URA selects 4 schemes out of 30 entries from S'pore, overseas architects
Uma Shankari, Business Times 1 Dec 07;
A LOW-RISE eco-village, canal streets, a coastal shopping promenade and terraced communal green roofs - coupled with dramatic views and contrasting skylines. This is the living environment suggested by the winning entrants in a competition to get ideas on how Marina Bay should look.
In September, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said it will set aside 60 hectares - the Marina South Residential District (MSRD) - for 11,000 homes.
A design competition to inspire innovative ideas to distinguish the area was announced at the same time.
When the competition closed on Nov 12, 30 entries had been received from local and overseas architects. Foreign submissions came from Hong Kong, Australia, Indonesia, India and the US.
Four schemes have been selected and another two received special mention. The winners are Hong Kong's Compass Studio and Singapore's Khoo Teik Rong, SKPS-Project and Surbana. Special mention was given to Australia's Chor and Singapore's ZONG Architects.
The four winners will get $10,000 and the two special mention schemes $5,000.
'We are impressed with the numerous interesting and novel ideas from the competition,' said URA's director for urban planning and design Fun Siew Leng.
'They will serve as a starting point to stimulate reflection and inspiration to develop Marina South into a distinctive waterfront garden district for generations to come.'
MSRD will also have 1.6 million sq ft set aside for hotel use and 678,000 sq ft of commercial space. The entire project will be developed over 15 to 20 years, once supporting infrastructure has been put in place.
Four winning design ideas for Marina South residential area
Cheow Xin Yi, Today Online 1 Dec 07;
Wave-like high-rises juxtaposed against developments with terraced communal green roofs, vast vistas of water and greenery, and contrasting skylines.
That is the vision (picture) that a Singapore architectural firm, Surbana, has of the upmarket 60-ha Marina Bay area that will eventually house 11,000 homes when the project is completed over the next 15 to 20 years.
It was one of four winning entries in the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore (URA) and Singapore Institute of Architects' Marina South Residential District Design Ideas Competition. The results were announced on Friday.
"The URA is at a conceptual stage of planning for Marina South," said Ms Fun Siew Leng, URA's director of urban planning and design who is also a member of the jury panel.
"The numerous interesting and novel ideas garnered from the competition ... will serve as a starting point that stimulates reflection and inspiration to further develop Marina South into an attractive, distinctive waterfront garden district for generations to come."
The URA is the master planner for the site.
The other three winning entries came from Singaporean Khoo Teik Rong, a group that calls itself SKPS-Project and Compass Studio from Hong Kong.
These designs feature ideas from low-rise eco-villages to canals lined with commercial activities.
The 30 submissions hailed from as far away as India and the US.
Striking ideas thrown up for Marina South project
4 winners in design competition boast features such as terraced buildings, 'floating' blocks
Tay Suan Chiang Straits Times 1 Dec 07;
IT'S been a hazy vision up to now but the first stunning proposals for the Marina South Residential District, unveiled yesterday, indicate that a design revolution is brewing on Singapore's waterfront.
The four proposals - picked from a design competition that attracted 30 entries from India to Australia - promise an intoxicating cocktail of architectural flamboyance and ecological innovation in what has been touted as Singapore's future No. 1 residential hot spot.
It is the first time a design competition has been held as part of the planning process for a residential district here.
And the ideas thrown up have not been seen here before: They include elevated condominiums, terraced buildings resembling cascading gardens, and 'floating' housing blocks with Amsterdam-style canals.
The winners, who each get $10,000, include local architecture firm Surbana, Hong Kong's Compass Studio and national serviceman Khoo Teik Rong, an architecture graduate from Melbourne's RMIT University.
The designs remain just suggestions at this stage and may not be part of the final plan, but they serve as a striking starting point for the ambitious project.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) will now compile a final plan for the 60ha site, which will be developed over 15 to 20 years and will have up to 11,000 homes.
The competition, organised by the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) and the URA, asked entrants to unscramble what amounted to a Rubik's cube of design challenges.
At the basic level, 11,000 housing units had to be incorporated with commercial, hotel and community facilities on a prime site near the upcoming Gardens at Marina South and Marina Bay Sands integrated resort.
But proposals had to show how high-density living could be achieved while retaining the ambience of a waterfront garden.
The judges also looked for environmental sustainability and a sense of community, while calling for designs that would allow Marina South to showcase the City in a Garden vision.
Mr Khoo, 23, drew on inspiration from a visit to Amsterdam and opted for canals to run through the site to make the area more intimate.
'I didn't want a site that would have only large-scale buildings,' he said.
The Surbana team had a 'green and blue' strategy. Green in the form of plants on the roofs of low-rise buildings, which would be terraced to give the appearance of gardens sloping to the marina.
Blue covered their housing idea - 30- to 50-storey-high blocks placed on shallow pools, making them appear to float on water.
Compass Studio, meanwhile, used hills as its inspiration - it wanted high-rise buildings to resemble hills that meet the lower plains. It also proposed a low-rise eco-village.
The fourth winner was SKPS-Project, a group of five architects, mostly from Singapore. They proposed lifting residential blocks 30m above the ground and planting trees underneath.
Reacting to the designs, Mr Mink Tan of Mink Architects said they were visually evocative, with 'a mix of everything'. 'If done successfully, this can be a...shining example of Asian urban living.'
Ex-SIA president John Ting of AIM & Associates was encouraged by the designs, but said more refinement was needed. He suggested the land can be split into smaller parcels and various architects let loose: 'Then we can learn how to work the land better.'
Property developers and consultants were more hardheaded, telling The Straits Times that it was too early to judge if the designs were commercially viable.
The 30 entries are on display at City Hall until Dec 8.
Shaping the homes of Marina South
High-rise blocks depicting hills and canals for boat rides are among the suggested features of four winning proposals
Tay Suan Chiang Straits Times 1 Dec 07;
WATERFRONT-GARDEN living that's just minutes away from the city. That is what residents at the future Marina South Residential District can expect.
No date has been set for when people can move in.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has set aside 60ha of land between Gardens at Marina South and the Straits of Singapore, which will host some 11,000 homes, with a mix of commercial, hotel and community facilities for all to enjoy.
To get ideas for this project, the URA and the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) held a competition in September.
Open to students and professionals in planning, architecture and landscape, both locally and internationally, it drew 30 entries.
Participants had to illustrate how high-density living can co-exist with a waterfront garden concept, and set a new landmark in residential development.
A five-member panel, including Mr Tai Lee Siang, SIA president, and Ms Fun Siew Leng, director of urban planning and design at URA, chose four winners who each won $10,000.
The winning ideas will serve as an inspiration and catalyst for the masterplan.
The four winning and other entries are on display at City Hall, Level 3 Chambers, till Dec 8, from 10am to 10pm. Admission is free.
Design by Surbana, Singapore
THIS proposal adopts two broad housing strategies.
The first is the Blue strategy, where 30- to 50-storey-high residential towers sit directly on a vast expanse of water in a radial manner. This allows residential owners to have breathtaking views.
Carparks and vehicle movements will be limited to the basement levels, freeing up the ground level for water-themed playgrounds.
In the second Green strategy, most of the rooftop spaces will be semi-public gardens. Public gardens and spaces are also carved out between apartment blocks, creating a closeness to nature.
An internal canal system will allow residents to take boat rides around the area.
Design by Compass Studio Limited, Hong Kong
The overall design of this proposal resembles rolling hills - depicted by high- rise residential blocks of various heights - that overlook a low-rise village.
The towers are arranged such that they have views of the Gardens at Marina South and the seafront.
Connecting the buildings are several high-level terraces called 'Sky Cloud Gardens', and they will be used for leisure activities.
Nearer the waterfront will be a low-rise eco village. Traffic here is restricted to green means of transportation, preferably electric cars.
Design by SKPS Projects, Singapore
The focus here is on creating more open areas and creating a waterfront space for communal and commercial use. Garden decks will link this area to the Gardens at Marina South.
The residential buildings will be lifted 10 storeys above ground, so the space below can be used by the public. There are also plans to plant rainforest
Design by Khoo Teik Rong, Singapore
Khoo Teik Rong was inspired by the many canals he saw in Amsterdam and wanted to recreate the same atmosphere. His canals will be artificially created and connect the Gardens at Marina South to the sea.
There are also plans for the canals to be lined with street-level shops.
His residential blocks will consist of high-rise ones as well as townhouses and waterfront homes.
