Design In Print 7.2 - Private Social Spaces 2016

PRIVATE SOCIAL SPACES

REDPAN

GOODLIFE! MAKAN

CINEMAXX JUNIOR

IN FOCUS

BUILDING CAMARADERIE

REDEFINING AND EXPANDING THE MOVIE-GOING EXPERIENCE

A VIBRANT AND INCLUSIVE SETTING

ESTABLISHING VISUAL RELATIONSHIP

MCI (P) 009/08/2016

IN DEPTH

www.dpa.com.sg

IN DEPTH

VOLUME 7 NUMBER 2 2016 SINGAPORE

Vo l u m e 7 N u m b e r 2 , 2 0 1 6 , S i n g a p o re

Letter from the Guest Editor

CONTENTS

Dear Readers, “We depend on our surroundings obliquely to embody the moods and ideas we respect and then to remind us of them. We look to our buildings to hold us, like a kind of psychological mould, to a helpful vision of ourselves.” – Alain de Botton, The Architecture of Happiness The fabric of society is its people, woven from an interconnected and complex web of social circles. With technology changing the way we reach out to and communicate with each other, how society operates and interacts is changing quicker than ever. As technology enables greater mobility and productivity, increasing work pressures, social priorities and lifestyle expectations make equal demands on a modern individual’s limited resources of time and attention.

A well-designed social environment encourages multiple activities, multi-tasking and networking; and the physical space optimises social flow and support intended social frameworks, building bridges between disparate people.

The architectural and interior design projects featured in this issue aim to redefine how designers look at social spaces, amalgamating different typologies as unique responses to multiple user requirements. In the case of redpan, restaurants are no longer just for dining, but can double up as a space for meetings, creative discussions and events. For Cinemaxx Junior, the cinema serves more than its singular purpose; integrated with a playground, it becomes an environment that rethinks the movie-going experience, expanding the notion of family entertainment. In Goodlife! Makan, the ubiquitous HDB void deck serves as a communal kitchen that considers the mental and physical wellness of senior citizens, while facilitating multi-generational exchanges within the community.

Design innovation requires the will to experiment and forward-thinking partners, to generate progressive ideas that respond to people’s varied and dynamic socio-psychological needs. The common thread that unites these projects is the simple desire to use architecture to enhance human happiness and spirit. In this way, together with its clients and partners, DP consistently experiments with the creation of memorable gathering places.

The latest happenings in DP

Vikas M Gore receives distinguished alumni award DPians get involved with community service

Short takes on new & notable projects

01 Paya Lebar Quarter 02 Premier Inn 03 Centrium Square 04 Hexacube 05 Singapore Post Centre 06 Virgo IT Park 07 Chuang Yuan Tower

Featured projects

redpan Goodlife! Makan Cinemaxx Junior

Architectural lighting design

Establishing Visual Relationship

Awards & events

CJC Career Fest SUTD Distinguished Industry Speaker Series DPA is Top 10 Firm Healthcare Design Challenges and Trends in Asia

DP interview

Interview with Kevin Sturrock Mike Lim Director, DP Design Celebration of past projects

Angelene Chan

Graphics

Content

Editorial

Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage, 1995

Bonnie Oeni Teo Puat Wen Toh Bee Ping

DESIGN IN PRINT TEAM

Loh Yew Cheng Lee Hui Yee Fu Tingting

Writers: Kevin Sturrock, Leong Wei Lin & Seah Chee Huang.

Contributors: Jackie Poh & Pocholo Mauricio.

Cover image: redpan

| The latest happenings in DP

Vikas M Gore receives

distinguished alumni award

DPians get involved with

community service

DP Architects encourages its staff to get involved with community service and help make a positive social impact as a firm. On 17 April, 23 DPians from different departments and project teams came together to prepare meals at the Willing Hearts soup kitchen. This community outreach programme provided a platform to serve the community and bring employees together. Willing Hearts is a charity that prepares, cooks and distributes 4,500 meals daily to the lessprivileged all year round. The beneficiaries include the elderly, disabled, low-income families, children from single-parent families, and migrant workers. This event at Willing Hearts is managed by DP Life, the firm’s recreation club which organises recreational, sports and community involvement programmes.

Vikas M Gore (middle) with his son and daughter-in-law at the award ceremony.

DP Architects Director Mr Vikas M Gore was recognised with an award as a distinguished alumnus of The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, USA. He was honoured for his professional achievements and contributions in the field of architecture. In his speech, Mr Gore shared his love for architecture and, true to the DP’s spirit, emphasised that all projects he has worked on have been collaborative efforts with his colleagues.

The Sam Fox School Awards for Distinction recognises alumni and other individuals for their service to the art, architecture and design profession; the community or the university. The awards dinner was held on 31 March at The Palladium in St Louis.

01

Short takes on new & notable projects

Paya Lebar Quarter Singapore

Directly connected to the dual MRT lines at Paya Lebar Interchange, the centrally located Paya Lebar Quarter is a fourhectare mixed-use development that will comprise 93,000 square metres of next generation work spaces and amenities in three Grade A towers, a standalone mid-to-mid plus mall with a retail area of 31,600 square metres, as well as a 429-unit private residential development with covered access to the surrounding shopping and lifestyle amenities. The office towers, retail mall and residences are connected at the second storey via an elevated pedestrian network.

The retail mall will offer six floors of retail, a floor with cinema and other entertainment offers, and a rooftop garden. This will be linked to two 14-storey office blocks via a public plaza, which allows seamless

mixed development

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pedestrian connections at the ground plane between the MRT, retail and office plots. A public promenade separates the residences and another single 13-storey office block. The plaza and promenade provide covered urban spaces and a lush garden setting respectively for community events.

Inspired by the intricate weaving patterns of the Songket, a traditional brocade textile of the Malays, the design language and goldand-silver colour palette for the façade, interior and landscape designs seek to unify the buildings and public areas, and seamlessly weave the four plots into a single tapestry.

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Short takes on new & notable projects

hotel

03

Centrium Square Singapore

Located in Little India, Centrium Square, formerly Serangoon Plaza, is a 19-storey mixed-use commercial development that comprises offices, medical suites and a two-storey retail with multi-storey car park and sky terrace.

02

Premier Inn

mixed development

With 115m long frontages, the use of tessellation patterns and a colourful scheme on the podium façade not only creates a distinct identity for Centrium Square, but also relates to the rich heritage and multi-sensorial aspects of the Little India streetscape. The decorative façade screen with varying heights is a modern interpretation of the historical shophouse streetscape, composed of varying heights, fine textures with intricate and colourful detailed decorations. Vertical slots accentuate the façade screen as an expression of the shophouse party wall rhythmic datum.

Singapore

Premier Inn is a 15-storey hotel development situated along the revitalised Beach Road. Centrally located near the iconic Golden Mile Complex, the design approach seeks contextual sensitivity while establishing the exclusiveness of the hotel. The hotel features 300 18sqm standard rooms, and has amenities including an all-day dining restaurant and a rooftop swimming pool.

mixed development

The rhythmic architectural frames in three shades of grey distinguish the building from its surrounding colourful counterparts. The overall interior concept extends the corporate branding of the UK-based hotel operator.

The interior design in the second-storey podium, where the hotel lobby and restaurant are located, reflects the Peranakan influence that is part of the cultural context of the Kallang region. The bold materials, colours and shapes at the restaurant create a vibrant and inviting social space.

04

Hexacube Singapore

Located at the corner of Changi Road and Lorong 105 Changi, near Eunos MRT Station, Hexacube is a five-storey mixed-use development that comprises three levels of office spaces, three levels of retail and a basement car park. The façade design uses hexagonal geometry, interwoven in shades of champagne gold and bronze-coloured perforated metal claddings. The elegant architectural expression announces Hexacube’s presence to passing traffic; the use of the same geometry in the interior spaces creates a sense of uniformity and continuity in the transition from the outside to the inside.

The ground-floor lawn serves as an urban green space, while providing a visual connection to retail outlets along the frontage facing Changi Road. All office spaces are designed to bring in sunlight and offer views of greenery. The fifth-storey penthouse office units offer generous floor-to-floor volumes of 5 to 7.5 metres, which allow creativity in office-design planning.

Singapore Post Centre is located within the upcoming Paya Lebar commercial hub, and will integrate eCommerce logistics solutions. The mall will offer greater convenience and choice to consumers, housing online retailers as well as offline brick-and-mortar shops under one roof. The project is an addition and alteration to the existing building, with an increased retail component measuring a gross floor area of 25,000 square metres. This includes SingPost’s flagship post office, a 2,000sqm supermarket in the basement, eight cinema halls, a food court and a playground at the roof garden.

Singapore

commercial

05

Singapore Post Centre

06

Virgo IT Park India

commercial

The Singapore Post Centre retail extension adopts a glass-and-steel design that complements the old section of the building. Clarity of form, the use of exposed steel girders, neutral colours and placid linearity create an uncluttered silhouette that portrays qualities of timelessness and sophistication. Machine-milled profiles and modern materials in the interior spaces express a disciplined, clean and industrial-chic aesthetic.

Daylight penetration and atrial views of greenery humanise the interior and create a naturally pleasant, well-balanced environment.

Virgo IT Park is situated within the Bagmane Constellation Tech Park, Bangalore, an expansive office campus at the heart of Bangalore’s IT corridor. The development is a single block expressed as a series of interlocking modules.

The modules are designed to be almost equal in size, yielding a high rentable area of about 7,500 square metres on each floor.

office

The vehicular drop-offs are located at the second storey and accessible from the first storey via a ceremonial ramp.

1,400 car park lots are distributed across the basements and in the multi-storey podium. The second-storey main entrance features a landscaped terrace and a contemporary lobby that complements the world-class IT campus.

07

Chuang Yuan Tower China

Chuang Yuan Tower is located within the Urban Core Creative Hub of Nanjing High-Tech Zone Park in China. The design takes into consideration land-use efficiency, low-density public space and occupants’ privacy, resulting in a ten-storey open-plan office tower atop a five-storey spiralling podium of hotel rooms and ancillary facilities. The podium green roof extends to the surrounding landscape and community park, complete with views of the scenic Laoshan National Forest Park. Restaurants and cafes line the deck, activating the public space.

The guestrooms in the podium are situated along the south wing; outwardfacing rooms enjoy views of the public greenery and an ecological greenisland, while the inner rooms enjoy a garden view. A pattern of alternating vertical aluminium and laminated dichroic glass fins wrap the glass curtainwall of the podium, while the office tower adopts aluminium fins to reduce glare. Chuang Yuan Tower aims to take the lead in creating a comfortable, engaging and sustainable urban environment in the tech park typology.

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Featured projects

redpan

By Bonnie Oeni

BUILDING CAMARADERIE

redpan began with a simple wish to share good food in a good setting, a ‘living room’ that nurtures interaction and creativity, where ideas can be exchanged over a casual, convivial meal. From the observation that DP’s own architects and staff like to hold informal work discussions at cafes near the office, the architecture firm conceived redpan as an exercise in building camaraderie in an urban environment where the line between work and play is increasingly blurred. The restaurant is in Marina Square, where the firm’s headquarters is located.

DP picked local restaurateurs The Food Explorer Group, owners of popular bistro GRUB, as creative partners in this ‘love affair’ between design and food. This first joint F&B venture between DP and GRUB has allowed both parties to focus on their strengths of design and food development respectively, each bringing their best to their table. The ‘red’ in the restaurant name represents the fully Singaporean labour of love, while ‘pan’ refers to the culinary essential where two very different industries – design and food – can cook up something creative together.

THE FOCUS LIES IN CREATING THE RIGHT ATMOSPHERE TO INSPIRE SOCIAL INTERACTION

YEAR: 2016

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AREA: 185 SQM

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SINGAPORE

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Featured projects

Creating a dining space that conjures up conviviality and joy takes into account how a space makes people feel and think. Keeping with DP’s design philosophy, the aspiration was for redpan to be a delightful and memorable space that enriches the human experience. At the onset, the designers had to dig deep to think about place-making ingredients that would transform the modest space into a happy one that creates memories. It was also a challenge to accommodate within the intimate space a fully functioning kitchen, bar, dining area and a private room with audio-visual equipment, while balancing design demands with prudent resources and a tight timeline.

The designers had to deliberate over creating a multi-functional space that is warm and vibrant, and conveys a sense of chic without relying on extravagant decoration and furnishing. To achieve this, the concept was distilled down to one simple, core design element – generous curves and rounded corners that add hints of sophistication, dynamism and softness to a functional design.

The playful curves keep redpan less structured, creating a fluid and welcoming space that helps to stimulate conviviality and a sense of relaxation on an intuitive level. Purpose-built half-height walls crafted from stacked layers of plywood visually connect the space to the rest of the

THE PLAYFUL CURVES CREATE A FLUID AND WELCOMING SPACE THAT HELPS TO STIMULATE CONVIVIALITY AND A SENSE OF RELAXATION ON AN INTUITIVE LEVEL shopping mall, so that patrons are drawn to the accessibility of the space. The unfinished plywood reflects the focus on the earthy honesty of materials. The interior architecture is pared down to its elementary forms; architectural contouring, inspired by the process of modelmaking, is used to elevate the basic building materials, creating an unpretentious setting that allows users to respond intuitively to the space. redpan’s challenges allowed DP to experiment with the creative reconfiguration of costeffective material, lighting levels and the positioning of elements. The strategic placement of colours and carefully chosen furniture transforms the space into comfortable den-like corners and cosy spaces, offering booths, a bar, a private room, and a freestanding dining area with a generous skylight reminiscent of an alfresco terrace.

DP Design Team Members: (left to right) Raymond Lopez, Connie Supat Gonzales, Angela Perez, John Tan, Mike Lim & Bhavna Singhal Kapur.

Top: The open, multifunctional space conveys a sense of chic without relying on extravagant decoration and furnishing.

Right: An early sketch showing the curve elements in the restaurant design. The curves create a fluid and welcoming space that helps to stimulate conviviality and a sense of relaxation.

Below: The generous skylight brings plenty of natural light into the freestanding dining area.

The custom-designed hanging glass feature comprises 2,000 glass pieces individually adjusted by hand to follow the restaurant’s distinctive curves.

To broaden the restaurant’s appeal to working professionals in the area, redpan was designed to be classy and chic. Design accents, like the custom-designed hanging glass feature, create visual interest and depth in the tastefully understated restaurant design. Unique to redpan, the feature comprises 2,000 glass pieces individually adjusted by hand over weeks to follow the restaurant’s distinctive curves.

The glass table in the private dining room, also custom-designed, is made completely out of thin glass panels, including the legs, to highlight the versatility of this sleek yet sturdy material in creating simple, stylish and elegant designs.

These highlights are celebratory toasts to local craftsmanship, innovation and DP’s attention

to detail. After all, to establish a convivial space that encourages social interaction, the focus lies in creating the right atmosphere to inspire that interaction – this calls for authenticity and a keen sensitivity to the little things that influence the poetics of space.

Established as part of DP’s ongoing experiment in various typologies – including lifestyle concepts, lifestyle business and creative merchandising – redpan is designed for a fun local dining experience, complemented

by GRUB’s inventive Singaporean fare, in a cosy communal space that highlights people’s essential relationship with food as the energy source of creative thought.

Right: This adaptable dining area can be easily transformed into a private meeting space by drawing the curtains with special acoustic properties.

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Featured projects

GOODLIFE! MAKAN A VIBRANT AND INCLUSIVE SETTING

By Seah Chee Huang

Goodlife! Makan is an innovative social initiative created by Montfort Care, a voluntary welfare organisation, to support ageing-in-place, built around meaningful pastimes that address the physical and mental wellness of seniors. This cheerfully designed 360sqm recreational centre is situated at the void deck of a HDB block in Marine Parade, with a communal kitchen as its nucleus.

The place aims largely at reconnecting stayalone elderly to the wider community to facilitate multi-generational exchanges. With cooking and dining together as the essence of the experience, this activity space provides opportunities for senior residents to interact and socialise through Singapore’s rich and easily understood food culture, while developing roles and responsibilities from the rituals of food preparation and consumption. The facility reinterprets social settings

Top: The communal kitchen was kept open and porous so that interaction and movement are organic and seamless, encouraging the elderly to meet and socialise.

Right: The space is designed to be well-ventilated, and the use of full-height glass doors creates an inviting setting and allows in natural light.

YEAR: 2016

Below: Due consideration was given to the movement patterns of the elderly, in their daily acts of

for the elderly, as a pioneering and alternative model that is inclusive and cost-efficient to create and maintain across open neighbourhoods.

cooking, dining and cleaning up together.

Bottom: Bright and dynamic colours were used to subtly differentiate the various functional zones within the centre.

The design team worked closely with the client to understand the emotional, psychological and social needs of the growing aged community in Singapore. The comfortable and attractive design transformed the void deck into a social nucleus centred around the communal activity of cooking and eating. Due consideration was given to the movement patterns of the elderly, in their daily acts of cooking, dining, cleaning up and mingling within an intimate space; these activities empower the seniors as active contributors of society.

Furthermore, through these activities, stories can be shared and friendships forged.

Respecting the spatial quality of a void deck, the design capitalised on its porous setting to create an open and fenceless compound, to reduce social stigma and address the psyche of the stay-alone seniors. The experimental design shifts away from conventional gated or glazed-up elderly activity

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AREA: 360 SQM

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SINGAPORE

centre models to create an inviting communal space, seamlessly integrated with surrounding streets and walkways. Through the use of an extensive array of full-height transparent glass doors along its entire frontage, Goodlife! Makan is highly accessible, while allowing effective crossventilation and daylight to flood the recreational and social space. The glass doors also keep the facility sheltered in the event of adverse weather conditions such as heavy rain or haze.

THE DESIGN RESPECTS THE SPATIAL QUALITY OF A VOID DECK TO CREATE AN OPEN AND FENCELESS COMPOUND THAT PROVIDES OPPORTUNITIES FOR SENIOR RESIDENTS TO SOCIALISE THROUGH THE COMMUNAL ACTIVITY OF COOKING AND EATING This notion of openness extends to the interior space where the kitchen forms the vibrant heart of the open plan, around which spaces were organised to complement the preparation and partaking of food. Strategically positioned mobile partitions allow the flexibility of multiple concurrent activities and events of different scales to take place.

Aligning with the client’s vision of ageing as an active and lively process, a bright and vivid palette of colours and textures were used to create a distinctive and vibrant setting. An integrated furniture and shelving system houses local spices, food ingredients and utensils which serve as wider textural indicators to reinforce the colour zoning and subtle differentiation of the various activity areas. Universally understood signages and pictograms aid elderly from all language and ethnic backgrounds to understand how to use the space. This inclusive gesture introduces a touch of fun and quirkiness to the community space, and contributes to its lively and dynamic character.

DPA Team Members: (left to right) Seah Chee Huang, Jazelle Ang, Brian Cheng & Laura Lye (not in photo).

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Featured projects

YEAR: 2016

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AREA: 750 SQM

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INDONESIA

CINEMAXX JUNIOR REDEFINING THE MOVIEGOING EXPERIENCE

By Leong Wei Lin

Cinemaxx Junior is the first cinema of its kind in Asia and breaks new ground in the typology, offering a blended experience of visual and physical entertainment for children and their families in fun and cheerful surroundings.

CINEMAXX JUNIOR IS THE FIRST CINEMA OF ITS KIND IN ASIA AND BREAKS NEW GROUND IN THE TYPOLOGY

Clockwise from top:

Wave steps at the

The screening area is a

mezzanine bridge lead

conducive environment for

to a tube slide in the

interaction and play.

screening area.

Main lobby of Lippo Village

The brightly coloured seating

Maxx Box, where Cinemaxx

designs encourage informality

Junior is located.

and parent-child bonding.

The concept of Cinemaxx Junior arose from the observation that families with young children often do not fully enjoy their first experiences together at the cinema, where silence is expected and parents pay more attention to their children than the movie. This created a unique opportunity to custom-design a space dedicated to children aged three to ten and their families, by bringing together the two enjoyable activities of movie-watching and playing. In a distinct departure from the traditional movie-going experience, Cinemaxx Junior redefines and expands the movie experience by offering patrons the freedom to move around at will. Children are not constrained to assigned seats, but are instead encouraged to explore the play and screening areas while interacting with other children in a fun and safe environment. With the play element fully integrated with the movie experience, parents and guardians no longer have to worry that their child would disturb other visitors, which exponentially increases their enjoyment of the space.

Designed to appeal to the eyes and senses, there is no linear set path to enjoy the space – a child can choose to slide, climb, crawl, jump, swing from place to place, or just spin lazily in a cocoon-shaped spinner. There are multiple points of entry into the screening area from the play area, and a variety of ways to reach them. One of the most exciting ways to enter would be to climb up the yellow ‘Wall-o-lla’, a play structure designed by Dutch company, Carve, to reach the tube slide, which lets children slide into a colourful ball pit right below the movie screen. Given the high ceiling of the play area, the design optimised the opportunity to create multi-level experiences by introducing a mezzanine level, and a bridge structure that serves as support for the climbing tree and connects to one of the entrances to the screening area. The bridge also leads to the longest of the four tube slides, mounted on a wall right within the screening area. The progressive DP 11

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Featured projects

approach to play and emphasis on tactility and social interaction fully immerse children in the space, while the non-directional circulation and programmatic paths encourage freedom of expression and independent thought, leading to new experiences.

seats. The non-conventional seats were also designed to foster parent-child bonding where, for example, the parent and child could choose to cuddle at the beanbags while watching the movie, much like how parents would cuddle their children while telling them bedtime stories at home.

THE PROGRESSIVE APPROACH TO PLAY AND EMPHASIS ON SOCIAL INTERACTION ENCOURAGE FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND INDEPENDENT THOUGHT, LEADING TO NEW EXPERIENCES

Extensive thought was put into the selection and design of the diverse range of play equipment to achieve a good balance of high physicality and low-impact activities for children to choose from.

The design of the washrooms was also catered for children, with majority of the fixtures installed at child-friendly heights, and spacious nursing and changing facilities are also provided.

The cinema accommodates 106 people at full capacity, translating to approximately 30 families per session. The seating configuration was specially designed to appeal to a child’s sensibilities, with four types of seats upholstered in stain-resistant vinyl fabrics in vibrant colours. The seating design encourages informality, with bean bags, loungers, sofa beds and standard cinema

Comprehensive and in-depth consideration was given to the design in terms of function, aesthetics, range of play equipment and lighting, with safety at the forefront. Lighting and sound designs had to cater to the high level of activity expected in the screening area. Specifically, special attention was paid to address safety concerns and ensure optimal viewing conditions.

While the overall lighting had to be dim, the overall lux level was kept between 80 and 100 lux to ensure that children running around can see their way clearly. Indirect lighting was also incorporated into the padded wall panelling in the form of whimsical lollipop-like trees to provide a

DPD Team Members: (left to right) Truong Tuan Phuong, Florian Lei Bautista, Riri Damayanti, Mike Lim, Calliope Lee, Dessy Budhianto, Leong Wei Lin & Faye Lee.

Below: The play area is an engaging environment that delights children’s minds; non-specific circulation promotes new experiences.

SCREENING AREA

Multi-level connections

Left: Sectional elevation

PLAY AREA

diagram showing the multilevel access points between the play and screening areas.

Middle: The play area caters to different levels of physicality with age-appropriate play zones and equipment. mezzanine

1st floor BALL PIT

Above: Play equipment in the play area include (from left to right): the Wall-o-lla play structure, the mega trampoline, and the climbing tree. Photos courtesy of Playpoint.

CONCESSIONS & TICKETING

diffused glow along the platform steps. Generous leg room provided along each platform allows for a safe passageway for running children. In the play area’s layered ceiling feature panels, a mixture of diffused cove lighting, wide-angle downlights and non-directional track-lighting were used to avoid excessive glare while maintaining a dynamic lighting atmosphere within the space.

More than its prescribed function of a playground and a cinema, Cinemaxx Junior’s seamless and skilful blending of the two separate recreational functions transforms the movie-going activity into an enriched family entertainment experience, and results in a celebration of family and togetherness.

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Architectural lighting design

Establishing Visual Relationship

By Kevin Sturrock

Light is a powerful tool that communicates something intangible – a mood, a value, a feeling. With intimate social spaces, the relationship between people in these spaces is mediated by light.

At an establishment like redpan, which caters to people of all ages, expectations are varied although the primary purpose is to enjoy food in a comfortable setting.

A restaurant should create an overall welcoming atmosphere – with differences in lighting ambience throughout the space to cater to different groups of people. There should be tables that are more brightly lit than others for customers who prefer to see the menu and food more clearly, or to take photos with their phones; as well as tables with less light for those hoping for a more intimate, private experience.

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Generally, within a retail mall interior, a brighter facility will encourage people to enter.

Subconsciously, humans like being in well-lit spaces. Lighting instils on an intuitive level the feeling of wellbeing, safeness, and of being provided for. Take for example a hospital: when it is brightly lit and you can see every surface better, the perception is that of a facility with a high level of cleanliness and efficiency. Lighting affects how people respond to a space. A higher sense of brightness does not necessarily mean more light, it just means certain surfaces have light focused on them a lot more carefully than other surfaces.

The human brain is always searching for natural conditions, like bright skies or an environment that simulates natural conditions.

At redpan, the light level is varied but generally bright; it has daylight from the ceiling, and from the side courtyard. The space feels open.

Subconsciously, people feel welcome and more inclined to enter an open space; it does not require loud graphics and flashy displays to attract attention. There is no dramatic difference between the lighting of the shopping mall and areas that define redpan; this helps boundaries disappear and blend the space with the mall.

The idea behind redpan is to have a space that connects people, that encourages them to interact with each other. The lighting is crucial in establishing this connection. The core of the restaurant is bright, you can see everyone around you. This level of brightness gives redpan vibrancy and energy as you enter. To one side of this, the private meeting space is subdued and formal when the curtains are drawn. On the other side, the freestanding area under the skylight provides the level of brightness that is perfect for a focused discussion, to help spark creativity and

Awards & events

Inspiring Future Architects CJC Career Fest

Catholic Junior College (CJC) students were given an informative talk on architecture as a profession by DP Architects Senior Associate Director and CJC alumnus Mr Ng San Son. Invited as a speaker for the school’s career fair on 19 May, Mr Ng spoke about discovering his passion in architecture and managing work challenges. He shared personal anecdotes of his professional experiences, which include notable projects such as River Safari, Orchard Central, myVillage, and the addition at St Andrew’s Cathedral. The talk was part of the school’s annual Think Careers and Higher Education Fest, which aimed to assist students to learn about different professions and make informed career choices.

Angelene Chan at

SUTD Distinguished Industry Speaker Series DP Architects Chief Executive Officer Ms Angelene Chan was invited to be part of the Distinguished Industry Speaker Series, organised

by Singapore University of Technology and Design’s School of Architecture and Sustainable Design on 11 April. Focusing on the topic ‘Singapore Urbanscapes: Refining Building Policies – A Perspective

by DP Architects’, she shared with architecture and design students the instrumental role the firm has played in shaping Singapore’s urbanscapes such as Orchard Road and Marina Bay from the firm’s early years till today.

get the best out of people’s heads. These distinct zones and varying levels of brightness will evoke differing emotions and intuitive responses within the people using the space.

The columnist is the director of DP Lighting. His approach to light is intuitive. He is passionate about sustainable lighting and understanding light’s relationship to human well-being.

Right: Varying levels of brightness at redpan’s distinct zones evoke differing emotions and intuitive responses within the people using the space.

DPA is Top 10 Firm

For 11 successive years DP Architects has been ranked among the top ten architecture firms in Singapore for 11 consecutive years by BCI Asia. At the annual BCI Asia Awards held at Conrad Centennial Singapore on 13 May, DPA received the Top 10 Architects Award for demonstrating its excellent performance in the local architecture industry. The award recognises the leading architecture firms that have contributed the most to the built environment in Southeast Asia in the preceding year.

DPA Director Chan Hui Min receives the award from Robert Krups (right), Chief Operating Officer of BCI Asia. On the left is Ng Tiong Ling, Managing Director of Brandt Asie. Photo courtesy of BCI Asia Construction Information Pte Ltd.

Healthcare Design

Challenges and Trends in Asia

Sitting left to right: Angela Lee, HKS Architects; Tania Wee, DP Healthcare; Julia Hager, HKS Architects; Salvador Castro Jr, SP Castro Inc; and Doreen Koh, CPG Consultants. Standing left to right: Eric Woo, ECRI Institute and Cheng Chye Chia, Surbana International Consultant. Photo courtesy of IBC Asia (S) Pte Ltd.

DP Healthcare Director Ms Tania Wee was invited to participate in a panel discussion at the 3rd Annual Healthcare Facilities Asia conference, held at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel Singapore on 24 May. Speaking on the topic ‘Hospital Design and Development Trends in Asia’, she gave insights on the challenges in designing and constructing healthcare facilities, and the future of healthcare design in the region. She spoke about the effect good design has on patients’ healing process and healthcare staff’s well-being.

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DP interview

In DP Lighting director Kevin Sturrock’s 28 years of experience in architectural lighting design, he has always believed that lighting should be an intrinsic part of the architect’s vision and set right from the “first concept scribble”. The founder of iLAB, a specialist lighting design consultancy, Kevin, who trained as an interior architect, has always enjoyed working with architects to realise the creative vision. For some time, he had been looking to consolidate his specialist practice with the right architecture firm. Having worked closely with DP Architects on various projects over many years, he found the firm’s vision of holistic, integrated design and delivery to be aligned with his own.

In early 2016, he and his iLAB team joined the DP group of companies to form DP Lighting. He shares with Design in Print his design philosophy.

An interview with

Kevin Sturrock

Interview by Teo Puat Wen

Tell us about your design principles and process.

KS: In my work, most of my time is spent dealing not with light sources, but with the forms and surfaces that light strikes. The priority is working with the architect or interior designer on what forms and surfaces they want or don’t want to see, and what will create the correct visual order for the building or buildings in question.

The key to successful architectural lighting is very simple. You need to get inside the mind of the architect from day one and try to understand the architect’s philosophy, vision, direction and priorities as clearly as possible. If he already has some concepts, we look at these together in sketch format on paper. Our process will then be to review to find opportunities to reveal the architectural form in a way that fulfils the vision – and also to search for efficiencies to minimise artificial light and maximise natural light, which is actually quite a creative process in itself. We can be very creative whilst still being sustainable.

For the architect to achieve the absolute best result, he must engage his lighting designer early on and push him to fully understand his intent and what needs to be achieved. In return, the lighting designer must symbiotically push back with creative possibilities that the architect may not have considered. That sharing of knowledge back into the architectural concept can really create a big result, not just lighting, but all elements such as form, its finishes and materials.

Also, it is really important to me to maximise the amount of sunlight used in a building. I think there is not enough design-time spent on maximising the use of natural lighting in architecture today. The lobbying of electrical power companies over the past century has maximised the quantum of artificial light (lux) that people believe they need to function, regardless of the presence of natural light. I really have a passion to try and help change that. After all, sunlight is still the most natural and healthiest light source available today, and it’s free!

Share with us a memorable project that you have worked on.

KS: One of the most memorable was Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Bilbao Museum. I was part of an extraordinarily experienced and creative team of architects and lighting designers. I

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was very young then, and was absorbing the processes like a sponge. I learned so much from that experience, both in the architect’s studio and the lighting designer’s studio. That was really about not lighting design per se. A lot of effort went into making a lighting system that wasn’t perceptible. There is not any of what I call lighting embellishment or lighting decoration.

That really made me think about light, about not seeing light but seeing the architecture. For the exterior, it was about the purity of the form and the surface, and how it should be seen, whether in sunlight or with artificial light emanating from inside out. That project taught me that a lot of time and effort goes into designing a lighting system that cannot be seen – like that old Mies quote, “Less is more”.

“The priority is working with the architect or interior designer on what forms and surfaces they want or do not want to see, what is important and what will create the correct visual order for the building or buildings in question. ”

– Kevin Sturrock

being on the planet to consciously manage their energy use wherever they are. There’s nothing really sustainable about leaving the lights on all night, or shipping or flying everyday materials all over the world to feed a corporate appetite.

Wherever our projects are, we must strive to make sure that most of the materials are actually manufactured in or near that location – I truly believe that this is possible today without any major compromises to design vision and quality.

So it’s extremely important to positively assess all possibilities from the local teams wherever you are; and in the process, you may realise most things can actually be sourced next door.

This individual conscious responsibility is true sustainability; a consciousness that may also benefit local economies and help to maintain the localised social infrastructure that familes and communities rely on and are built around.

Working in India, for example, has shown me that Indians are very individually conscious about what real sustainability is. They recycle everything.

I think the so-called developed world should be looking at the developing world more to see how they make something out of nothing!

Even with LEDs, lighting energy consumption is rising, especially in offices, because people think, “Ah, we’ve got LED lights, we can leave them on all the time because they last longer.” That’s a myth. We all have to be more consciously responsible.

What will it take for sustainable practices to become fully integrated in the lighting design process?

What is your favourite space and how does lighting contribute to the quality of that space?

KS: On one hand, there are Artificial Intelligence technologies now that can analytically control lighting in commercial and residential spaces – as well as analyse available daylight harvesting.

These systems analyse in real-time the human interaction throughout a building and immediately learn the usage-preferences or habits of the users to adjust the artificial lighting and daylight control systems in the most energy-saving way they can.

For these systems to become more widespread, it is the end-users that need to be more demanding in their expectations, and also more willing to fork out more money up front to attain the eventual energy savings and payback.

KS: My favourite space would be the top of a mountain in the middle of summer in Scotland. I love watching the sky change above me, in terms of the light and its colours striking the landscape. I have not gone back for some time, and I yearn for it. My heart has a strong connection with that very distinctive quality of light in the Scottish sky, which is ever-changing. That inspired me as a child, and it still inspires me.

On the other hand, it also comes down to individual responsibility, to every single human

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Tell us something about yourself that few people know about.

KS: I wanted to be an astronaut – all young boys wanted to be one when I was young, but I truly did. I would love to travel across the universe and back.

T: +65 6338 3988 F: +65 6337 9989 E: designinprint@dpa.com.sg W: www.dpa.com.sg Photo Contributors: Bonnie Oeni, Lim Sheau Miin, Loh Yew Cheng, Marc Tey, Nirmala PuruShotam, Pocholo Mauricio & Teo Puat Wen. All photos are credited to the mentioned photographers unless otherwise stated.

DP 17

Located at the Symphony Lake in the Singapore Botanic Gardens, the Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage is a popular and iconic venue where visitors enjoy musical and theatrical performances on a lawn amid lush and serene greenery. The banks of the lake form a natural amphitheatre that looks towards the performance stage.

The design of the stage is inspired by music and nature. The masts holding up the roof canopy resemble dancing musical notes from the front view, and the arched canopy roof works like a gramophone to project the sound across the lake towards the audience. The roof structure fans out like the vein pattern of a leaf, a reference to its location in Palm Valley.

Project Team: Gan Eng Oon, Lydia Fong, Chan Hui Min and Pablo Gonzales.

Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage

1995