TIANJIN STUDIO 2012 Case Study - HDB Hub, Singapore
Completed in 1983, the State Transportation Building is a public mixed use development which includes offices of the Massachusetts Department of Transport and Massachusetts Bay Transport Authority, the Massachusetts State Transportation Library, the Transportation Children’s Centre, as well as offices for the adjacent Emerson College. The first storey is leased and operated by a retail operator, and includes a food court, retail and food & beverage uses and a bank. The design of the building incorporates a voluminous skylit atrium above the first storey foodcourt and public seating area, and an important enclosed link between Stuart Street and Boylston Place alley. The building is also acknowledged as a pioneer “green” building, with an innovative heat recovery system which allows the building to operate over the last 25 years at approximately 70% the energy costs of comparable buildings.
The Housing & Development Board HDB Hub in Toa Payoh, Singapore, is an important public building with an integrated airconditioned bus interchange/MRT station and more than 186,000 sqft of retail, food & beverage, banking, childcare, children’s education and other amenities. The Hub houses HDB offices, service counters which handle all public flat home buying, selling and other related administration services, exhibition scale models for prospective home-owners, mockup show flats, etc. An ecosystem of home-buying related offices has also emerged, including banking, lawyer and insurance firms. The Hub, which comprises a popular public event hall, has become the key activity hive in Toa Payoh Town Centre. The building is also the recipient of Singapore’s Green Mark Gold Award with its green design features.
STREET
FOOD & BEVERAGE, RETAIL FOOD COURT / PUBLIC SEATING PUBLIC CIRCULATION
CHA
TREMONT
BOYLSTON PLACE
Case Study - State Transportation Building, Boston
S RLE E STR ET S TH
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STUART STREET
Figure 10.2: State Transportation Building Sources: Photos (author), Plan adapted from www.cityplaceboston.com 142
Figure 10.3: HDB Hub home-buying & services lobby, Retail/Public event hall Sources: app.www.sg (top), 4.bp.blogspot.com (middle), Wikipedia (bottom)