Cubes - Issue #102 Preview

CHECKLIST

GETTING YOU UP TO SPEED ON THE LATEST AND GREATEST

CHECKLIST

Small But Powerful Bang & Olufsen redefines the home stereo experience with its most advanced connected speaker to date. The Beolab 28 is a wireless smart speaker that not only allows the user to stream music instantly, but also adapts to any space, which ensures studio grade sound at all times. The speaker’s curtains magically open when the device is switched on or move when the sound beam is adjusted, indicating whether the speaker is in narrow or wide mode. A simple touch user interface found at the top of Beolab 28 lights up when approached thanks to built-in proximity sensors, visually inviting the user to interact with the product.

Double Duty Cubes

Space Furniture

Style and functionality converge in Baxter’s Ellipse Light Up desk designed by Federico Peri. The stone-top desk that comes in various patterns has an organic shape that gives its great lightness. Yet its most unique feature is the brass structure where the light is integrated. In Singapore, Baxter is available at Space Furniture.

New Luxury Cubes

TAK

The global pandemic has fundamentally changed the way we live and interact in spaces. As a response to the heightened desire for comfort and well-being indoors, TAK conceptualised the Lamitak Exclusive Collection of high-pressure laminates with five laminate families. Besides new variants in the Solid Core family, Savile (pictured), a large-format multi-layered laminate design inspired by the tradition and fine craftsmanship of bespoke men’s tailoring in Savile Row London joins the Repeatable laminate family. The Protak family features an impressive new range of laminates which have anti-fingerprint, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-glare properties as well as being stain- and scratchresistant. Existing collections include Bookmatched and artäk.

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COMMUNITY

Defining Relationships With Place Words Olha Romaniuk Portrait Photography Razin Mohamed Project Photography Various

Urbanist Adib Jalal explores our evolving relationships with the built environment and places connection at the heart of meaningful design.

Opposite: Adib Jalal is the creator of Urban Ideas, a platform to explore and share ideas about the city.

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CASE STUDIES

PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay is a renewal of a John Portman building with a ‘gardenin-a-hotel’ concept.

Green Remake PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay, by FDAT Words Yvonne Xu Photography Daniel Koh and Darren Soh

Opposite: The back of the lift-core has been transformed into a three-storey tall green wall.

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Thatch That The bird nest structures in the atrium, inspired by the songbirds this hotel atrium has always been known for, were created parametrically. “Parametric design allowed us to sculpt and modify not only the form of the pavilions but how the members wrap around and define the space – culminating at the apex. The whole pavilion is self-supporting and was fully fabricated overseas during Singapore’s Circuit Breaker period before being shipped and assembled on site,” says FDAT’s Donovan Soon.

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CASE STUDIES

Workplace designs that meet the demands of work and needs of people

Driving Positive Change IDP Education, by Siren Design With a focus on people, community and sustainability, IDP Education’s new corporate office in Melbourne, Australia is a refreshing and energising environment to work in. Pops of IDP Education’s signature blue and orange stand out, along with green spaces that complement the building’s Greenstar rating.

Rooms solely for staff well-being abound, including relaxation rooms and a gratitude area. Plants and biophilic design are abundant, responding to studies showing plants reduce worker fatigue. Uniquely, the Melbourne office designed by Siren Design also has a parenting room with lactation devices, a step towards increasing gender equity in the workspace. Meanwhile, future-

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focused technology makes the space accessible to all teams in more than 30 countries.

IDP Education doesn’t expect the world to return to its prepandemic state, and it’s these considerations that will future-proof IDP’s Melbourne office by fostering collaboration and promoting well-being, with best practice design in place to support employee health. The innovative and creative interiors bring co-workers together, enabling them to flourish as individuals and as a global family. Photography by Shannon McGrath. sirendesign.com.au

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Cultural Influences LinkedIn Shanghai, by M Moser Associates Following a successful collaboration with M Moser Associates in Silicon Valley and New York, LinkedIn once again engaged the firm’s design services in creating a dynamic workplace that reflects the locale and culture of Shanghai. M Moser Associates brought ‘park life’ into the workplace by drawing inspiration from the popular People’s Square in downtown Shanghai.

Unique furniture, custom lamps inspired by fan dancing (common in parks) and carpets with cultural imprints make for a warm welcome at the front of house.

Traditional design influence is also apparent on the brand logo that takes the form of a decorative window.

The user-centric experience further extends into the kitchen and the work area. The latter includes booths, small, open collaboration spaces, enclosed meeting rooms, phone booths, and training spaces to support various work demands. Photography by Vitus Lau. mmoser.com

Into The Jungle Citi Wealth Hub, by Ministry of Design Wealth management hubs can often feel pretty unremarkable but the Citi Wealth Hub in Singapore is highly imaginative. The 2,787-square-metre wealth management centre that spreads across four floors, the largest of its kind dedicated to Citigold and Citigold Private Client customers, was slated as the workplace of wealth specialists and relationship managers, and the polestar of their interaction with private clients.

While the building’s exterior may be sharp and angular in glass and steel, the interiors are all decidedly biophilic, with organic lines and rounded forms for a comfortable experience. Situated along Orchard Road, Citi Wealth Hub is a giant, glass conservatory, home to a veritable jungle. The foliage extends far beyond the main, clientfacing space, and it’s not just an afterthought. Greenery springs up like mini tropical islands at the centre of hot-desking areas, behind collaborative spaces and in other meeting rooms.

Conventional is exactly what Citi Wealth Hub isn’t. It sets a new benchmark in not only design for wealth hubs, but also workspace as a whole. Photography by Khoogj. modonline.com

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Yatofu Creatives pushes the boundaries of the traditional post office with contemporary retail and meaningful programming to revitalise the old bund in Ningbo, China.

Community Service Bund Post Office, by Yatofu Creatives Words Stephanie Peh Photography Wen Studio

Above: The Bund Post Office enhances the iconic shores of the Yongjiang River Bund while adding value to the community.

Opposite: An eye-catching staircase structure binds the spaces from the first floor to the mezzanine with a consistent visual language.

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CRITIQUE

Two Hong Kong design practices are encouraging people to pause and appreciate the spatial qualities of their local neighbourhoods.

CO-CREATION FOR THE GREATER GOOD Words Ian Tan Photography Various

The colloquial term for residents in Hong Kong is kaifong (街坊).

Broken up, the two Chinese characters represent streets and plazas, two common public spaces everyone would encounter.

Not surprising, kaifongs are often the best informed about their neighbourhoods. They share an inimitable relationship with familiar spaces they love and feel safe in. Many also have ideas on how these positive attributes could be enhanced.

Two architectural practices in Hong Kong, One Bite Design Studio (onebite) and Neighbourhood Innovation Lab by Architecture Commons (NI-Lab), established in 2014 and 2019 respectively, are leveraging on this wealth of knowledge not only for inspiration, but also to co-create spatial innovations with residents to foster a more inclusive and liveable neighbourhood.

Savouring places one bite at a time Placemaking is at the core of onebite’s identity as a multidisciplinary design practice. In fact, it features prominently in its motto ‘Interconnecting People and Making Places’. For founders Alan Cheung and Sarah Mui, people and places are inseparable.

This statement seems like a no-brainer, but the couple has observed how many large mixed-use developments have pulled residents living in high-rise apartments away from everyday activities that enliven streets.

Cheung and Mui sought to bridge this schism between urban spaces, residents, and the wider society by using design as a platform to attract and bring different communities together. Residents are encouraged to appreciate their neighbourhoods conscientiously by taking ‘one bite of life’ at a time, using food as a universal analogy everyone could understand.

onebite’s early projects likewise drew inspiration from food.

One of its first public engagement project, Archi-Cookies (2015), offered a light-hearted way to learn about architecture by turning building designs into cookies. The unique workshop was held in Hong Kong, Taipei, and Kuala Lumpur, attracting a wide spectrum of participants ranging from students to families. This reaffirmed their belief in design as an inclusive process suitable for all ages.

Subsequent projects such as An Object (2016) transformed a bicycle with an attached cart into a travelling installation. It became literally, a vehicle for onebite to place movable furniture in different public settings and observe how residents repurposed them to suit individual needs.

The practice was recently engaged to revitalise a number of underutilised rooftop sports grounds. It employed colourful floor graphics, witty slogans, and flexible play spaces to complement existing amenities such as basketball courts and running tracks. For a newly completed project above Ming Tak Shopping Centre, onebite piloted a ‘Girls Prioritised’ space to encourage more female participation in sports as public sports facilities, such as basketball courts, are mostly frequented by men. The customised signposts and floor graphics offered a practical yet gentle way to advocate gender equity and inclusivity through design.

Drawing innovations from neighbourhoods Authentic placemaking occurs when decision-makers listen, understand, and incorporate voices from the streets into solutions that truly serve the needs of users. Soliciting feedback is perceived to be harder in Asian cities compared to Western societies, as residents seemed less forthcoming to express their opinions.

Opposite: NI-Lab conducted an action-based design research in Wanchai, Hong Kong, to gather insights on how open spaces could be strategically activated and how neighbourly relationships may be fostered. Photo courtesy of NI-Lab.

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