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The path to a more resilient Singapore is ‘green’ architecture
ANALYSIS: ARCHITECTURE The path to a more resilient Singapore is ‘green’ architecture
M³ urbanism is the emerging trend in the country, architects claim.
Adaptable and healthier spaces with a focus on density and social elements will be the driving force behind new architecture in Singapore, leading architects say.
Urban design will likely revolve around bringing wellness that goes beyond physical health, but also encompasses emotional, environmental, and social aspects. AR Seah Chee Huang, CEO of DP Architects, said Singapore could shift to “purposeful redundancy” that will create more mediating spaces and civic environments that lead to public domains, greenery, and healthier buildings. This is also expected to pave the way for more automation and artificial intelligence incorporated in the design, intended to safeguard the people.
Redesigning a ‘healthier’ Singapore
Chee Huang said a volumetric approach to urban design, or M³ urbanism, will emerge as a trend in the next year as architects attempt to design areas meant to hold a healthy density. The approach seeks to provide a deeper sense of livable and resilient density and land use in three-dimensional synergy, he explained.
“The idea is to create selfsustainability within a single site with synergistic programming, facilities that are flexibly designed, and a network of shared domains, spaces of respites, and landscape terraces for enjoyment,” Chee Huang said.
Designs geared towards this approach reinforce concepts such as 10-minute walkability, and generally, 10-minute communities and economies. This is also in line with the government’s 2030 plans for residential areas to be within a 10-minute distance of a park.
“Healthier, more responsive, and breathable buildings” will emerge as the industry adopts biophilic design strategies that connect people to greener spaces. Features that will provide for contactless interactions, innovations in sanitation and sewage, and building materials that reduce the risk of spreading harmful pathogens will also be integrated.
As for the home and workplace, Chee Huang said the home has to be redesigned to feature “swing spaces” such as a balcony or sky-gardens; whilst the office will have to feature higher flexibility as it is seen to cater to a meet and exchange function in the post-pandemic norm.
“The future of architecture no longer only represents a physical space but more importantly, its
AR Seah Chee Huang
Design is going beyond just an aesthetic form (Photo: Raffles Hospital Extension
purpose, the planet, and its people,” Chee Huang said. “This means that design is going beyond just an aesthetic form; it is about how it affects the environment, its people, and vice versa.”
Building a crisis-ready SG
For the Surbana Jurong Group, as it was recently tapped by the government to retrofit buildings for care and recovery facilities and redesign spaces for safety in anticipation of the return of work activities—design in the new normal will likewise lean towards sustainability, leading to spaces that provide multiple functions that could also be useful in emergencies.
Ivy Koh, director of SJ architecture at Surbana Jurong, said that the key to prevention and crisis readiness in urban planning is a collaborative design that involves not just urban planners, but also healthcare architects, interior designers, and engineers, amongst others.
Koh expects demand for sustainable buildings with wellventilated and open green spaces to grow as people seek reconnection with nature after their capacity to move and engage in recreational activities have been limited for far too long.
Singapore will likely see interlocking pockets of gardens with mass public spaces. Homes must also be designed to provide in a way that allows occupants to find a balance to live, work, and play, as well as study.
Building a crisis-ready Singapore, however, does not end here as Koh raises the need to optimise urban spaces for agriculture and farming.
Surbana Jurong has developed the “Floating Ponds,” a high-intensity vertical farming concept for the production of fish and agricultural products. Koh said this allows farms to be commercially productive despite limited land.
“We plan to leverage our expertise in designing vertical farms to help Singapore achieve its ‘30 by 30’ goal of producing 30% of Singapore’s food locally by 2030,” she said.
Likewise, Swan & Maclaren Director Matthew Hon said greater importance will be given towards a “well-tempered environment, leading to more Biophilic design solutions.”
“The revisiting of existing commercial real-estate stock to better increase [environment, social, and governance] value, and lastly adjust design and fit-out work for the changes in work-live solutions of companies after COVID,” he said.
Additionally, medical and clinical wellness as key sectors will receive more focus, particularly in terms of creating better care facilities for the ageing population.
Grappling in uncertain times
Hon said the industry is reliant on investment positive feedback loops which do not go well with uncertainty and could likely lead to new development projects being put on hold.
“There is a sense that newer investments hesitate to be mobilized, even for early design stages, or are set on the back burner until that market certainty can be viewed on the horizon,” he said.
He shared that when the pandemic hit, Swan & Maclaren zeroed in on projects that could take advantage of periods of slowdowns, such as medical-related developments and infrastructure growth.
The firm also upgraded its standard of project delivery by training its staff, as well as strengthening its corporate system.
Techceleration of architecture
RSP, for its part, took initiatives towards digitalisation, enabling its stronger business collaboration with offices overseas.
“As a first approach to infection control, we are looking at wider circulation and de-centralised waiting areas,” Executive Director Law Yoke Foong of RSP said.
For Surbana Jurong, the impact of the health crisis, on top of the climate crisis, heightens the challenge for architecture firms.
The unpredictability of the weather, SJ architecture’s Koh said, may affect the design of buildings. In response to this, the firm utilised technology to enhance Building Information Modelling and Digital Twins that allow simulation of scenarios, climate change risks, and structural defects.
DP Architects also thrived through the crisis through digitalisation, but it flagged that it is possible that the current rate of digitalisation could lead to structural issues in the architecture industry, as well as the larger built environment value chain.
“Whilst this techceleration is appreciated as a strategic and important juncture for the industry in driving higher productivity and integrated digital delivery in design and across the value chain, the challenge lies with firms coping with the rate of change, upskilling in the midst of managing the disruption from the pandemic in work and operations,” DP Architects CEO Chee Huang said.
Law Yoke Foong
Ivy Koh
Matthew Honv
ARCHITECTURE LUMINARIES Young architects shaking up the industry in Singapore
The architecture scene will likely remain vibrant with young architects making a name for themselves, not just in Singapore, but also across the region. Equipped with creativity and innovative minds, Singapore Business Review has lined up architects aged 40 and under that have stood out amongst their peers. The lawyers from this list are arranged from youngest to oldest.
1 Konnie Kao, 33, RSP
Konnie Kao, a senior architect for RSP Architects, has bagged awards at an early age. In 2009, she conferred an award from the Habitat for Humanity Design Competition, hosted by the Singapore Institute of Architects and the New Model University Design Competition in Vietnam in 2014.
Kao obtained her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in Architecture from the National University of Singapore. In 2017, she received certification from the BA Academy as a Green Mark Manager. Later in 2019, she secured her license as a registered Architect with the Singapore Board of Architects.
She is currently working on the Funan Mall project, a six-storey retail podium with four levels above the group and two levels of basement. Apart from this project, she is also handling two towers of a six-storey premium Grade A office tower as well as one tower of a nine-storey housing coliving apartment.
2 Yew Hung Seng, 35, Swan & Maclaren
Yew Hung Seng, as a registered Architect with the Singapore Board of Architects, has been delivering projects in Singapore and the region for 10 years. Hung Seng’s project experience and fluent Mandarin-speaking skills have led him to be the key person in leading the various collaborative design work with overseas teams.
As an associate and team leader of Malaysia studio, Hung Seng works closely with the Malaysia design teams to come out with creative design solutions in the Malaysia building environment. The scope of work undertaken ranges from feasibility studies to concept design and project documentation to completion on site. Hung Seng has also been building a good relationship with China client’s network. The work liaising for China clients has led to various prestige projects, not only in China, but also in Cambodia and Thailand.
Hung Seng is a passionate member of the firm’s growth path. Besides the daily architectural works, Hung Seng is also leading the Public Relationship & Marketing (PRM) for the group.
3 Kwan Yeong Kang, 36, Swan & Maclaren
Kwan Yeong Kang, a senior architectural graduate, has been delivering projects in Singapore and the region for nine years. Yeong Kang was actively involved in a wide spectrum of building typologies and scale, including master plans, residential, hotels, and offices, from concept design to design development, both in Singapore and for overseas developments.
As a senior associate and studio head, Yeong Kang leads and organises the Design Creation team in the Singapore Office. Working closely with the design team, Yeong Kang was responsible for numerous feasibility studies and successfully won many design competitions. He was involved in several key projects, such as Raffles Specialist Centre and GSH Plaza, as a design architect. His roles include leading a multidiscipline design team from concept design to design development.
4 Madeni Jais, 36, RSP
Madeni Jais secured his Master of Architecture at the University of Western Australia in 2011. Today, he serves as a senior architect for RSP Architects and has been involved in major projects across Singapore.
This includes the alteration of the Al-Falah Mosque in Cairnhill Road in Singapore. He also worked on a $25.6m redevelopment project at the East Coast Park, as well as the $15.98m Masjid Maarof project. The latter comprises a four-storey mosque with basement carparks at Jurong West.
5 Atthaphon Bunya, 38, Swan & Maclaren
Atthaphon Bunya is a Thai Architect who is a registered architect with the Architect Council of Thailand and the Association of Siamese Architects. His over 12 years’ experience help to deliver various projects which are residential, institutional, recreational, hospitality, religious, hotel, commercial, mixeduse, and master plan. As a senior associate and senior architectural executive of Swan & Maclaren (Thailand), he leads, organises, and responds for Swan & Maclaren (Thailand) team to deliver projects by coordinating design and quality checking with Singapore and Malaysia team. His scope of
Danga Heights Holland Plaza
Masjib Maarof
Funan Mall Food Garden
responsibility covers feasibility studies, concept design, schematic design, design development, and design Implementation. He is also running the local project in Thailand and Cambodia. He is a member of the Company Design Creation committee, public relations, and marketing committee, which involves graphic design. Atthaphon is a creative designer, practical and responsible. He is a part of the growth of the company since 2011 and still continues to develop with the company with his full abilities.
6 Yue Shirong, 38,
Surbana Jurong
Shirong has worked in the construction industry since graduating from the National University of Singapore in 2009. Shirong continued his professional career in Surbana International Consultants (now Surbana Jurong) in 2014, where he currently serves as a senior principal architect. He later became a Registered Architect with the Board of Architects (Singapore) in 2015.
As both a design and project architect, Shirong has handled and managed a variety of projects ranging from industrial, institutional, to residential projects in Singapore and overseas. He has also worked on large scale urbanism projects, dealing with issues of connectivity and continuity in the public realm.
He has gained experience in a variety of highly technical and complex building types, such as Connect@Changi, the world’s first purpose-built short-stay facility designed which supports safe business travel exchanges, and Senoko Food Hub which won the BCA Green Mark Platinum Award in 2016.
As an architect, Shirong is committed to sustainable design. For this, he became a certified Green Mark Manager in 2015.
This commitment is also borne out in the Green Mark Gold, GoldPLUS, and Platinum awards that his projects have attained.
With a strong belief in the built environment’s impact on the productivity and morale of the occupants, Shirong and his team are always passionate about pursuing design excellence and integrated solutions for the client, creating a liveable environment that respects local culture and fosters human relationships and collaboration.
7 Hong Fenglin, 39,
SAA
Fenglin is a deputy director at SAA. Since joining the firm in 2010, she has worked on a wide spectrum of projects from infrastructure, commercial, mixed-use, residential, institutional, to industrial, both in local and overseas markets.
Fenglin is performance-driven with strong analytical and organisational skills.
She is a key personnel in the SAA Management Team and leads the Project and Technical Team in the company.
She has been instrumental in securing successful tenders for high-profile projects including Changi Airport Terminal 4, JTC Bulim Square, and JTC Pesawat. She has also successfully led her team in the planning, coordination, design, contract administration, and implementation of various types of projects like Commonwealth Towers, a 43-storey super high-rise twin tower residential condominium development; JTC Space @ Tuas, a 160,000sqm first-of-its-kind, high-rise industrial comprising mixed type factories, workers’ dormitories and amenities centre; and jem, a S$450m dollar mixed-use commercial development comprising of retail space and Grade A offices for the Ministry of National Development and Building Construction Authority.
8 Mark Wong, 40,
RSP
Mark Wong, currently an associate director at RSP Architects, has been a part of various projects in transport, retail and residential. His recent projects include the S$50m addition and alterations project at the Changi Airport Terminal 1 Retail West. Also amongst his projects are the 30-storey residential apartment Cairnhill nine that has 268 units and the $322.7m Terminal 1 expansion at Changi Airport.
Wong is a graduate of architecture from the National University of Singapore. He later obtained his Master of Architecture from the RMIT University in Australia. In 2019, he became a Registered Architect with the Board of Architects Singapore.
9 Robert Brodeth, 40, Ong&Ong
Robert Brodeth is an associate director for architecture at the Ong&Ong in Singapore. As an associate director, Brodeth handles the concept and design development of large-scale and prototype projects in the region. In particular, he has designed projects not only in Singapore, but also in Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka, VIetnam and most recently in the Philippines.
Amongst his notable projects are the 7-storey civic building Heatbeat@Bedok in Singapore, which has been recognised by the Building and Construction Authority in its Green Mark Award. He was also behind the redevelopment master plan of the Bataan Capitol in the Philippines. Prior to his time with Ong&Ong, he worked on mixed-use megaprojects that enhanced Singapore’s skyline.
Royal Platinum Residence Connect@Changi
Changi Terminal 1 Expansion
