Hasta La Ideas

World Architecture Festival 2012: Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs talks to Wilkinson Eyre Architects‘ Paul Baker in this interview filmed just moments after the firm’s Cooled Conservatories for the Gardens by the Bay tropical gardens in Singapore was named World Building of the Year at the World Architecture Festival today.

In the movie, Baker explains that to build cooling greenhouses in the tropics was “an extraordinarily tough thing to do” and required “proper collaboration, not the genius idea”. The two structures are the largest climate-controlled greenhouses in the world and include a 30-metre-high man-made waterfall – read more in our earlier story.

The winners were announced at the Marina Bay Sands hotel and conference centre, which is situated next to the Gardens by the Bay. See category winners from days one and two plus the Landscape of the Year and Future Project of the Year in our special category.

Dezeen is media partner for the festival and we’ll be publishing a series on interviews with selected winners soon.

Photography is by Craig Sheppard.

The post Movie: Wilkinson Eyre Architects on winning
World Building of the Year appeared first on Dezeen.

Architecture studios FARM and KD Architects have converted a 1920s shophouse in Singapore into a residence with a swimming pool stretched along the ground floor.

Long, narrow shophouses are a typical building typology in Southeast Asia and the Pool Shophouse is one of eight renovated properties in the Lorong 24A Shophouse Series, for which various architects were asked to adapt and extend properties in the Geylang neighbourhood.

Architects Tiah Nan Chyuan and Lee Hui Lian explain how they wanted to create “an insertion” rather than “an extension” to the building. “One experiences the continuity of space through a series of stairs that loop through the shophouse,” they say.

The staircases they refer to zigzag back and forth through the house to connect the three existing floors with the four-storey extension, which contains bedrooms within its upper storeys.

Narrow strips of lighting highlight the gaps between these new staircases and the exposed brick walls of the original building.

Light filters into the house through a skylight at the centre, which is screened behind a louvred ceiling.

We’ve published a couple of stories about shophouses, including two converted into live-work units in Bangkok and an office shaped like a giant periscope.

Photographer Peter Nitsch also documented shophouses in a series of images from 2010.

See more projects from Singapore »

Photography is by Jeremy San.

Here’s some project details from FARM:

The Pool Shophouse

Location: Lorong 24A Geylang, Singapore

Design Consultants: FARM in collaboration with KD Architects
Design team: Kurjanto Slamet, Tiah Nan Chyuan, Lee Hui Lian

Land area: (in m2) 143.30 sqm
Built-in GFA: (in m2) 366.94 sqm
Project Year: 2012

Ground floor plan – click above for larger image

First floor plan – click above for larger image

Second floor plan – click above for larger image

Third floor plan – click above for larger image

Roof plan – click above for larger image

Long section 1 – click above for larger image

Long section 2 – click above for larger image

Front and rear elevations – click above for larger image

The post The Pool Shophouse by FARM
and KD Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

This combined house and gallery in Singapore by architecture studio Lekker Design comprises a single rectilinear building with another twisted inside it.

The twisted inner volume towers up through the roof to house the bedrooms and other private spaces of the residence, keeping them separate from the triple-height gallery on the ground floor.

A boxy staircase leads up from the gallery to the floor above and passes by a perforated metal screen that shields a window to the bathroom.

The narrow building forms part of an existing row of houses, located in the red light district to the north-east of the city centre.

Other combined houses and galleries we’ve featured include a residence for Australian artists in Japan and a gallery beneath a pool of water in South Korea.

Above: photograph is by Eugene Goh/Light Works Photography

Photography is by Darren Soh/FullframePhotos, apart from where otherwise stated.

The text below is from the architects:

This is a small building, with two programs – a house and an art gallery – squeezed into a very dense envelope, in the midst of Singapore’s red light district.

The design attempted to balance this programmatic double-life through a play of two volumes. The lower volume contains a triple-height gallery and kitchen.

Above is a rotated tower, which appears to be partially suspended below the ceiling of the gallery; this holds the bedrooms and private spaces. The building has been designed such that the client may open the gallery to the public, via a separate access.

The Gallery House is sited in a typical Singaporean lot, between two very long party walls. In order to bring natural light deep into the interior, a series of small gardens have been extracted from the facade and roofline.

This creates a complex series of nested spaces, merging the interior with tropical landscape.

Ground floor plan – click above for larger image

Rooms are unexpectedly located and strangely formed, partially overlapping with others or sharing views of interior canyon spaces. The largest of these contains the main stair, which winds informally between rooms at front and back.

Upper floor plan – click above for larger image

Project title: Gallery House
Architects: Lekker Design
Location: Singapore
Size: 3,500 ft sq.
Project year: 2012
Design Team: Ong Ker-Shing, Joshua Comaroff, Germain Goh, Sio Lim, Peter Then, Joshua Feldman

Section – click above for larger image

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by Lekker Design appeared first on Dezeen.

Dutch architecture firm UNStudio has designed a skyscraper for Singapore that looks like a cactus.

Located within Singapore’s business district, the V on Shenton building for property developers UIC will replace an existing tower block that has housed the company since the 1970s.

The building will comprise a 23-storey office tower that matches the height of surrounding buildings, as well as a 53-storey residential tower that rises above.

Glass hexagons will be arranged in patterns across the facades of both towers, creating angled surfaces that will reflect light and provide shade. Its chamfered edges will glow blue at night.

Another recent proposal for Singapore by UNStudio is a tower with chunks missing from its facade.

See more stories about UNStudio »

Here’s some more information from UNStudio:

V on Shenton, Singapore, 2010-2016

Ben van Berkel / UNStudio have designed the new UIC building, ‘V on Shenton’, in the heart of Singapore’s Central Business District.

The former UIC Building dominated the city skyline as Singapore’s tallest building for many years since its completion in 1973 and was part of an important collection of towers located along Shenton Way in the heart of Singapore’s Central Business District.

Today, the area is undergoing rejuvenation and transformation and ‘V on Shenton’, the new UIC building, forms part of this redevelopment. The dual programming of ‘V on Shenton’, comprising office and residential, presents a unique situation in this area of the city.

The twin tower of ‘V on Shenton’ is comprised of a 23-storey office building and a 53-storey residential tower, with the dual programming of the building highlighted through its massing.

The office tower corresponds to the scale of the surrounding buildings and the street, while the residential tower rises up to distinguish itself from the neighbouring buildings. Above the third sky lobby the unit mix of the residential tower changes with a subtle display of its split core.

Facade

Just as the office and residential towers are of the same family of forms, so do their facades originate from the same family of patterns. The basic shape of the hexagon is used to create patterns that increase the performance of the facades with angles and shading devices that are responsive to the climatic conditions of Singapore. Along with systematic material variations, these geometric panels add texture and cohesion to the building, whilst reflecting light and pocketing shade. The texture and volume of the facade are important to maintaining the comfort of those living and working in the residential and office buildings. Shading devices and high-performance glass are important for developing a sustainable and liveable facade.

Ben van Berkel: “The pattern of the façade comprises four to five different textures, each varying depending on the programme. At times the glass of the façade creates texture through the relief effect and the coloured side lighting, whilst the volumetric balconies of the residences create a deep texture in the total volume of the building.“

Each tower is framed by “chamfers”; a line that unifies the composition of the residential tower, the office tower and the plinth. During daytime the chamfer appears smooth in contrast to the textured surfaces of the towers. At night the chamfer lights up as a continuous line framing building.

Ben van Berkel: “’V on Shenton’ will have an incredible presence within the whole organisation of the city and is in that respect a very public project. But we see it also as a sculptural object, where the continuous line of the chamfer highlights the form and where the different textures are not purely related to programme, but also ‘dress’ the building”

Lobbies

On the ground floor of the development stainless steel lines are inlaid into the floors and lines of light are traced across the ceiling, guiding pedestrians to their destination.

The office lobby is divided into a reception area and a large café which extends along the view corridor to create a lively atmosphere in the public areas.

Sky Gardens

The sky lobbies and the sky garden are an integral part of ‘V on Shenton’ and provide 360 degree views of Singapore. The most ample and diverse of the three sky gardens covers the entire 8th storey of the development. Here residents are able to take full advantage of the amenities while still having privacy to train or entertain guests.

Along with the facades, the sky gardens are an integral part of developing the sustainable lifestyle of ‘V on Shenton’. These lush green spaces provide a refuge from the city with the climate and vegetation naturally providing fresher, cleaner air.

At the two sky lobbies in the heart of the residential tower, residents are given even greater privacy combined with views of the city or the ocean. The residents of the penthouse levels will also have exclusive access to the outdoor roof terraces.

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by UNStudio appeared first on Dezeen.

The elevated garden of this Singapore house by architects Formwerkz creates a huge canopy to shelter bedrooms beneath.

Creating a figure of eight at first-floor level, the garden wraps around and divides a double-height living room from a kitchen and dining area with a study above.

A black scissor staircase climbs up through the canopy to provide exterior access to these first-floor rooms, while a white spiral staircase leads up from the raised garden to the attic study.

Large areas of glazing let natural daylight into the house, which filters in through thin vertical louvers.

If you’re interested in projects from Singapore you can check out a few more here.

Photography is by Jeremy San.

The text below was provided by Formwerkz Architects:

The Park House

Sited in the northeastern corner of the Singapore, the 2-1/2 storey house sits on a sunken piece of land facing a huge park next to the sea.

It is a house designed for a middle-age couple that entertains frequently.

The house is set low to the ground and all the bedrooms are placed on grade while the living spaces on the upper floors.

The bedrooms on the lower floors gets the shade and privacy from the garden and the boundary walls while the communal space on top, connects with the park across the street.

Click above for larger image

Capitalizing on the planning guidelines on Roof Eaves Setbacks, created a 2m wide apron all round the upper floor that stretches to form the car porch canopy.

Click above for larger image

The band of cantilevered concrete is planted on top, elevating the garden to the upper floor while shading the bedrooms on the ground.

Click above for larger image

Site area – 415 sqm
Built-up area – 250 sqm

Click above for larger image

Architect – Formwerkz Architects
Design Team – Gwen Tan, Berlin Lee, Stephen Lim, RuiLin

Click above for larger image

Structural – TEP Consultants Pte Ltd
Builder – PLC (2006) Pte Ltd