OCT Kunming

Scheme for a mixed-use headquarters complex with office, residential, hospitality and commercial components.

Vanke HQ

This schematic design for a mixed-use development in Shenzhen brings back nature and a human scale to the dense urban district in the form of a new vertical regenerative campus headquarters typology.

Designed for a unique site consisting of two adjacent plots in Shenzhen, the scheme looks out onto the water towards Hong Kong.

Its outer, sleek, angular envelope contrasts with its inner, lush urban oasis that brings nature back into a dense city environment. Reminiscent of a “slice” of a mountain it provides ecosystem services like sequestering carbon, phytoremediation of acidic rain, reducing pollutants in the air and turning carbon dioxide to oxygen.

The holistic design fully integrates the different programs of this mixed-use development, creating connections, and community spaces for all users.

The towers respond to each other, facing each other to create beautiful green views for the spaces that do not face the sea. They sit on an elevated podium that gives the development a new ground level and connects the different programs to each other.

Waterfalls and greenery turn the podium into a lush public space, refuge floors are turned into landscaped parks in the sky.

In order to foster community in a large development, plenty of sociable common spaces, both within the buildings and in the publicly accessible areas, have been included in the design. Recreational amenities like running and hiking tracks amongst the ‘mountains’ are woven into the design. The multi-functional spaces provide friendly, biophilic environments for users and passers-by alike.

 

Community Town Hub

A public design competition was called for a large-scale community town hub within a major public housing estate. This ‘one-stop community service centre’ involved the integration of community, sports, civic and commercial facilities within a 5.7Ha site.

WOHA’s key strategy was to approach the site with a club sandwich multi-zoning approach, by lifting the large footprint of the sports stadium and recreational facilities to the top and placing the commercial and civic facilities below. This approach not only minimised the building’s footprint and maximised space for facilities but also formed a giant urban umbrella over the entire development while opening up the ground level space to activity generating uses and effective additional park land. The layering arrangement also generated multiple ground levels of covered tropical outdoor spaces and provided dynamic visual links between the facilities/blocks.

The ground level was proposed to be a physical extension of the adjacent existing linear park, forming the Community Town Green – an uninterrupted pedestrianised ground plane that is fully open, physically connected and visually porous. The linear arrangement of the buildings were designed to act as wind funnels, assisted further by aerodynamically shaped block ends. This active combination of “Breezeway” + “Canopy” + Event Space” + “Atrium” collectively made up the comfortable tropical “Breezeway Atriums” at ground level, which served as the alternative sheltered tropical town square designed with a street-like quality and bazaar atmosphere.

At roof level, the 5,000 capacity outdoor stadium doubles up as the open air town square/community event space. This is supported by a concourse level directly below serving as a crowd holding area and the central zone where all common facilities are consolidated and shared. Hanging from this stadium roof are the indoor sports and recreational facilities, which are designed with a porous louvred facade for natural ventilation.

 

 

Pan Pacific Orchard

The design of Pan Pacific Orchard envisions a new prototype for high-rise tropical hospitality. This 23-storey 350-room building is a distinctive garden hotel, adding to the green and spectacle along Singapore’s Orchard Road shopping belt.

To overcome the limited site area and to break down the scale, the design stacks 4 distinct strata with 3 Sky Terraces inserted as elevated grounds with amenities surrounded by gardens. The guest rooms are split into 3 stacks configured in L-shaped stacks overlooking either the Sky Terraces or city.

The 1st stratum is designed as a Forest Terrace set between Claymore Road and Claymore Drive with a water plaza and cascades and edged by forest trees, creating a dramatic entrance and a memorable urban connection.

The 2nd stratum is conceived as a Beach Terrace, offering guests a tropical oasis, with meandering sandy beachfront and palm groves around an emerald lagoon, set against Orchard Road.

The 3rd stratum is set up as a Garden Terrace orientated towards the quiet residential estate of Claymore Hill. Flanked by the Bar and Lounge, the Terrace showcases a manicured garden, complete with verandah, lawn, fountains and garden.

The 4th stratum is envisaged as a Cloud Terrace comprising of a 400 seat ballroom and event lawn, surrounded by thin mirror pools and filigree planting, washed by natural light filtering through the PV roof canopy.

The interiors are designed to reinforce the experience of each strata, offering a unique boutique-scale hotel experience. Huge living green columns with creepers visually connects the 4 strata, juxtaposing against the stacked massing and lend the urban hotel with a touch of resort.

Kampung Admiralty

Kampung Admiralty is Singapore’s first building to bring together a mix of public facilities and services under one roof. The traditional approach is for each government agency to have their own plot of land, resulting in standalone buildings. This one-stop integrated complex maximises land use and the benefits of co-location, and is a prototype for meeting the needs of Singapore’s ageing population.

The compact site, adjacent to a train station in medium-rise public housing area, prompted a layered ‘club sandwich’ approach. The result is a “Vertical Kampung (village)”, with a Community Plaza sheltered by a Medical Centre supporting a rooftop Community Park overlooked by apartments for seniors. These three distinct layers juxtapose the various building uses to foster diversity of cross-programming and frees up the ground level for activity generators. The proximity to healthcare, social, commercial and other amenities support inter-generational bonding and promote active ageing in place. The development has proven extremely popular, and was used as the backdrop for the Prime Minister’s 2018 National Day address, as a visual embodiment of Singapore’s aspirations for a more caring community environment.

2020

  • Asia Pacific Leadership in Green Building Awards - Shortlisted

    Leadership in Sustainable Design and Performance (Institutional) category, awarded by World Green Building Council

  • International Urban Project Award - Shortlisted

    Organised by Bauwelt Berlin and WA World Architecture Magazine, Beijing

2019

  • ArcAsia Awards for Architecture - Special Recognition

    Category B-4 (Specialized Buildings) category, awarded by Architects Regional Council Asia (ARCASIA)

  • SGBC-BCA Sustainability Leadership Awards 2019 - Design Award

    Leadership in Sustainable Design and Performance (Institutional), awarded by Singapore Green Building Council and Building and Construction Authority, Singapore

  • 18th SIA Architectural Design Awards 2019 - Design Award

    Commercial (Mixed Development) category, awarded by SIA

  • CTBUH Urban Habitat Award (Single-Site Scale) - Winner

    Awarded by Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, Chicago, Illinois

  • CTBUH Best Tall Mixed-Use Building - Winner

    Awarded by Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, Chicago, Illinois

  • 2019 Green Good Design Award - Winner

    Awarded by The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design

2018

  • World Architecture Festival - World Building of the Year

    Awarded by World Architecture Festival

  • World Architecture Festival - Shortlisted

    Mixed Use – Completed category, awarded by World Architecture Festival

  • HDB Design Award - Winner

    Completed Project – Mixed Development category, awarded by Housing & Development Board

  • International Chapter Architecture Awards - Commendation

    Commercial Architecture, awarded by The Australian Institute of Architects

2017

  • NParks Skyrise Greenery Award - Winner

    Outstanding and Excellence Award, awarded by National Parks Board, Singapore

2016

  • World Architecture Festival - Winner

    Commercial Mixed-Use (Future Projects) category, awarded by World Architecture Festival

2015

  • Landscape Excellence Assessment Framework (LEAF) - Outstanding Project

    Awarded by National Parks Board, Singapore

  • HDB Innovative Design Award - Winner

    Winner, under “To-Be-Built” Mixed Development category, awarded by Housing & Development Board, Singapore

2006

  • ArcAsia Awards for Architecture - Special Recognition

    Category A-2: Multiple-Family Residential, awarded by ArcAsia