and look down into them,” says Seah. “But you’re much closer to the ground than if you were in a vertical tower.”

Finally, Seah takes us to Marina Barrage, a dam designed to control the water coming in and out of Marina Bay and prevent flooding in low lying areas of the city. The machinery that operates the dam is housed in a large building alongside, which features a public park on its gradually sloping roof.

“Instead of being a utilitarian building, there was a really fantastic agenda to infuse it with a public, park-like quality,” says Seah.

“On the weekends and evenings it’s incredibly popular with families. So for a building that just houses machines, it becomes this living space.”

Seah concludes: “The government has been very clever to balance the need for density with more ample public space that people can share collectively.”

We were in Singapore for World Architecture Festival and Inside Festival, and will be publishing interviews with some of the key speakers in the coming weeks.

We drove around Singapore in our MINI Cooper S Paceman. The music in the movie is a track called Feeling Beast by Man Oeuvre.

You can listen to more music by Man Oeuvre on Dezeen Music Project and watch more of our Dezeen and MINI World Tour movies here.

The post “Singapore has balanced the need for
density with providing public space” appeared first on Dezeen.

Hard hats and high visibility jackets are displayed as fashion items at this Singapore boutique that architects Ministry of Design designed for a safety equipment brand (+ slideshow).

As the flagship store for Durasafe, the shop was conceived as a retail space that would attract mainstream shoppers. “The intention is to broaden the appeal to capture new interest from anyone interested in cool hats, boots, gloves, etc.” explained Ministy of Design’s Joy Seah.

She also described how the store will appeal to industry professionals. “For example, a structural engineer may prefer to get his own streamlined Raf-Simons-looking safety boots instead of the standard issue ones, or an architect might want his own construction hard hat in a gorgeous colour,” she said.

The shop is styled like an industrial warehouse with black walls, metal staircases and cage-like balconies.

“We drew inspiration from the building and manufacturing industries for the scaffold-inspired display system, signage and floor markings and the watertight bulkhead doors at the changing rooms,” explained architect Colin Seah.

Bright orange screens mark the entrance to the shop, where customers pass by a bright green cross that forms part of the company logo. “The whole frontage of the boutique is essentially about the logo and you walk right through it,” said Colin Seah. “There is no product or even hint of the product at the start, which is quite atypical for most boutiques.”

Dashed yellow lines on the floor denote different display zones, which are also marked with orange graphics designed by the studio.

Other recent projects by Ministry of Design include a property showroom with a rampart-like facade and an extremely pointy pavilion.

Photography is by Edward Hendricks, CI&A Photography.

Here’s a project description from Ministry of Design:

Durasafe Retail Store

Ministry of Design continues its exploration of retail and exhibition design with the unique Durasafe store – the flagship retail environment for Singapore’s leading supplier of premium safety gear and equipment.

Durasafe, extending its reach beyond the “business to business” model to include a consumer based store, approached Ministry of Design to create a retail environment that would reinforce its existing strong brand presence as well as provide an exciting shopping environment for its predominantly male customer base.

Situated in a 6m high modern warehouse space, MOD’s design for the Durasafe store is a multi-layered spatial experience that dramatizes the entire process of shopping. The entire facade of the store serves as a backdrop for an over-sized Durasafe logo and dominates one’s first visual impression.

Passing through this strongly coloured backdrop, one walks into a completely different space, an entirely black environment which allows the multi-coloured safety products on display to visually pop and take a place of prominence.

The space comprises a double storey display scaffold-like structure surrounding a feature display area and retail lounge. Inspired by the industrial environments and construction sites where Durasafe’s products are most commonly employed, the ‘scaffold’ allows the products to be clearly displayed in distinctive categories – these are further called out with custom designed graphic logos in light boxes.

Ground and first floor plans – click above for larger image

The ‘scaffold’ also exploits the high ceiling space and introduces a sense of adventure and exploration into the shopping experience. This “industrial chic” atmosphere is further enhanced by changing rooms adorned by actual water tight bulkhead doors, a display table made from a 6 m long customized floor trolley and yellow graphic boxes embedded in the floor calling the different zones.

Signage graphics

Scope: Interior Design + Graphic Design
Size: 175 sqm
Location: Singapore
Completed: 2012

The post Durasafe Store by
Ministry of Design appeared first on Dezeen.

Here are some images of an extremely pointy pavilion in Tianjin, China, by Singapore studio Ministry of Design.

A band of Corten steel cladding surrounds the triangular building, pitching upwards at each corner to cantilever over triangular windows.

Doors on two of these glazed corners provide separate entrances to a showroom and an information centre, both for property developer Vanke.

A lounge and bar for entertaining clients is located in the building’s third corner.

We’ve noticed a trend of Corten-clad buildings lately – see a few more of them here.

Photography is by Edward Hendricks, CI&A Photography.

Here’s a little more explanation from Ministry of Design:

Vanke Triple V Gallery

Designed as a permanent show gallery and tourist information center for China’s largest developer Vanke, MOD’s dramatic design for the TRIPLE V GALLERY has become an icon along the Dong Jiang Bay coastline.

Click above for larger image

Despite its obvious sculptural qualities, the building’s DNA evolved rationally from a careful analysis of key contextual & programmatic perimeters – resulting in the TRIPLE V GALLERY’S triangulated floor plan as well as the 3 soaring edges that have come to define its form.

Click above for larger image

The client’s program called for 3 main spaces: a tourist information center, a show gallery & a lounge for discussion.

Requiring their own entrances, the tourist center and the show gallery are orientated to separate existing pedestrian pathways and can be operated independently.

An extension of the show gallery, the lounge area is where discussions are conducted. This space takes advantage of the panoramic views of the coastline and comprises a sculptural bar counter.

Tectonically, the building responds to the coastal setting and is finished in weather-sensitive corten steel panels on its exterior and timber strips on the interior walls and ceiling for a more natural feel.

Architectural & Interior Design: Ministry of Design – Colin Seah, David Tan, Daniel Aw, Jeremiah Abueva, Lynn Li, Noel Banta
Site Management: Annie Su, He Ting
Contractor: Nantong No.2 Construction Group (Archi), Beijing Grain. Rain Architectural Design Co., Ltd. (ID) C&S: Tenio Design And Engineering Co., Ltd.
M&E: Tenio Design And Engineering Co., Ltd.
Land Area: 16,850 sqm
Built in GFA: 750 sqm
Facilities: Reception, Model display, Open discussion area, Bank service area, Electricity Room, AV Room, Office, Meeting Rooms, VIP Rooms, Cloakroom, Restrooms, Information center
Construction duration: 4 months
Opening: November 2011

Singapore studio Ministry of Design have completed a single-storey house that zig-zags across its triangular site in Singapore. (more…)