Crafting Spaces for Higher Education for IndesignLive

International design practice Scott Brownrigg creates a context-appropriate campus for University of Reading’s Malaysia campus in EduCity, on the Iskandar peninsula. Olha Romaniuk writes.

http://www.indesignlive.sg/articles/projects/crafting-spaces-for-higher-education

How do you take a world-class university and replicate its success in the Asia-Pacific region, translating the university’s values and resources into a new and unique environment? This is the question that the design team at Scott Brownrigg faced when working on UK-based University of Reading’s first Southeast Asia campus – located in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. With an ambitious brief to deliver a world-class university design and a learning experience to match, the design team needed to balance the client’s programmatic and spatial requirements with multiple environmental and cultural considerations to deliver a holistic campus design with a strong message of the university brand, adapted to a Malaysian setting.

For both the client and the design team, the overarching goal for the University of Reading Malaysia (UoRM) to become a major hub for higher education in the Asia-Pacific region and reaffirm its position at the forefront of global education became the basis for the overall design of the campus. “The aim was to capture the essence of the UK university, and to translate it into a Southeast Asian context,” says Michael Olliff, Managing Director of Scott Brownrigg.

Scott Brownrigg’s Singapore office worked with Veritas Design Group (the executive architect at the construction stage) to deliver the design concept. The team at Scott Brownrigg chose to emulate some of the major design features of the University’s Whiteknights campus in the UK, while also translating them into a tropical setting, to reinforce the signature UoRM experience for the incoming students. The team based the design of UoRM on a simple forum approach, arranging the main buildings around a heart space to create a nexus of social interactivity for the whole campus. Responding to the local conditions, however, the design team shielded the heart space from the harsh tropical weather with an ETFE cushion roof to permit only a controlled amount of light in to facilitate the growth of the natural planting and enable everyday learning and social activities underneath the canopy.

To further enhance the theme of connectivity, the team at Scott Brownrigg incorporated a series of diagonal ramps across the central forum space to reinforce the idea of a social nexus for the campus. The design team also built a network of suspended bridges to connect the teaching blocks to one another.

The team took to heart the client’s requirement for flexibility within the UoRM’s spaces to allow for the mix of educational facilities to vary overtime. The need for flexibility drove the direct and singular approach for the two parallel teaching wings enclosing the social forum space in the middle. The design team have shielded the two main blocks with an open screen metal cladding that, much like the soaring roof above the forum, serves as solar protection for the teaching wings.

Scott Brownrigg’s response to the context around the campus did not stop at provisions for adequate shading. Taking lessons learned from the investigations of local construction methods and studies of the local climate, the design of UofRM drew inspiration from the traditional Malay house, lifting the mass of the buildings off the ground to allow for natural airflow and for cooling to take place. The design team also provided oversized rainwater gutters and downpipes to account for seasonal downpours and carefully specified metal components for protection against corrosion.

By holistically addressing the environmental, cultural and educational considerations of the project’s unique location and context, the team at Scott Brownrigg was able to deliver a fitting design solution to the new UoRM campus, allowing the university to position its message and brand at a local and an international scale at once.

Michael Olliff expresses his aspiration for UoRM to set new precedents in education in the region and beyond. Says Olliff, “I hope that University of Reading Malaysia will set the benchmark as a model of collaboration where the best creative ideas and teaching methodologies from Asia and Europe are combined to deliver world class educational facilities.”

Building Family Ties for Habitus Living

RT+Q has designed a total of 83 houses since its inception in 2003. “The office is set up in such a way that everyone eventually does one house,” says Rene Tan, the firm’s director. With the number of its residential projects approaching high double digits and each team member’s active involvement in the design process, every new residence the firm does is a unique collaboration between the design team and the client, allowing each house to be a distinctive reflection of its owner’s identity, while retaining the sophisticated aesthetic that is a constant across the firm’s many residential works.

It is in this spirit that the House with Pianos has been designed for a couple with three young kids, and the family’s four treasured pianos. Having reached out to RT+Q after seeing one of the firm’s previous jobs, the clients asked for a comfortable, safe and accommodating home for their growing family, where their children could play freely both indoors and out.

“The spaces in the house are generally kid-friendly,” says project lead Virly Martadinata. “On the first floor, big sliding glass doors open up to the pool deck that leads to the front garden, so the children are able to play both indoors and outdoors without going through the main entrance. On the second level, there is a double volume family area, where the parents can look over their kids from the walkway outside of their master bedroom, or check in on them through a one-way mirror in their walk-in wardrobe.”

The semi-detached House with Pianos and its unusually wide plot posed a couple of challenges to the design team, including the task of getting the natural light and ventilation into the internal areas along the party wall. To minimise the dark spaces, the team shifted the building form’s main volumes that were initially stacked one atop the other to allow for vertical and horizontal openings and penetrations within the volumes to bring in light and air.

“The overall form started with a simple box sitting on another slightly narrower box,” says Martadinata. “The top box has shifted and skewed away from the party wall to allow for natural light and also to create an overhang for the pool deck below.” This design move also allowed for an integration of multiple courtyards and outdoor decks on the upper floors of the house, facilitating ventilation and adding bit of greenery into the living spaces, with additional punctures in the slanted roof bringing washes of light into the rooms below.

With the client not wanting too much furniture to clutter the house, the rich materials and the double volume spaces have instead taken centre stage. The first storey floor plan became an open, expansive space, maximising the use of the wide site, with the living, dining and dry kitchen areas merging seamlessly into each other, both visually and through the use of fair faced concrete and homogenous tiles. On the second floor, the design team used fair faced brick cladding to emphasise the double height family room, immediately highlighting the glass bridge, glass lift shaft and walkways connecting the bedrooms above. Using warmer materials like brick cladding and timber for floor surfaces on the upper levels, while confining the hardier, cooler materials mostly to the first level, the design team created a subtle distinction between the public and private areas, while retaining the visual linkages across the floors and connecting the spaces and the family as one.

New Face of Intercontinental Singapore for IndesignLive

Inspired by the historically rich surroundings and traditional craftsmanship, interior design firm FBEYE International mixes nostalgia and contemporary influences in the interior renovation of InterContinental Singapore. Olha Romaniuk writes.

http://www.indesignlive.sg/articles/projects/the-new-face-of-intercontinental-singapore

Situated in the vicinity of historic districts such as Kampong Glam, Arab Street, Chinatown and Little India, InterContinental Singapore, established in 1995, has recently unveiled its brand new look, revealing the newly transformed interior spaces inspired by the rich heritage and culture of the surrounding neighbourhoods. With the extensive five-year renovation project undertaken by interior design consultancy FBEYE International, the hotel’s refreshed spaces embrace their multicultural context, striking a balance between the old and the new and infusing local flavour into the international hotel brand’s Singapore location.

“The history of the venue plays a large part in the hotel’s lifespan, so we wanted to enhance and bring in more elements to make the design a talking point between the staff and guests as they interact,” explains Warren Foster-Brown, Managing Director of FBEYE International.

To achieve a design that balances the aspects of old and new luxury within the context of modern day Singapore, the team at FBEYE International sought inspiration from the local and colonial architecture of old Singapore and incorporated bespoke details and décor elements into the public spaces, restaurants and guest rooms of the hotel. Within the hotel’s interiors, FBEYE International carefully mixed British, Peranakan and Chinese influences, creating a harmony of textures and colours for a strong unifying theme.

From the moment one steps into the hotel lobby, the experiential journey to Singapore of the bygone era begins. There is a strong correlation between the hotel’s exterior façade, with its architectural forms derived from the iconic Singapore shophouses, and the interior of the lobby, fashioned after a traditional living room in a Peranakan house. Within the lobby, the mix of vibrant colours that evoke Peranakan undertones reinforces the stately architectural features of the space.

The guest rooms of InterContinental Singapore strengthen the design essence of the hotel through a careful blend of contemporary luxuries and historical references. FBEYE International selectively used traditional fabrication techniques, like block-printing to create Peranakan-inspired motifs for the padded silk covering on custom headboards above the beds, while choosing more contemporary surface treatments in white, gold, and duck egg blue tones to strike a balance between the old and the new within the culturally inspired rooms.

“The existing architecture of the guest rooms and suites presented an advantageous opportunity for us,” says Foster-Brown. “As we tried to elevate the level of heritage influences in the guest rooms and, at the same time, add a touch of modernity, we were able to retain a key design element – pillars that were reminiscent of the Colonial influence.”

Similarly, the design of the dining establishments at InterContinental Singapore embraces the heritage setting of the hotel. The Lobby Lounge features colonial pillars, whitewashed and juxtaposed with traditional furniture pieces and contemporary lounge chairs. Coloured tiles with traditional laser-cut motifs commonly used in Peranakan houses line the bases of the pillars, while the ceiling treatment stands out with a contemporary interpretation of the Peranakan tile motifs developed from a laser cut-out.

Throughout the spaces, bespoke and custom-made furniture pieces and décor components come together cohesively to evoke a sense of time and timelessness at once. Artworks by Gladys Chow that combine Chinese motifs with a contemporary minimalist approach line the walls of the guest room corridors, while the patterns on bespoke carpets take references from a common symbol of peace – a phoenix – and readapt the recognisable motif in a contemporary way.

For the FBEYE International design team, retaining and emphasising the historical essence of InterContinental Singapore was a continuous mission that drove the design to a cohesive final result, despite the diverse functions and requirements of the hotel’s spaces. “From the guest rooms to the public spaces, heritage is expressed in the essence of the hotel, be it in the colours, artwork, fabrics and architectural details,” explains Foster-Brown. “It would have been all too easy to get rid of everything and start afresh with a modern concept, but InterContinental Singapore is one-of-a-kind and we wanted to retain that sense of place within the Garden City.”

In Search of the Authentic Waterfront Experience for IndesignLive

In a recent talk on waterfront activation, landscape architect Perry Lethlean discussed strategies for creating authentic waterfront experiences through distinctive design solutions rooted in local identity. Olha Romaniuk reports.

http://www.indesignlive.sg/articles/in-review/in-search-of-the-authentic-waterfront-experience

It was a conversation about fringe spaces, post-industrial transformation and waterfront reclamation that dominated the presentation by Perry Lethlean of Australian landscape architecture firm Taylor Cullity Lethlean (TCL) at The URA Centre in Singapore. Having led many successful implementations of urban waterfront projects, Lethlean, a director of the Melbourne office of TCL, provided invaluable insights into sensitive and sensible waterfront design solutions, drawing examples from various cities, particularly Melbourne, and making parallels to Singapore’s own unique maritime conditions and its rapidly changing waterfront.

Lethlean began his talk with his observations on bland waterfront developments, with the landscape architect dissecting various projects from the macro perspective of designing public spaces. For many such developments, as Lethlean noted, contemporary waterfront design simply meant erasing the real, the particular and the authentic condition of the city, leaving in place resolutions that were predictable and safe.

“Waterfronts operate at a different scale than cities do. They are massive; they also have wonderful typologies and narratives and social stories,” explained Lethlean to the audience. “There is materiality in these places, the textural quality and the patina. The palette is distinctly maritime. But what often happens is that an international vocabulary comes into place to a lot of these waterfronts which results in sameness.”

Offering an alternative view on waterfront design, Lethlean spoke about preserving certain waterfront conditions as they were, without erasing them, and creating authentic public realm experiences in the process, as he and his team at TCL had done with the redevelopment of Auckland’s waterfront. Transforming a formerly desolate maritime industrial site into a mixed-use district, TCL embraced Auckland’s beautiful geology of the place and the city’s relationship to the sea, while preserving the waterfront’s industrial memory.

“We asked ourselves questions,” said Lethlean. “What if we accept the harbour condition, not as an erased object, but as a found one and celebrate the morphologies, the patterns, the specificities of the site. What if we create new programs beyond the usual solutions like cafes and restaurants? What might those be?”

TCL’s solution to Auckland’s waterfront – Jellicoe Harbour and Silo Park – deliberately chose to celebrate the diversity of the waterfront’s use, including its industrial container shipping, fishing industry and ferry services. By revealing an array of activities that were once essential to the harbour, TCL was able to retain richness and authenticity of the public realm via a range of hybrid uses and attractions and promote civic programmes with an indigenous flavour.

Timely enough, Lethlean’s solutions for Jellicoe Harbour and Silo Park resonated with additional relevance in the context of Singapore with its own, rapidly changing coastline. With Singapore’s impending plans for consolidation, relocation of its port operations and the subsequent waterfront transformation playing a critical role in the cultural positioning of the city, some of Lethlean’s questions rang especially true.

“How do we introduce a city agenda into an industrial complex?” inquired Lethlean, in reference to the Auckland waterfront project. “How do we retain industries that were slated for removal? How will the new architecture interfere with the existing architecture? What kind of a relationship will the new ecologies have with existing conditions?”

Lethlean’s formula for success at Jellicoe Harbour and Silo Park involved a range community-centred design to create diverse public realm experiences rooted in detailed explorations of the context and the site. Imploring to not copy other cities’ solutions but to seek relevant interjections in a city’s specific public realm, Lethlean also advocated for continuous consultation with the relevant community groups for a well-informed and relevant outcome.

“It’s a really great mode to engage, to get the community to participate in a conversation and to have valuable input to the masterplanning process,” advocated Lethlean at the conclusion of his talk. Indeed, if the success of Jellicoe Harbour and Silo Park project is of any indication, Singapore’s waterfront, too, can apply Auckland’s lessons for its future dynamic and engaging coastline developments.

New Expressions of Learning for IndesignLive

At the DBS Academy, holistic design solutions have been introduced to redefine the act of learning. Olha Romaniuk writes.

http://www.indesignlive.sg/articles/projects/new-expressions-of-learning

Immediately upon stepping into any of the DBS Academy’s training or meeting spaces, it becomes evident that the learning centre is not your standard corporate training facility. The Academy, with its focus on building a strong talent pool capable of adapting to the fast pace of the banking industry, reflects DBS’ pledge to employee development through specifically designed training and education spaces that encourage innovation.

“In the past, training was conducted in a classroom setting where the facilitator just relayed knowledge to the audience. Nowadays, it is no longer just about learning from the trainer but about learning from each other, working with people from different backgrounds, and understanding how other people think as we go into this new digital world,” explains Frances Chan, Senior Vice President, Group Human Resources – Learning & Development, DBS Bank.

With DBS’ evolving requirements for training facilities and ambitious vision for the future, the need for the new training facilities to be able to keep up and anticipate the current and future needs of the bank materialised as one of the main goals. The resulting design of the DBS Academy was a product of a combined effort between the design team at Aplusi Asia and workplace strategist MCM Architecture of London to develop a brief that tackled all of the goals set forth by DBS. From these goals, some key guidelines for design of the new space emerged, including the aim to establish for DBS a global reputation for excellent corporate learning, provision of a memorable experience for every user and visitor, delivery of training in a fun and joyful way, and development of flexible training and event spaces.

Philip Jacobs, Managing Director of Aplusi Asia, recalls, “The first phase [of the design process] was a global research project to identify cutting-edge learning institutions across all sectors. The output drove a series of Human Centred Design workshops with the Regional Leadership team and the Corporate Real Estate Team to identify project aspirations and key drivers for the building and to confirm project direction as design concepts developed.”

According to Jacobs, the resulting research affirmed a continuing necessity to deliver traditional classroom style training and a need for new learning environments for leadership training and flexible and interactive spaces for collaboration. Other spaces identified during the research were flexible workspaces to support administrative functions and training activities, and an event “heart” to allow large town hall meetings for customers, collaborators and the DBS staff.

As compared to DBS’ previous, 20,000 square foot conventionally designed training centre, the new DBS Academy was realised as a 40,000 square foot, four-storey facility containing formal and informal meeting and training spaces. The topmost fourth floor became the most flexible, with moveable walls and retractable partitions allowing for a complete freedom of layout configurations and room size variations, while the third floor selectively employed a mix of fixed components – walls, glass partitions – and moveable furniture elements to create more defined meeting spaces that could still be reconfigured according to varying needs. With the second floor featuring a more traditional layout with many small rooms for coaching and smaller group discussions, the design of the first floor gave way to “The Curve” – a multifunctional common space used for talks, presentations and town-hall meetings.

The design aesthetics of the interior spaces at DBS Academy emerged from a desire to create the antithesis to the typical expressions of a corporate classroom. During brainstorming sessions, the team zoomed in on words like ‘urban’, ‘edgy’ and ‘cool’ – terms not typically associated with the banking industry – to generate the look and feel and the overall material palette for the spaces within the academy.

Says Jacobs, “We looked to materials that expressed a raw natural aesthetic and that were not normally found within a corporate environment. We also looked to continue the design down to the smallest details, such as the indicator lights for the rooms and the wooden crate recycling bins.”

With a variety of imaginative architectural solutions for flexible and adaptable spaces, the DBS Academy aims to deliver a new kind of learning and training environment that challenges the rigid notions of traditional training facilities – something that Philip Jacobs and his team strived for all along the design process. Jacobs concludes, “We are aiming to deliver an environment that nurtures the inspiration to be a disruptor, to search for the out of the box solution.”