LEARNING ISSUE
A STUDENT BUSINESS TOWN UPDATES DP ANNOUNCES NEW DIRECTOR AND OTHER KEY APPOINTMENTS
NUS UTOWN LIVE, LEARN AND PLAY
SUTD
DESIGNING FOR NEW EDUCATIONAL DOCTRINES
www.dpa.com.sg
ITE COLLEGE WEST
IN DEPTH
MICA (P) 008/10/2011
IN DETAIL
VOLUME 2 NUMBER 4 2011 SINGAPORE
Volume 2 Number 4, 2011, Singapore
CONTENTS Letter from the Guest Editor The latest happenings in DP
Dear Readers, He who seeks, finds: Knowledge from within is the epitome of civility - Lao Tzu The development of places for higher learning has reached a zenith in Singapore. As we trace DP Architects’ commissions for polytechnics and universities from early projects to those more recent, we find that our firm’s rite of passage is similar to that of the nation’s educational models. An environment conducive to learning is a basic prerequisite for the pursuit of knowledge. Provision of such a place evolves in part through the moulding of physical spaces which are planned, designed and assembled to form meaningful enclosures that present users with opportunities to expound, extoll, exalt and exchange thoughts and beliefs. We’ve all been channelled through corridors, seated within classrooms, assembled in halls, strengthened our kinships at canteens, competed in fields and recorded thoughts in libraries. We’ve all learned what it means to learn. As hubs for the broadening of minds, places of learning must stimulate, excite, nurture, embrace, propel and promote excellence. Our challenge as architects is to define, orchestrate and provide a platform that stimulates and conducts the practices of transforming thoughts cogently into texts, deeds and accomplished experiments.
DP Announces New Director Full Day Job-Shadowing
Short takes on new & notable projects
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08
Mediapolis@one-north Freemasons’ Hall Four Acres Singapore Ngee Ann Polytechnic Campus Extension Tanglin Trust School Extension euHabitat Ista Hotel & G Corp Mall West Chateau
Featured projects
NUS UTown Master Plan Singapore University of Technology and Design
Design solutions
ITE College West
Awards & events
DP Architects has been remarkably fortunate to have partaken in the building of such a wide spectrum of institutions over the years. The firm has completed 14 primary and secondary schools, 3 aviation schools, 5 Junior Colleges, 14 vocational institutes, 5 polytechnics, 4 universities and counting. We have helped to shape an educational environment in Singapore that moulds minds.
New MediaCorp Headquarters Breaks Ground Skyrise Greenery Awards SIA Seminar ArchiTours 2011 International Green Building Conference
Learning is a life-long endeavour, and DP Architects is living by this canon through its continuous learning and development programmes.
DP personalities
Interview with Dadi Surya
Chin Thoe Chong, Director, DP Architects Pte Ltd
Celebration of past projects
Chan Hui Min Heng Chin Hong Nartano Lim Collin Anderson
DESIGN IN PRINT TEAM
Graphics
Writing
Editorial
St Andrew’s Junior College, 1981
Kyle Fulton Toh Bee Ping
Loh Yew Cheng Lek Noonchoo Fu Tingting
Additional contributors: Jackie Poh, Woo Jie Kai
Cover photo: Cinnamon & Tembusu Residential Colleges, NUS UTown, Singapore
DP ANNOUNCES NEW DIRECTOR
mixed development
| The latest happenings in DP
DP Architects announces the appointment of Mr Dadi Surya as the firm’s newest director with effect from 1 January 2012. Mr Surya joined DP Architects in 1990 upon receiving his Master of Architecture degree from the University of Wisconsin. Rising through the ranks, he has played a critical role in many of the firm’s notable projects including The Bayshore, The Trillium, Wisma Atria Shopping Centre, The Dubai Mall and Zhongshan Park mixed-use development. Mr Surya was instrumental in the firm’s successful expansion into Indonesia, leading the design direction for projects like Senayan City, The Peak residences, Central Park and Ciputra World Surabaya. Read the In Person feature on Dadi Surya on page 18.
Other Key Appointments | Short takes on new & notable projects
01
Mediapolis@one-north
Singapore
MediaCorp’s new 1.5 ha headquarters at Mediapolis@one-north will replace the company’s campus at Caldecott Hill, where it has been located since 1966. The project is being designed by DP Architects in partnership with Maki and Associates, Japan. It emphasises the collaborative nature of creative content production with features including a 1,600-seat theatre, two large production studios and an expansive open-workspace volume. A reflective exterior cladding expresses the media’s role as a lens for viewing the world and, in an effort to engage the public, the design integrates tour spaces that showcase the media-production sequence.
institutional
DP welcomes on board Mr Kris Shotam as Chief Information Officer and Mr Lee Boon Woei as Head of Environmentally Sustainable Design department. Mr Shotam brings to the firm over 30 years of experience in Information and Communications Technology. Prior to joining DP, Mr Lee was Head of Sustainable Design Technologies and Vice President of M&E Engineering at Surbana International Consultants.
FULL DAY JOB-SHADOWING For NJC students
Thirty junior-high students from National Junior College spent a day shadowing DP’s young architects. The day began with a walking tour of the firm’s projects in Marina Bay, including Esplanade–Theatres On the Bay, Millenia Walk, Singapore Flyer, Suntec City, The Fullerton Bay Hotel and One Marina Boulevard. The students were led by Alvin Arre, Collin Anderson, Low Chin Win, Nassar Zain and Widari Bahrin. Many of the office’s new architecture graduates also shared their final-year design proposals to give the students a taste of university studio-based design work.
02
Freemasons’ Hall Singapore
Built in 1879, the Freemasons’ Hall on Coleman Street is the meeting place for Freemasons in Singapore. The design of this A&A project intends to facilitate better understanding of Masonic culture and to encourage interaction among members and non-members through the use of new facilities. The conserved two-storey colonial building will welcome a new three-storey rear extension with basement; the two structures will be connected via a link-bridge on the second storey and through a new extended basement. The project is scheduled for completion in 2012. DP 03
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Four Acres Singapore
institutional
Singapore
institutional
03
Short takes on new & notable projects
04 Four Acres Singapore is a new world-class training and leadership development centre at Nepal Hill, a business park component of the one-north master plan. The development occupies a site area of 22,750 sqm. It consists of a 6,000 sqm training centre and ten conserved black-and-white bungalows to be utilised as in-campus participant accommodations. Located in a tree conservation area, the design and materials of the new training centre incorporate the colours of the conserved bungalows. The training centre’s dynamic, green roof reduces heat gain and its form responds to the undulating contours of Nepal Hill. The centre is expected to commence programmes in the first quarter of 2013.
institutional
05
Ngee Ann Polytechnic Campus Expansion Singapore
Ngee Ann Polytechnic will be transformed with building expansions and two interventions implemented for urban connectivity – the Student Village and the Agora student park. The Student Village and Agora will reinvent the campus core where a number of covered pedestrian thoroughfares converge. The park and new commercial hub will generate student and staff interaction. In Block 51, naturally ventilated cores will support the ‘floating’ form programmed with new lecture theatres and faculty facilities. Block 58 will be an especially permeable structure: view corridors, a central atrium and internal-external green decks will integrate the building with its surroundings.
Tanglin Trust School Extension Singapore
The new extension of Tanglin Trust School includes a five-storey senior school annex. It comprises canteen facilities on the first storey, learning spaces on the second, third and fourth storeys and a column-free examination hall on the fifth storey. A passenger lift serves every storey, and a new link-bridge connects the adjacent junior school block. The annex is equipped with a specialised chemical and computer laboratory, a music rehearsal room and a music recording and performance studio. In response to the materials of the existing school building, the annex has a brick façade with white windows. On the fifth storey, the façade is recessed with planters and full-height glass panels. Green building cladding elements include light shelves and a green wall.
06
euHabitat Singapore
residential
euHabitat launched a unique combination of four residential options inspired by different aspects of nature, all within one community: the Townhouse, the Condo, the Suites and the SOHO apartments. Each is designed to address the diverse lifestyle needs of families and individuals. The Townhouse features two-storey terrace homes with four bedrooms and a private roof pavilion. Lush landscaping and pools facilitate ambient cooling and garden living. The Condo offers a range of one-bedroom to four-bedroom units surrounded by greenery. Large balconies
West Chateau China
residential
hotel & retail
08
welcome nature into the homes. These towers are orientated north-south, with full-height windows providing maximum daylight and cross-ventilation. The Suites are spacious single-bedroom units designed boldly to reflect the individuality and chic lifestyles of young families. They are designed with a number of lifestyle pavilions and two lap pools to establish community. The voluminous SOHO apartments are light-filled and naturally ventilated units with floor-to-ceiling heights of 3.4 m; these spaces can be creatively adapted to maximise the flexibility of the living and working environment.
07
Ista Hotel & G Corp Mall India
The development is located adjacent to the Aga Khan Palace, in close proximity to the Pune International Airport. The design capitalises on the site’s extensive frontage: the façade along Nagar Road, a main artery leading into the city of Pune, is comprised of richly-grained granite; the west façade contains a coloured-glass mural which corresponds with the adjacent Aga Khan Palace. The Ista is a 215-key business hotel. Its grand drop-off is carved from the building to invite visitors into the main lobby. Internal landscaped courtyards at the second storey open to the sky and a pool with an intricately landscaped deck. The mall has four storeys of retail programme and a curved, single-circuit atrium. The dynamic, meandering form of the atrium offers shoppers an exploratory experience.
West Chateau is a 20 ha site located at the foothill of Baiwang Shan in the western suburbs of Beijing, a region historically recognised as a retreat for imperial visitors. With site coverage of 20 percent and green coverage of 35 percent, the design mantra for this luxury residential development is ‘Mansions in the Park’. The architecture combines Chinese and Western elements. Building form is divided into three parts – base, body and top – expressed by a distinctive horizontal capping at the fascia. Shallow-pitch roofs with large overhangs and cantilevered balconies work to create a low, horizontal line that blends the buildings with the landscape. The project comprises 400,000 sqm of construction area and offers 1,000 apartments ranging in size from 180 sqm to 400 sqm. DP 05
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Featured projects
NUS UTOWN MASTER PLAN Live, Learn and Play A NEW CAMPUS VILLAGE WILL HOST ACADEMIC, RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL SPACES TO REINVENT THE COLLEGE EXPERIENCE By Collin Anderson Master Plan designed in collaboration with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, USA. CREATE facility designed in collaboration with Perkins + Will, USA.
The National University of Singapore Town Master Plan (NUS UTown) project redevelops a golf course into a modern international campus and town centre planned along a green corridor. The design celebrates the pedestrian experience by redirecting vehicular roads to the site perimeter and transforming the land into a network of walkways that responds to the existing topography, hydrology and vegetation. The project explores the planning of live-in places within educational spaces. It seeks an integrated and multidisciplinary approach to the residential college system in an effort to
maximise interchange among an increasingly diverse student population. The master plan and architectural design project will be fully completed in 2013.
MASTER PLAN To establish an intimate campus environment, the master plan situates high-rise residential towers along an outer ‘ring road’ with low-rise buildings at the site’s interior, along the central pedestrian green. Building location and massing adapt to the landscape: the internal green
corridor accentuates the site’s varied topography with buildings positioned sequentially, and a town centre is located atop the highest contour. Academic, recreational and social anchors are strung along the length of the green, drawing users to specific destinations and filtering noises from the surrounding highway. Structures are connected by variously-scaled pockets of open greenery that also serve as collection points for passive and active interaction; these lawns are overlaid by a network of circulation paths. All UTown programmes will assimilate with those of the adjacent NUS Kent Ridge main campus.
YEAR: 2013
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AREA: 247,800 SQM
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SINGAPORE
1
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3
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CINNAMON & TEMBUSU RESIDENTIAL COLLEGES 5 6
7 8
= 1. Khaya & Angsana Residential Colleges 2. Future Development 3. Cinnamon & Tembusu Residential Colleges 4. Education Resource Centre 5. Graduate Residence 6. Town Green 7. EduSports Complex 8. CREATE
+ GREEN CORRIDOR
+ VEHICULAR RING ROAD
PEDESTRIAN PATH NETWORK
CAMPUS MASTER PLAN
DP 07
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Featured projects
RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE SYSTEM UTown seeks to establish a uniquely Singaporean interpretation of the residential college system. Though NUS already supports on-campus living with a number of existing dormitory halls, this expansion seeks a more integrated and multidisciplinary approach. With an increasingly diverse student population, the residential college system encourages flexibility to maximise social and cultural interchange for a holistic educational experience. An exploration of campuses around the world was completed to strategise this new planning arrangement. The UTown residential college system is an organisational pattern of university living that increases academic activity within a community setting of students and faculty – such as spaces for shared meals and group collaborative activities – and each college is headed by a faculty team, including a Master, faculty fellows and graduate tutors.
A STUDENT-FACULTY RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE SYSTEM IS DESIGNED TO ENCOURAGE SOCIAL AND ACADEMIC DYNAMICS
Eight residential colleges are designed to bring together students and faculty in support of a holistic educational experience. The traditional dormitory is replaced by a groupliving plan with six-bedroom apartment suites centred on a common living room and ensuite bathroom. Each college contains 600 living units for students on the upper levels supplemented by seminar rooms, theme rooms, a multipurpose hall and a dining hall on the lower levels. The colleges are sited on the northern end of the campus, offset from the high-frequency town plan, planned on a north-south orientation to avoid direct solar heat gain and
Top: NUS UTown Master Plan Middle: Cinnamon & Tembusu Residential Colleges Bottom: EduSports Complex
designed as naturally conditioned to embrace the outdoors. Each tower is designed with a degree of architectural autonomy and identity – articulated windows with protruding sunshades adorn the facades of Cinnamon and Tembusu residential colleges, for instance. Cinnamon and Tembusu were the first two residential colleges to be developed, and are planned adjacent to one another with shared dining facilities. As a measure of structural efficiency, large-span spaces like the multi-purpose hall and dining hall are designed as stand-alone buildings, freed from having to support tower loads from above. Faculty offices, seminar and theme rooms are organised along the main pedestrian thoroughfare as pavilions. Primary entrances to the colleges are located along the campus’ internal pedestrian thoroughfare, while vehicular drop-offs and service access points are planned along the external ring road.
ACADEMICS With a strong research agenda, UTown will host the National Research Foundation’s Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) – an environmentally-sustainable and energyefficient international research campus and innovation hub. CREATE hosts interdisciplinary research centres from top universities and corporate laboratories, such as the SingaporeMIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), the SAP Singapore Research Centre, as well as technology incubators and start-ups. UTown is also site to an EduSports complex which combines education, sports and performing arts spaces.
Project Team (First row from left): Kumar Krishnaraj, Arthur Loh, Olivia Tay, Huang Jia Hui, Asep Ajabar, Darlou Cabral, Alexis Chan, Chin Thoe Chong, Desire Aime Bonotan Sitchon (Second row from left): Emmanuel Sabido, Jessmin Mariano, Chue Kit Han, Chua Sian Keng, Hanafi Kasnan, Monica Boenawan, Rizal Hamdani, Christian Galan, Hoo Chuen Piew, Jasmine Lim
(Third row from left): Yap Shiow Hwa, Carlito Sosito, Jeffrey Miranda, Bonifacio Dela Cruz, Joanner Valderma Catiis, Ramir Rosario Poyaoan, Eugene Del Mundo Dizon, Ang Chien Tee (Fourth row from left): Cheryl Koh, Yong Foong Mei, Desera Puti, Anissa Santoso, Hazel Valenzuela Aguilar, Jorisza Favis Calasahan, Michelle Antonette Bebida Decena Other Members: Angela Ng, Amit Pathak,
Chrisa Goh, Clement Kho, Gan Xing Yun, Jason Bertuben Manalo, Jonathan Ong, Lam Lee Chuen, Rejendran Vembalagu, Theresia Widyasari, Wendy Tan, William Wong, Wong Soon Tuan, Yeo Bee Lay
Top: CREATE Middle left: Khaya & Angsana Residential Colleges Middle right: CREATE
DP 09
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Featured projects
Designing for New Educational Doctrines
SUTD SINGAPORE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND DESIGN
Designed in collaboration with UNStudio, Amsterdam
By Collin Anderson
A PRIMARY NODES - Campus Center - Auditorium - International Design A PRIMARY NODE CenterMain Entrance Drop-off Campus Centre - Student Life Center - Library B
B
URBAN ATTRACTORS
A
SECONDARY NODES
B SECONDARY NODES - MRT Egress Plaza NODES C - Elevated TIERTIARY MRT - Linkway toStations Student Changi Business Park Housing - Traditional Chinese Structures
Traditional Chinese Structures Link to Student Housing
C TERTIARY NODES - MRT Stations - Changi Business Park
C
B
1 Campus Center 2 Student Life Center 3 Student Housing 4 Elevated Plaza 5 Future Node 6 Changi Business Pa 7 MRT Station (East West Line) 8 Future Developmen (Downtown Line)
YEAR: 2014
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AREA: 100,000 SQM (PHASE 1)
Innovation is contingent upon connectivity and flexibility. As a platform for innovative thinking, the architecture of the new campus for Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) takes shape as a highly connected network with the capacity to facilitate cross-disciplinary communication and collaboration. It is inbuilt with the flexibility to adapt to changing educational needs.
SUTD’S OPEN-SOURCE DESIGN ENCOURAGES DISCOURSE, INTERACTIVITY AND COLLABORATION AMONG STUDENTS AND FACULTY
SUTD is a publicly-funded university established in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology of the United States, and Zhejiang University of China. The university’s curriculum is structured into four academic pillars: Architecture and Sustainable Design; Engineering Product Development; Engineering Systems and Design; and Information Systems Technology and Design. The campus is planned such that boundaries are blurred and hierarchies diminished among the four pillars. Design strategies blend massing and circulation paths to enhance the potential for
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SINGAPORE
chance encounters among students, faculty and different disciplines. Campus orientation and organisation emerge from two primary thoroughfares of activity: the living and learning spines, set on north-south and east-west axes respectively, intersect at an open forum space where student and faculty activities converge. This node becomes a location for informal gatherings and exchange, bringing people together, and, conversely, as a point of dissemination leading to the four academic schools. The architecture of SUTD is designed as nonlinear. Meeting spaces, classrooms and laboratories have the capacity to support different arrangements and functions; they adjust to the evolving requirements of the school’s alwaysdeveloping curriculum. The campus plan performs as a catalyst for dynamism, the starting point for any successful learning environment.
Project Team (Front row from left):
Teoh Siew Hong,
Cheah Kok Yew,
Villy Tampi,
Woon Chung Yen,
Mosa Abidharma,
Jeremy Tan,
Lionel Leow Teck Lee,
Goh Yong Hui,
Mirza Shahrani,
Pinson Lim,
Foo Li Ching,
Yong Chin Hwei,
Timothy De Guzman, Wang Kai,
(Back row from left):
Teo Sheng Leong,
Vungh Khen Mung,
Aditya Pratama,
Dwi Hadi Susanto,
Luke Xie Deshao,
Wee Eng Chang,
Ong Shen Sien
DP 11
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Design solutions
ITE College West A Student Business Town By Kyle Fulton
PHOTOGRAPHS: COURTESY OF ITE COLLEGE WEST
A service-industry college, ITE College West is designed with functioning restaurants, shops, a hotel and a convention centre for student hands-on training
YEAR: 2010
The physical density of urbanisation demands the exploration of educational programmes housed within multi-use spaces. Training institutes have evolved into vibrant extensions of community places. The ITE West campus is planned and designed as a specialised vocational training centre that reaches out to the public. The project, completed in 2010, occupies an area of 9.5 ha and is part of the Institute of Technical Education’s (ITE) master plan to consolidate all fifteen existing ITE campuses into three mega-colleges. The first, College East, was completed in 2005. College Central is targeted for completion in 2013. ITE College West is considered to be a College of Excellence for Service Quality offering a wide range of attractive niche courses in service, hospitality and retail, in addition to core Engineering, ICT and Business programmes. With a focus on service-industry education, ITE College
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AREA: 115,000 SQM
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SINGAPORE
West is hallmarked as a ‘business town’ implemented to replace conventional classrooms. The business town facilities promote handson, experiential learning and include functioning restaurants, shops, a hotel and a convention centre for student training. Additional state-of-the-art educational facilities include: a 700-seat auditorium; a centre for music and the arts with a DJ room, black box and dance studios; and a wine cellar. In line with ITE’s ‘Hands-on, Minds-On and Hearts-On’ education, the ITE West complex, which is open to the public, works to establish interaction between the academic institution, commercial businesses and the local community. When designing the campus, the architects carefully planned circulation routes and dynamic spaces to facilitate communication among these different user groups.
DP 13
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Design solutions
Project Team (Front row from left): Juliana Chan,
10
Carol Lee, Tan Sok Tuan, Alexandra Zech, Virginia Arboleda
9 8
Middle: View of Events Plaza and Innovation Walkway
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5
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1. Sports Field 2. Multi-purpose Hall 3. Workshops and Laboratories 4. Lecture Theatres 5. Sunken Courtyard 6. Innovation Walkway EventsField Plaza 1.7.Sports 8. Convention Centre 2. Multi-Purpose Hall 9. Administrative Block 3. Workshops and 10. North Plaza Laboratories
4. Lecture Theatres 5. Thematic Gardens 6. Innovation Walkway 7. Events Plaza 8. Convention Centre 9. Administrative Block 10. North Plaza
The campus’ curvilinear arrangement is built around a central circulation spine and the Events Plaza
(Back row from left): Lai Wai Heng,
Bottom: Garden with
Dino Canlas,
view towards Sports
Mohd Amin,
Field
Harry Tadina
The complex blends academic institution, commercial businesses and the local community
To this end, the buildings are organised along an ‘Innovation Walkway’ – the campus’ circulation spine. This curvilinear, elevated path joins the individual academic blocks and links all students to the central sky plaza. This organisation has a twofold effect: it promotes cross-disciplinary interaction, and it invites the students to view the interior workings of the gallerystyle learning environments through glazed façades. Below, the ground-floor circulation spaces are designed in a more free-plan manner, allowing students and the public alike to explore the many facilities and shops on offer. The architecture and landscape are, like the Innovation Walkway, guided by gentle curves along which are many pocket-spaces for one to relax, unwind and study. Curvatures in plan result in three-dimensional undulating walls that are accentuated with strong horizontal elements designed in elevation. Intermittent covered plazas punctuate the spaces and work as transition zones marrying the indoors and outdoors. The undoubted programmatic highlight is the central Events Plaza covered by a 3,000 sqm tensile-Teflon roof that regulates environmental factors and provides a comfortable outdoor space. This space is well used by faculty staff, students and the public day and night. Since its opening, ITE College West has proven a successful education, business and recreation campus that brings people together in a spirit of community.
DP 15
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Awards & events
11-11-11
New MediaCorp Headquarters Breaks Ground
MediaCorp held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new headquarters at Mediapolis@ one-north, a complex designed by DP Architects in collaboration with Maki and Associates, Japan. The ceremony, held on 11 November 2011, was attended by Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts. Slated for completion in 2015, the development will replace MediaCorp’s current Caldecott Hill campus and transform the nature of the company’s facilities – a new ‘fenceless’ design, for instance, will replace the ‘closed campus’ feel of the current facility by offering numerous opportunities for public engagement with an open plaza and public touring spaces. The complex will host large, collaborative workspaces to unify MediaCorp’s numerous media outlets under a single roof.
DP Green wins third prize at
Skyrise Greenery Awards DP Architects was honored with two Skyrise Greenery Awards at a ceremony held on 3 October 2011. DP Green, an associate company of DP Architects, was awarded third prize for myVillage at Serangoon Garden. Designed as a gardenesque shopping paradise, the project merges landscape and mall environments.
Creativity – Beyond Planning Norms
SIA Seminar
DP Architects also received a merit award for Universal Studios Singapore (USS). The USS green roof was designed as ‘meadows’ with swathes of different plant types creating an informal pattern that allows the development of its own eco-system. Jointly organised by the Singapore Institute of Architects and National Parks Board, the award aims to promote green efforts in urban developments and recognises architects leading green design.
Universal Studios Singapore
myVillage at Serangoon Garden
DP Architects Director Mr Chin Thoe Chong was one of four speakers at a seminar titled ‘Creativity – Beyond Planning Norms’, organised by the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) on 23 September 2011. Addressing an audience of architecture professionals, Mr Chin spoke on methods of overcoming code, planning and time constraints. Using Resorts World Sentosa as a case study, he focused on local urban design and planning guidelines, the negotiation of possible solutions and the challenges of working on a large-scale development.
36 BTrd site tour Far left: Angelene Chan, DP Architects; Fumihiko Maki and Gary Kamemoto, Maki and Associates; Francis Lee, DP Architects; and Winston Hauw, Rider Levett Bucknall
Left: MediaCorp Guests of Honour (from left): Aubeck Kam, CEO of MDA; Teo Ming Kian, Chairman of MediaCorp; Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, MICA; Cedric Foo, Chairman of JTC Corporation; and Shaun Seow, CEO of MediaCorp
International Green Building Conference The Building and Construction Authority invited DP Architects to showcase the green concept of its awardwinning residential project, 36 BTrd, at the International Green Building Conference (IGBC). Associate Ms Jaye Tan, architect of the project, led the tour of the private house. Developed as a new typology for a single household in Singapore that can achieve selfsufficiency with minimal depletion of natural resources for building, the project is the first private house to achieve Green Mark Platinum status in the country. The conference was held from 13 to 16 September 2011.
Left: MediaCorp personalities Phua Chu Kang and Zoe Tay join guests viewing the MediaCorp presentation model
ArchiFest – Common Spaces
ArchiTours 2011
DP Green
Photos courtesy of ArchiFest
36 BTrd
DP Architects led guided tours of NUS UTown and 36 BTrd as part of the annual ArchiTours. NUS UTown is comprised of research centres, residential colleges and an EduSports complex that combines education, sports and performing arts spaces. 36 BTrd is an awardwinning environmentallysustainable house. Held on weekends through October, ArchiTours is one of the most popular events of ArchiFest. The festival is organised by the Singapore Institute of Architects and this year’s theme was Common Spaces. DP Green also opened its doors to the public for the Architects Open Offices, another ArchiFest programme. The festival is chaired by SIA council member Mr Seah Chee Huang, an Associate Director at DP Architects.
DP 17
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DP personalities
Dadi Surya An interview with
Interview by Toh Bee Ping
“Design allows you to explore and express ideas through simple sketches and transform them into three dimensional forms and spaces.”
A member of the DP family since 1990, Mr Dadi Surya has been appointed DP Architects’ tenth director with effect from 1 January 2012. Design in Print marks this milestone with an interview with the newest member of the executive leadership. Over the course of three hours at his regular watering hole, Dadi shares his experiences, his most memorable projects and the challenges as the firm progresses into its 45th year.
Displaying a penchant for design at a young age, Dadi fondly recounted the boat he made out of pomelo peel, ice cream sticks and rubber bands during a flood in Jakarta when he was six years old. This boat sparked a creative streak that would be nurtured and developed over the next four decades.
Many notable projects followed. “The PSA Vista competition that I worked on with Directors Gan Eng Oon and Chin Thoe Chong was memorable because the scheme we proposed was totally different from what the brief called for. We took a big gamble with our design idea and it paid off.”
Thanks to a supportive mother who believed in a sound education for all her children, Dadi came to Singapore when he was nine. He later moved to Canada to complete his high school education and attended university in the United States. After graduating with a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1990, Dadi received a job offer to work in Chicago, but his heart and mind were already bound for Singapore.
For a brief period, Dadi was based in Jakarta to oversee DP’s operations in Indonesia. However, the operations ceased during the Indonesian crisis in the late 90s and he was recalled back to Singapore. Shortly after came Senayan City, the firm’s first big Indonesian project since Dadi’s return. It was a welcomed sign that his birth city had recovered from the crisis. Since then, Dadi, together with Director Wu Tzu Chiang, has been instrumental in the firm’s successful expansion into Indonesia. He led the design for many of the firm’s projects there, including The City Tower, Central Park and Ciputra World Surabaya.
Despite several other offers to advance his architectural career, Dadi easily selected DP Architects. “I would have the opportunity to be a part of the team to build the tallest, most iconic building in Indonesia,” Dadi explains. The Wisma 46 tower in Jakarta, which he developed with Directors Koh Seow Chuan and Vikas M Gore, is still one of the tallest buildings in Indonesia.
The City Tower project held special meaning for Dadi as he would pass the site daily when he was young. To be able to reshape the landscape of his childhood was a very gratifying experience. With Central Park, the challenge
was passing the high bar in design standards set by Director Wu Tzu Chiang. Completed in 2010, Central Park went on to win many awards including the Asia Pacific Property Awards and was a finalist in the prestigious World Architecture Festival awards. Dadi now heads DP Architects’ Design Department which he helped to set up. He owes his strong foundation in design to the Design Morphology class he took in college, a popular course which required a two-semester advanced booking. “It changed me. It grounded my understanding of how to approach architecture design,” he recollects. A reserved person by his own admission, Dadi is happy to shun the limelight and let his designs speak for him instead. He explains: “Design allows you to explore and express ideas through simple sketches and transform them into three dimensional forms and spaces.” The creative process of transforming a design brief into a design proposal and eventually into an actual building is a very rewarding experience. The challenge of constantly seeking design solutions within a given set of boundaries
in a fast changing environment also keeps things exciting.
musician is Marvin Gaye; but he listens to all kinds of music depending on his mood.
A prominent source of inspiration for his creativity is music. His love for music grew out of his high school years in Canada. Dadi recalls: “Music helped me to internalise and attach meaning to what was going on around me.” His favourite
Music also lets his imagination run free. “Music helps to open up my mind for ideas to come. My mind is free to travel. It’s almost like I’m part of another world. I use music as a way to arouse my subconscious ideas.”
As a new director who rose through the ranks, Dadi is the bridge between the current and future leadership Stepping into his role as one of ten directors of the firm, Dadi is ready to take on the many challenges he will face, of which one of the biggest is the looming economic uncertainty. He will also be expected to identify and mentor the next generation of young leaders for a seamless succession in time to come. As a new director who rose through the ranks, Dadi is the bridge between the current and future leadership. His acknowledged management style of building an effective and cohesive working team while always meeting the company’s objectives will stand him in good stead. Design in Print wishes him every success in his new role.
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Night of the Stars Dinner & Dance 2011
“The creative process of transforming a design brief into an actual building is a very rewarding experience.”
DP Architects Dinner and Dance 2011 was held at Nirwana Gardens, Bintan, Indonesia on 7 October 2011. 650 DPians decked-out in their best to party under the stars. Besides the mouth-watering buffet spread, DPians were entertained by in-house live performances and games. Nine groups performed, vying for the title of DP Superstar and a grand prize of $1,000. The firm’s young directors were invited to perform a song-and-dance number. The highlight of the evening was the release of giant balloons into the sky, signifying ‘the sky is the limit’. The dinner was followed by a lucky draw with prizes sponsored by the management team, and an after-party that continued into the wee hours of the morning. DP Architects would like to give special thanks to its Recreation Club and Dinner-and-Dance committee for organising a sensational celebration. DP 19
The old St Andrew’s Junior College was located on a 6 ha site bordered on two sides by a landscape of trees and low-rise colonial buildings. The school was designed to promote informal social interaction among the 1,200 students and 80 full-time staff members. A central pavedbrick plaza served as an open-air assembly area and programmatic focal point for the college. The building’s form responded to land contours, and its modernist architectural composition was designed to reveal an array of internal functions. Project Team: Chan Sui Him, William S W Lim, Arthur Loh and Toy Nitisophon
St Andrew’s Junior College
1981