OMA reveals design for large-scale residential development in Singapore

(Beijing/Rotterdam, February 01, 2008): CapitaLand Residential, a leading developer in Asia, and its partners have commissioned the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) for a large-scale residential complex in Singapore.


image : Residential Complex Singapore © OMA / Ole Scheeren

The project will be located on an expansive 8 hectare site bounded by the Ayer Rajah Expressway and Alexandra Road, in a central position between the National University and downtown Singapore. With 170,000 m2 of built floor area, the development will provide over 1,000 apartment units of varying sizes with extensive outdoor spaces and landscaping.

Instead of creating a cluster of isolated, vertical towers – the default typology of residential developments in Singapore – the design explores a dramatically different approach to the issues and challenges of living and social space.

32 apartment blocks, each six-stories tall, are stacked in a hexagonal arrangement to form six large-scale permeable courtyards. The interlocking volumes form the topography of a “vertical village” with cascading sky gardens and private roof terraces vertically extending the landscape of the courtyards. Extensive communal facilities which are embedded in the lush vegetation offer multiple opportunities for social interaction in a natural environment. While maintaining the privacy of the individual apartment units through unobstructed views and generous spacing of the building blocks, the horizontal and interconnected volumes create an explicitly social network of outdoor spaces within the green terrain.


image : Residential Complex Singapore © OMA / Ole Scheeren

The site completes a green belt that stretches between Kent Ridge, Telok Blangah and Mount Faber Parks, while the stacked volumetric relationship of the apartment blocks extends the landscape and forms a mount/hill that relates to the surrounding topography.

Beyond the extensive presence of nature and collective space, the project will be designed to respond carefully to the tropical climate and address issues of sustainability through incorporating multiple features of energy-saving technologies.

“We are thrilled with the opportunity to create such an innovative project in partnership with OMA. The design expands our progressive ambition and enables us to add a radically new concept to environmentally-conscious living in Singapore” says CapitaLand Residential Singapore Chief Executive Officer, Patricia Chia.

“This project directly addresses concerns of shared space and community in a contemporary society” says Ole Scheeren, Partner of OMA and designer of the project. "It simultaneously responds to issues of privacy and individuality as well as to social and communal needs by offering multiple types of indoor and outdoor spaces specific to the tropical context”.

The project is lead by Ole Scheeren, Director of OMA Beijing, together with Eric Chang, Associate. Ole Scheeren is responsible for the office’s work across Asia, including the 575,000 m2 CCTV headquarters and TVCC cultural center currently under construction in Beijing, and The Scotts Tower in Singapore. Previous work includes the Prada epicenter stores in New York and Los Angeles.



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