Archisteem 15: Friendly Architecture Curation

Today's curated project: The SkyVille in Singapore

As mentioned by Hive account@numpypython yesterday, there are currently 3 public housing projects that look so exclusive that people will take it as a private housing project. Today let me curate the one of them and continue on the other two for the next two days.

This project is led by WOHA, a well-known Singapore firm which took place in Dawson Road, Singapore. The project covered an approximate 29,392m² with 960 units of varying unit sizes and was completed around 2015. The project is one of the HDB public housing for the Singapore’s citizens, which is an affordable housing scheme.

First of all, let me make some introduction to the HDB public housing in Singapore. There are a few types of flat units that the Housing & Development Board provides:

1-room to 5-room
Executive flat
Multi-generation flat

Here is a more detailed specification for each of the typology.

HDB Flat Types	2 Room	3 Room	4 Room	5 Room	3 Generation	Executive Flat
Floor Area (m²)	36 & 45	60 to 65	90	110	115	130
Total Bedrooms	1	2	3	3	4	3
Total Bathrooms	1	2	2	2	3	2

Source

I am amazed by the types available for all range of buyers, like singles, couples, young and small family and even for 3 generation family! Besides, as far as I know, all HDB flats are built with precast materials which mean most of them are pre-constructed in the factory and reassembled on site. This will ensure the workmanship to be at its highest quality. It is hard to find such implementation in Malaysia when we are trying to squeeze the construction cost in Malaysia’s affordable housing.

Where to find such gorgeous car park with rooftop garden and so much greenery surrounding it!

Well planned playground for the residents and public to enjoy, such generousity.

Such awesome rooftop space for the residents, even my hometown apartment is not equipped with such facility!

The Sky Ville is actually a mixture of private and public housing which both private and public housing are linked with a community living theme, allowing free access to all the facilities. With its theme, the facilities include a supermarket, coffee shops, retails spaces, childcare facility, pavilions, fitness & sporting spaces, jogging track and also a public rooftop sky park. I could say, one can stay in Sky Ville without the need to leave (just need to add medical care service like clinic would make a complete ecosystem).

Yup, after every 10 floors (manually counted), you will get a green space!

A section that shows the concept.

The most innovative architectural feature for this project is every 80 homes will be clustered into few blocks and the blocks are connected with a sheltered community garden terrace. This is like living in a medium rise apartment with an exclusive community space for the blocks’ community. With this feature, the architect believed that it can foster better neighborhood spirit and improve the security for the residents as there is natural surveillance within proximity. This is how Sky Village concept is realized as the residents have equal share of sufficient public green space like village.

The artpiece engraved on the precast wall by local artist.

An organic waffle slab structure which amazed me with its aestheticness.

Pre-fabricated construction is applied in this project and all the housing units are column free and beam free. This could eliminate wasted space and make allowance for the residents to make use of every area in their home. Besides the application of a sustainable construction method, it also focused on nature conservation and social empowerment through art. The existing old rain trees around the site were retained and incorporated into the landscaping. Personally, I think this is a good practice as to adapt to nature rather than recreate an artificial one that may not fit the local climate. In addition to this, the project also involved local artist that documented the morphology of the neighborhood and the art was cast into the precast walls.

Loving the connecting bridge in between the blocks.

The project achieved the Platinum Greenmark rating which is the highest rating for a sustainable building index. It is the first for a public housing project to achieve such standard and it really did set another benchmark for the housing quality in Singapore. Looking at the tight competition between Singapore developers to come out with a different attractive design of HDB housing, and pushing the limits again and again.

This really inspires the young architects to be daring in design but able to capture the equilibrium point on the economic feasibility, livelihood integration and also aesthetic value of an affordable housing project.