Hasta La Ideas

Small cabins perched on tree trunk-like columns provide outdoor rooms for residents of this apartment complex in Singapore by WOHA (+ slideshow).

The Goodwood Residence designed by Singapore studio WOHA comprises 210 apartments surrounding a central courtyard that is lushly planted to create a visual connection with the nearby Goodwood Hill.

“Articulated as two 12-storey L-shaped blocks, the 2.5-hectare development dialogues with the hill that it embraces and merges with in a language of openness and continuity made expressive by varying degrees of scale and privacy,” said the architects.

A tree-lined boulevard leads from the estate’s entrance to the large courtyard, which is flanked by the apartments and features a swimming pool, clubhouse and lawn area.

The facades of the apartment blocks are covered in sunscreens made from aluminium fins that can be raised or lowered to adjust the amount of daylight and privacy inside the residences.

Fifteen of the apartments on the second and third storeys are connected to outdoor huts, which are raised to the height of the surrounding tree canopies.

Staggered balconies rising up the facades from the fourth to the eleventh floors provide shaded outdoor spaces and penthouses on the twelfth floor feature roof terraces with views across the city.

A total of 1700 square metres of vertical landscaping includes planting on the exterior of the stairwells, while small pools surrounded by trees and plants create decorative natural features.

A garden wall is constructed from granite blocks salvaged from a quarry, while natural-cleft stone lines the covered walkway that leads around the edge of the courtyard.

Photography is by Patrick Bingham-Hall.

Here’s a project description from WOHA:

GOODWOOD RESIDENCE, SINGAPORE

Set amidst an enclave of black and white houses just off the prime Orchard/Scotts Road area, and against a verdant 20-hectare backdrop of greenery, the 210-unit Goodwood Residence is conceived on a macro scale as a breathing space – a rarity in high density urbanised Singapore – and an extension of the Goodwood Hill tree conservation area that it shares a boundary of 150m with. Articulated as two 12-storey L-shaped blocks, the 2.5-hectare development dialogues with the hill that it embraces and merges with in a language of openness and continuity made expressive by varying degrees of scale and privacy.

All units are one apartment thick, with the blocks configured like boundary walls that define and enclose a series of courtyards that first draws its residents through an intimately scaled tree-lined boulevard that wraps around a pair of foliage screened tennis courts, leading to a formally scaled cobblestone entrance courtyard featuring a cluster of majestic rain trees, and finally opens out from under the canopies, like a clear forest glade, into an expansive central open lawn/ swimming pool.

This spacious courtyard that visually merges into Goodwood Hill, measures some 100m across opposite blocks, which enhances the privacy of its residents while offering excellent views towards the lush greenery. It is the main community gathering place and breathing room of the development, complete with club house facilities (concierge, reading lounge, private function room and pools) that parallel that of serviced apartments. Smaller landscaped courtyards branching off the sheltered walkways are further extended into the basement car park as entry points, making pleasant the homecoming experience with natural day light, fresh air and planting.

On a building scale, distinct strata of living experiences are crafted. The ground floor units are designed as a new typology of “landed housing apartments”, with lofty ceilings, generous outdoor pool terraces and specially devised auto-sliding gates/garden windows that are a modern interpretation of a traditional haha wall, allowing owners control over the degree of privacy and views out into the central lawn.

Overlooking the central courtyard on the 2nd and 3rd storeys, are 15 units designed with treehouse cabanas perched amidst the treetop canopies, immersing its inhabitants in close-range nature. Rising above this tree line are the mid-levels (4th-11th storeys), which have overlapping double volume balconies – semi indoor/outdoor spaces reminiscent of the projected drawing studios of the black and white colonial houses from which to fully enjoy the expanse of openness and panoramic views towards Goodwood Hill. This culminates in the 12th storey penthouses that are sky-bungalows complete with generous roof/pool terraces that effectively recreate a new ground level with the added advantage of unobstructed city views and cooling breezes at elevated height.

Inspired by patterns of traditional Asian woven textiles and the roll up bamboo chicks of the black and white colonial houses in the vicinity, all typical apartment units (2nd storey upwards) feature fine aluminium fins orientated at 45 degrees to north-south, that are devised as operable façade screens which not only provide vertical sun shading without compromising on ventilation, but also allows user-controlled amounts of privacy as well as facade animation. Planters of 1m width, coupled with projecting balconies of either 2.7m or 4.5m depth, further provide vertical greenery and horizontal shading for the apartments below.

Conceived with sustainable design principles from the very onset, the project showcases several other (below listed) innovative environmental features and demonstrates that the introduction of such green measures, which cost only 1% more in construction cost, need not come at a high premium if adopted early in the design process. The estimated savings from these implementations are approximately $600,000 on annual utility bills for the home and the common areas, which is equivalent to 20% reduction in the monthly maintenance cost. Goodwood Residence has been awarded the prestigious GreenMark Platinum Award by the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore.

Green Space & Green Living

Complementing and extending the green of Goodwill Hill are 55 existing trees which are preserved, along with approximately 500 new trees that are native to Southeast Asia. This is reinforced by some 1,700sqm of vertical landscaping and the grand central lawn at the heart of the development. Almost 80% of the estate is dedicated to landscaping and communal facilities.

Smart Water Management

To minimise the use of potable water, a self-sustaining irrigation system that harvests rainwater, irrigation water run-off and underground water to irrigate the plants during the wet and dry seasons is devised. This is made possible due to the site’s high water table and foothill location. Reed planting beds that act as filters further provide a natural bio-filtration process along the water migration route in order to improve water quality before it is stored for the next cycle of irrigation.

User Friendly Dual Pneumatic Chutes

Separate refuse chutes for organic waste and recyclable waste are provided side by side at the common service lobbies for the convenience of residents and are connected to a development-wide pneumatic waste system, eliminating the need for multiple refuse collection points within the estate.

Zero Building Waste Concept

100% of the internal walls of Goodwood Residence are built from reclaimed aggregates that originated from the pre-existing building walls and structures.

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Residence apartments by WOHA appeared first on Dezeen.

Movie: Wong Mun Summ of WOHA explains how the Singapore studio tried to recreate geological forms in the architecture of PARKROYAL on Pickering, which won the Hotels category at last month’s Inside Festival. 

PARKROYAL on Pickering by WOHA is a 367-room hotel on the edge of Singapore’s Central Business District, which features large balconies and terraces covered in 15,000 square metres of tropical plants.

“We wanted to create a hotel in a garden,” explains Wong. “We have achieved more than 200% of the site area in green replacement. So the green areas in the building are actually larger than the site itself.”

The balconies are made from layered slabs of contoured concrete, which continue inside the hotel in the reception areas on the ground floor. Wong explains that they were arranged to suggest natural landscapes.

“All the inspiration comes from rock formations,” he says. “It’s a very organic feeling that you get from the building.”

He adds: “We wanted to mimic the idea of the sedimentary layer and that is actually quite obvious from the form of the various strata in the building. Each layer is grooved, so that it has more shadows and is more refined.”

The hotel rooms themselves are more simple in design, but Wong says that the layout of each one is designed in relation to the garden outside.

“We wanted create a very warm feeling that is extending from the gardens,” he says. “The hotel rooms are configured in such a way that all of the rooms look into the sky terraces. Not only do you get a city view, you get a garden view.”

The large windows in the bedrooms are broken up by an irregular pattern of timber mullions, which is replicated by the bespoke furniture and fittings inside the rooms.

“Because we were the architects [as well as the interior designers] we wanted to make sure there was a good transition from architecture to interiors,” says Wong. “So the idea was to transform [the windows] into framing structures for the cabinets, the shelves, and even the lamp fittings.”

Wong says that he believes the hotel can be enjoyed by both passers-by and guests.

“We succeeded in creating a building that the man in the street can relate to,” he claims. “Quite often high-rise buildings tend to be very abstract, almost lacking in details. In this case what we have tried to do is humanise the skyscraper.

“It’s not just the guests that benefit from it, but also people who walk around in the city.”

This movie was filmed at Inside Festival 2013, which took place at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore from 2 to 4 October. The next Inside Festival will take place at the same venue from 1 to 3 October 2014. Award entries are open February to June 2014.

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“inspired by rock formations” appeared first on Dezeen.

Dezeen and MINI World Tour: in this movie Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto discusses his philosophy of designing structures that are “in between” opposing concepts such as nature and architecture, and says the approach could work just as well on a skyscraper as a small private house.

“Nature and architecture are fundamental themes [of my work],” says Fujimoto, speaking to Dezeen after giving his keynote speech at this year’s World Architecture Festival.

“I like to find something in between. Not only nature and architecture but also inside and outside. Every kind of definition has an in-between space. Especially if the definitions are two opposites, then the in-between space is more rich.”

Fujimoto gives his recently completed Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London as an example of his philosophy, in which he used a series of geometric lattices to create a cloud-like structure.

“In various meanings it is in between things,” he says of the project. “It’s made by a grid, but the shape is very soft and complex. The experience is half nature and half super-artificial.”

Fujimoto then goes on to discuss Final Wooden House in Japan, in which chunky timber beams form the walls, floors and roof of the house, as well as the furniture and stairs inside.

“It’s a beautiful integration of the architectural elements in various different levels,” says Fujimoto. “The wooden blocks could be the floor or the furniture or the walls, so in that house every definition is melding together.”

Finally, Fujimoto discusses House NA in Tokyo, which consists of several staggered platforms and hardly has any walls.

“It is not like a house but more like a soft territory, something beyond a house,” he says. “The client is a young couple and they are really enjoying their life in that house.”

Fujimoto believes his approach can be scaled up to larger projects

“The concept of creating something in-between is not only for the smaller scale,” he says. “I think it could be developed more, for example [up to] skyscraper scale.”

“The high-rise building and landscaping are opposite, but maybe it could be a nice challenge to find something between skyscrapers and landscaping. I like to expand my way of thinking to explore pioneering or hidden places in the architectural field.”

We drove around Singapore in our MINI Cooper S Paceman. The music in the movie is a track called Itsu 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.

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has an in-between space” – Sou Fujimoto appeared first on Dezeen.

An OMA-designed housing complex comprising 31 apartment blocks stacked diagonally across one another is nearing completion in Singapore (+ slideshow).

The Interlace was designed by former OMA partner Ole Scheeren, who has since moved on to set up his own studio. It is made up of a series of near-identical six-storey blocks, which have been arranged in a honeycomb pattern around six hexagonal courtyards.

Set to complete in 2014, the 170,000 square-metre complex will offer 1040 apartments and is located at the intersection of Ayer Rajah Expressway and Alexandra Road in the south west of the city.

The stacked arrangement of the structure creates numerous cantilevers and bridges around the exterior spaces. Gardens are located over the rooftops, while staircases are positioned at the overlaps between blocks.

Other communal features include a lotus pond, a waterfall, an open-air theatre and a rock garden.

Dezeen visited the building last week during a visit to Singapore, as part of the Dezeen and Mini World Tour. The trip included a tour of the city with Colin Seah of local architecture studio Ministry of Design, who also took us to his studio’s New Majestic Hotel.

OMA unveiled its design for The Interlace in 2009, but the delivery has been carried out under the direction of property developer CapitaLand Residential.

OMA has also recently completed the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in China and renovated the North Delegates’ Lounge at the United Nations buildings in New York in collaboration with Hella Jongerius. See more architecture by OMA »

Other new buildings from Singapore include a hotel featuring balconies covered in tropical plants and contoured surfaces based on rock formations. See more architecture in Singapore »

Photos are copyright Dezeen.

The post The Interlace by OMA and Ole Scheeren
nears completion appeared first on Dezeen.

Dezeen and MINI World Tour: in our first video report from Singapore, Colin Seah of local architecture studio Ministry of Design tells us how the recent cultural shift away from mass-market shops and restaurants is helping transform attitudes towards design in the city. 

“Singapore was known as a clean and green city,” says Seah. “Clean almost to the point of being boring.”

“There seemed to be a saturation of mass-market experiences. But from 2000 to 2005, things started to rapidly open up. Singapore now is a lot more exciting.”

Seah claims that many Singaporeans are choosing to stay away from established chains, preferring to spend their money in more boutique shops and restaurants.

In the movie he takes us to two recently rejuvenated parts of the city where independent retailers and food outlets are flourishing.

The first is Dempsey Hill, a former British colonial army barracks to the west of the city centre, which now hosts a wide range of independent restaurants and cafes.

“It was the first major adaptive reuse project in Singapore, where a building that was once governmental or institutional was given back to the market,” says Seah. “That shift has taken root and you see more districts now being reclaimed this way.”

Closer to the city centre is Haji Lane, a narrow street lined with two-storey shophouses in the Arab quarter of the city, in sharp contrast to the towering skyscrapers of the nearby financial district that Singapore is more famous for.

“Along Haji Lane you’ll find maybe 30 independent boutiques,” says Seah. “Just a great amount of variety without having to see a brand that you would find also in California or the UK.”

One of the first boutique hotels in Singapore was designed by Seah’s studio, Ministry of Design. Called New Majestic Hotel, it comprises four converted shophouse tucked away down a quiet street in Singapore’s Chinatown.

Seah believes that the recent demand for hotels like New Majestic Hotel provides an important source of work for designers in the city.

“Without this increased level of curiosity and diversity, firms like ours would not really be able to exist,” he says. “There would just be no market for the work that we do.”

He also believes that the cultural shift is encouraging more young people to study architecture and design.

“Because of the need for more firms to provide work of this nature, I think young people feel that it’s less of a risk to enter the design field,” he says.

“In Singapore, most of our parents want us to be accountants or lawyers or doctors. [To be an] architect is a bit dodgy and [if you study] interior design or art, you’re a lost cause. But not any more.”

Singapore’s government is also starting to take design seriously, Seah says. In 2008 it established SOTA (School of the Arts), which offers an arts and design-based curriculum for 13 to 18 year olds.

Private art schools have also emerged, such as Lasalle College of the Arts, designed by Singapore practice RSP Architects.

“Schools like SOTA are not just great physical examples of architecture,” Seah concludes. “They are also symbols of where Singapore is headed in terms of culture, in terms of design.”

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

See all our coverage of World Architecture Festival 2013 »

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.

Watch all our Dezeen and MINI World Tour movies »

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lawyers or doctors. Not anymore.” appeared first on Dezeen.