A different kind of tropical high-rise

View of tower in skyline

I came across this project by Toyo Ito for a spec office tower at Market Street (Singapore) in a recent issue of GA Document. I do not know whether it will be constructed or if it remains a proposal, but it's definitely an interesting addition to current discourse on tropical high rise architecture. This is especially so since most of the successful tropical high-rises so far (especially the towers by WoHa) have been residential, and therefore deploy architectural elements more suited for residential architecture like terraces, balconies, fenestration.

This is the first example I'm seeing of a commercial spec office tower, which given its highly prominent (and costly site), is subject to rigorous market efficiencies and lease step dimensions that limit the "playing room" for generous brises-soleils, balconies, etc that mediate the tropical sun and the internal enclosure. Toyo Ito proposes a formalistic interweaving of two kinds of walls - a screen wall and a green wall - to create an abstract figure in the skyline that speaks to the kind of fluid, naturalistic "weak architecture" that is a prevalent theme in his current work. Its form-driven approach makes it a very different animal from the organisational, program/performance-based (or even utilitarian) rigour that characterises works like Newton Suites or the Met by WoHa.

Among today's contemporary starchitects, I reserve my greatest respect for Toyo Ito. Yet, I often doubt if the kind of lightness, fluidity, subtle complexity and ephemerality (a la Maurice Merleau Ponty) that Ito seeks can be accomplished outside of Japan. In a different construction culture (or even in a different climate), the roughness and speed of local construction result in a rough outcome that is less than fine. Even in the intensity of Singapore's sweltering sun, any intended lightness and ephemerality can be easily lost. I remember comparing Ito's Vivocity shopping mall as built with an image of the original architectural model (that really conveyed a light fluid eggshell feel). The two could not be more different and the built shopping mall could not be more underwhelming.

But I leave you to judge the project below and form your own opinions. On paper at least, it's a welcome addition to the architectural candy store. RL

Architectural Model

Plans

Terrace View

Rooftop Garden view

Singapore - Evolution of a Planned City

Cities always begin somewhere. Sometimes they begin with a plan, sometimes the plan is imposed after the fact. Paris may be thousands of years old, but we can't seem to dislodge our understanding of Paris from the boulevards and axes planned by Baron Haussmann. Nor can we separate New York's ubiquitous street blocks from the Commissioner's Plan of 1811. The following images give a brief glimpse of Singapore's planning trajectory beginning with the Raffles Town Plan of 1822, giving us a sense of how this city came to be. RL

1822 Town Plan, Singapore

1842 survey map

1963 Ring City proposal by UNDP team led by Otto Koenigsberger

1971 Singapore's First Concept Plan (adapted

from Koenigsberger's 1963 Ring City proposal)

2003 Concept Plan