MERIT AWARD
A SIMPLE HEADQUARTERS SINGAPORE DESIGN ARCHITECT: PENCIL OFFICE
ESIGN
ARCHITECT OF RECORD: TEAM DESIGN ARCHITECTS
“Built-out Brand,
Photo Credit: ©Finbar Fallon, Khoo Guo Jie & Ong Chan Hao
A Simple Headquarters is for a one hundred-year-old automotive distributor transitioning from a petroleum-based car distributorship to an electric one. Located in an industrial neighborhood of Singapore, the design incorporates a low energy, passive design with spatial equity. Designed as a background building to a series of street side show rooms, the architecture is subtle, refined, and calibrated to the equatorial context. The multi-function building houses high-performance repair and automotive maintenance facilities spread across six levels, performing as laboratories for the advance repairs of electric vehicles. The building contains car storage and display areas. The three additional stories comprise social spaces, corporate offices and a roof-top recreation area for staff. Two performing veils screen the building. On the exterior veil, a gradient of angled fins provides a sun-breaker, minimizing the building’s solar heat gain, important in the hot and wet context of Singapore.
The envelope’s porosity allows for six of the nine floors to be naturally ventilated. High performance louvers minimize monsoon rain intrusion while reducing sound transmission. The corporate workspaces set adjacent to the atrium focus on workplace resilience, allowing the company to make its transition from a petroleum company into an electric mobility company. The workspaces are also planned with equality between the workshop staff and the executive staff. For the 21st century electric economy, car repair staff are electrical and software engineers, mending complex automobiles based on digital and electric platforms. Employees interact equally making the historical division of blue- and white-collar staff irrelevant. A second veil surrounds a three-story interior atrium that serves as the main common space. The porosity of the interior veil allows cool air from an automotive gallery into the atrium allowing for corporate events and electric car launches. Access to views and daylight, passive design, and generous scaled spaces set the foundation for the company’s future while adapting to a climate-conscious forward-looking enterprise.
Interesting façade.”
Jury Comment
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