Emilyn Yap, Business Times 22 May 08;
SUPPORTING the local green movement, the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) will be taking on a series of initiatives to promote green architecture in Singapore.
SIA's latest efforts came to light at its annual dinner yesterday, as president of the institute, Tai Lee Siang, introduced three green awards to recognise excellence in sustainable architectural design.
The first is the SIA-NParks Skyrise Greenery Awards, jointly launched by SIA and the National Parks Board to encourage creative greenery design in high-rise developments.
Partnering Philips and Hunter Douglas separately, SIA will also launch the SIA-Philips Green Innovation Awards and the Eco Friend Awards.
The former recognises innovative sustainable design, while the latter promotes the creative use of sustainable products.
Awards aside, the SIA will also bid to host the 2014 International Union of Architects World Congress, one of the world's largest conferences on architecture and urban design, under the theme 'Green Cities'.
Through the bid, SIA hopes to showcase Singapore not just as a model green city, but also as a catalyst for the creation of a green region around South-east Asia.
As a sign of the government's support, Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan will lead the SIA delegation to Turin, Italy, to present the bid in July.
Yesterday's spotlight was also on the 9th SIA Architectural Design Awards.
With talk of recession and belt-tightening making its rounds, it was a uniquely apt time for the awards to introduce a new prize - 'Best Project Below S$1 Million Construction Cost'.
The winning design at 19 Jalan Elok by Chang Architects was a stunning display of urbanised nature, impressing the judges with the 'magical quality of its spaces'.
Also making its debut was the 'Building of the Year' award, which went to RSP Architects Planners & Engineers for its work on the LaSalle College of the Arts.
According to the judges, the college is 'a work with sensitivity to youth, to climate, to context, to construction'.
Waterfall in house project a winner
Jinny Koh, Today Online 22 May 08;
FROM pebbles to a pond to a waterfall — one could be forgiven for thinking that one has strayed into a mini-forest smack in the bustling Orchard area.
Except that these natural elements are part of the interior landscape of a three-storey terrace house near Mt Elizabeth Hospital.
The house eco-friendly design by Chang Architects, which cost $390,000, so impressed a panel of judges that it took home the inaugural Best Project Below $1 million Construction Cost at the 9th Architectural Design Award presentation last night. Chang also bagged the Design Award for residential projects at the bi-annual event organised by the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA).
According to Mr Chang Yong Ter, the brains behind the design, he and three other architects had only 230 sq m to work with for the project. In line with the owners' wishes, 40 per cent of the house — from the living room to the bedroom — is made up of landscape elements such as pebbles, plants and a waterfall. And like a rainforest, the temperature in the house is cooler than outside, said Mr Chang, 38.
Another winner, RSP Architects Planners and Engineers, also drew inspiration from Mother Nature. Director Pok Siew Fatt, 53, hoped that the design of the LaSalle College of the Arts building could inspire art and create more interaction between the students and the public.
"Like larva from a volcano, which will sculpt and shape the surroundings over time, there are a lot of event spaces, event bridges as well as a ground floor where students can hold many activities that are open to the public," said Mr Pok.
The transparent panels of the college building will also enable outsiders to look in on students while they are engaged in creative work — thus bringing the process of art-making to the public.
The $76-million LaSalle project won the Building of the Year award as well as the Design Award for institutional projects.
The SIA yesterday also announced the launch of three new "Green" awards to recognise excellence in sustainable architectural design and to promote green thinking in the design of buildings.
The institute will also be bidding for the International Union of Architects (UIA) World Congress 2014, the largest architectural congress in the world.
For more information on the green awards, visit www.sia.org.sg.
LaSalle campus' 'glass gem' bags top building award
It scoops Building of the Year title handed out by Singapore Institute of Architects
Jessica Lim, Straits Times 22 May 08;
THE new LaSalle campus complex, a striking array of glass and stone facades linked by bridges, scooped top honours at the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) awards ceremony last night.
A panel of five named the complex as Building of the Year and made its designers, RSP Architects Planners and Engineers, the stars of the show at the Suntec Convention Centre ceremony.
'We wanted the LaSalle building to integrate with the grain of the city and be dynamic; we accomplished this and we are very happy about the win,' said company director Pok Siew Fatt.
SIA handed out 21 awards - selected from 157 submissions - including two key awards for Building of the Year and the best project below $1m in construction cost.
The judging panel included SIA president Tai Lee Siang; the head of National University of Singapore's architecture department, Professor Wong Yunn Chii; and renowned architect Mok Wei Wei.
They evaluated submissions on points such as sustainability, elegance of construction and attention to detail.
Mr Tai told the ceremony last night: 'The LaSalle building is an example of how we are moving towards an architectural capital, which needs the major city buildings to meet high architectural standards.'
National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan told the dinner guests that the architecture fraternity was a key partner of his ministry and its agencies.
'While we set out the plans to guide the growth and development of Singapore, it is you [the architects] who actually come up with the designs that shape our landscape,' said Mr Mah, who also unveiled a new Urban Redevelopment Authority plan centred on recreational infrastructure.
