Saturday 24 March 2007

OMA in Singapore



Hot on the heels of Moshe Safdie's integrated resort in Sentosa, another world acclaimed architecture firm is set to leave its permanent mark on Singapore's skyline with a 36-storey residential high-rise in the heart of the city.

Pritzker Prize winning Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and his firm OMA (Office of Metropolitan Architects) have inked an agreement with Far East Organisation to design the 153 metre tall tower that will be located at the intersection of Scotts Road and Cairnhill Road. Four individual floating towers providing for 68 apartment units are suspended from a central core, granting each unit the best possible views of the city while freeing up the ground level for communal use.

When it comes to architecture, both residential and commercial, we really haven't got much to scream and shout about (the Esplanade is a note of contention, and our few remaining mid-century buildings have all been earmarked for redevelopment), so this seriously forward thinking high-end condo is really something else.

First Safdie, now Koolhaas, could Singapore really be the next hotbed of starchitecture?