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The Straits Times 11th May, 2002
Duxton
flats get muted debate
The lack of
heated argument at URA's public talk on the 48-storey HDB flats suggests
satisfaction with the selection process of the design
By Arthur
Sim
ON APRIL 30, small architecture firm ARC Studio was named by the Urban
Redevelopment Authority (URA) as the winner of the Duxton Plain Public
Housing International Architecture and Design competition.
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A
long strip of aerial garden links the flats at both mid- and roof
levels.
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Unlike the apparent lack of transparency with regards to the
controversial design for the new Supreme Court building, the Duxton Plain
competition had been widely publicised eight months ago.
A public exhibition of all 203 competition entries, both Singaporean
and international, also went on display at the URA as soon as the winner
was announced.
On Tuesday, one week after the announcement, the URA held the first of
its public talks at its auditorium, ostensibly to get public feedback.
The talk, given by ARC Studio, was aimed primarily at members of the
Singapore Institute of Architects and the architecture community.
The response to the talk and the Q&A session that followed was
muted, signaling perhaps, the public's satisfaction with the process by
which the winning design by ARC Studio, incidentally a Singapore firm, was
selected.
Some architects may have had qualms about the finer details of the
design, but there were no heated arguments. Few of the concerns raised by
some members of the 200-strong audience seemed insurmountable.
After an exhaustive and detailed description of the design concept by
ARC Studio's Khoo Peng Beng, who focused mainly on the landscaping of the
ground plane, the microphone was opened to the audience.
Being a project of national significance, several architects, including
the outspoken Tay Kheng Soon, were understandably compelled to raise their
concerns, though the mood was convivial.
With regard to the design of the proposed seven blocks of 48-storey
towers in Duxton Plain, which have an estimated construction value of $250
million, architect Sonny Chan pointed out that the layout of the flats -
three on each side of a shared corridor - would mean that the units in the
middle would receive the least natural light. He was concerned about the
'quality of the space'.
Another architect, Mr Tan Shee Tiong, also registered his concern about
long communal corridors which were faced by kitchens and bathrooms, and
bordered by dark air-wells. Some of the flats also seemed to have long
internal corridors too.
'It is not a happy solution,' he said.
He also noted the long strip of the aerial garden, which will link all
seven blocks at mid and roof levels. Punctuated with big columns, it might
not be as pleasant as it seemed in the drawings.
Several of the blocks also faced west, which meant the flats would get
direct afternoon sun.
Although these were legitimate concerns, it was perhaps the question
that was raised by pioneer architect Tay that most needed answering.
Without mincing his words, he dismissed the design problems of the
'double-loaded corridor' as something the architects and the developers
would just have to 'grapple' with.
He then drew attention to a written citation by two judges made public
at the exhibition of the Duxton Plain competition entries at URA on April
30.
In light of the citation, Mr Tay was curious about why the judges,
Professor Fumihiko Maki of Japan and Dr Moshe Safdie of the United States,
had chosen to single out the competition entry of British architect Will
Alsop as having particular merit. click here to see it
He quoted the citation which reads: 'This scheme proposed an approach
in which diversity and identity might be encouraged by an open
architectural framework.'
The entry did not make it into the short-list of the final five designs
in Stage Two of the competition.
The citation was made at the insistence of the only two foreign judges
(both renowned international architects) out of a six-member jury panel
headed by Mrs Koh-Lim Wen Gin, also URA's chief planner.
This niggling doubt was of course not for the architects of ARC Studio
to redress, but Mr Khoo did oblige by reiterating the approach of his firm
to the competition brief.
He said: 'For us, to push the boundary over the edge was not what we
set out to do. We wanted to walk the fine line.'
An exhibition of the 203 entries of the Duxton Plain Public Housing
International Architecture Design Competition is on until next Tuesday at
the URA Centre, 45 Maxwell Road, Level One. Opening hours are from 8.30 am
- 9 pm (Monday - Friday) and 8.30 am - 5.30 pm (Saturday). Closed on
Sunday.
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