Punggol Waterway

In September this year we worked on the Punggol Waterway landscape masterplan competition for the design of a 4.2km length of waterway. The waterway will serve as an ecological lifeline of greenery and activities, cutting through several housing parcels providing a rich resource for public housing in Punggol, Singapore's 'Waterfront Town of the 21st century'. 3 months later today the HDB (Housing and Development Board) announced the long awaited results. Read about it here in the press release.

Here are the winning schemes :

[1st Prize]

[Merit Prize]
[Merit Prize]

[Images : HDB]

For our own entry, we were concerned and confronted with the immensity and over-whelming linearity of the 4.2km long waterway within its 10m width : how to create varied conditions that will promote and induce diverse occupation yet remain a largely continuous experience as a recreational and social space? We started by looking at ways in which to displace the defined conditions of planting, walkway and water of a conventional waterway. This led to an evolution of a form that was in direct relation with how a redefined waterfront promenade would perform. The nature of the proposal was more infrastructural, as a systemic propagation of sinusoidal forms that gradually organised movement, program and spatial qualities between adjacent waterway and land parcels.

Here's some images of our entry to share :

[Overall Boards]

[Aerial View]
[Promenade View]
[Undulating Promenade]
[Topographical variation and negotiation]
[Elevational experience]
[Images : PLYSTUDIO]

Do visit our website soon for the full description and images.

Sustain/Ability

[Image : NUS]

Extract from Lecture Series header :

What is sustainability?

What are we sustaining?

Who is being sustained?

Can architecture be sustainable?

Probing into nature, density, tectonics, environment, growth, urbanism, and craft, architecture’s complex relationship with its ability to sustain is brought to bear. Four distinct lectures will open up, challenge, and enrich the way we think through sustainability, to challenge our assumptions of architecture and its seeming ability to change our environment.

The National University of Singapore (NUS) School of Architecture recently organised the 'Sustain/Ability' lecture series which aims to steer the discussion away from more feature-related notions of sustainability. Current industry practices of accrediting green and energy consciousness with a meritocratic system of rewards are given new insights towards developing more strategic and critical thought processes to redefine sustainability's long term goals i.e. the ability to sustain.

[Image : NUS]

The terminal lecture in the series was delivered by Winy Maas of MVRDV. Maas started the lecture by aptly positioning the notion of sustainability amid the gloomy backdrop of the looming economic crisis and global recession.

To Maas, sustainability starts with the first production of space, advocating density and spatial efficiencies at the forefront of any conceptual thought. Architects are seen as agents of space - our contribution is to rethink space as a viable tool to drive and to initiate economic, cultural and social agendas. He refers to MVRDV's book KM3, describing various formal strategies (stacking, bending, lifting etc) employed in their projects and manipulating parameters of form, coupled with comprehehsive research and information gathered through the collaborative efforts of research institutes like T?F (The Why Factory). MVRDV showed how generic design ideas can be applied to specific contexts globally and how projects are constantly moulded to suit new situations. Many of the projects involved the decision making of influential stakeholders, clients and politicians, and MVRDV describes these negotiations with as much ease as one might think of their formal experimentations.

On a larger note, he ended the lecture by strongly encouraging the audience and local community of architects, designers and other professionals to rise above the norm, to challenge the existing. As a prolific architect himself, perhaps his most significant contribution has been a redefination of the role of the architect, not as mere creators of buildings, but as active politicians of space and urban development, able to dream and construct new manifestos of change. Only then can architecture be sustainable, where the creation of a new role beckons an increasingly contentious global outlook.

Where are our own spacefighters?

On iSh

The recently completed J-Loft project has just been reviewed by iSh magazine. This time we are extremely excited as this is a critical review of the work as a complete, three-dimensional space. You can locate the article in the latest Issue 9.5 of iSh.

iSh, one of Singapore's foremost architectural, interiors and design publications prides itself as reporting "fragments from an urbanscape" combining news and features ranging from art to fashion to design from around the world. We are grateful to Kelley and Chris, and to J, our Client for allowing the work to be published.

[Images : PLYSTUDIO]

On dezeen.com

Hot off the press is another coverage of J-Loft this time on dezeen.com. Read about it here.

dezeen.com recently hit a milestone high by getting over one million readers during the month of October 2008. Read about it here. That's quite an audience, and it certainly looks like its climbing. Find out more about dezeen here. Thanks to the editors!

On www.architecturephoto.net

PLYSTUDIO's recently completed project J-Loft is featured on architecturephoto.net. Read about it here. We are extremely honored to have our work published.

Architecturephoto.net is a Japanese online magazine showcasing new works of architecture, design and art. Visit here for more design inspiration and news.