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Cox designs major addition to Singapore's growing city centre
This important addition to Singapore's heart in Marina Bay exemplifies advanced architectural and engineering design in the urban redevelopment of a global city. The project's aesthetic and environmental initiatives signposts a way forward for future urban design innovation.
The promenade conceived of as a continuous, gridded urban ground plane of durable granite paving links to the water borne activities on the bay by the lower boardwalk platform made of renewable resource hardwood timber and a granite amphitheatre that steps down into the bay. Interwoven into both ground plane levels of the promenade are a verdant tropical landscape of carefully selected mature indigenous plant species.
A series of bespoke environmental initiatives have been designed to provide visitors respite and thermal comfort from Singapore's intense tropical climate, but appear more like sculptural installations
These include a 300-metre-long sinuous stainless steel mist pipe; 9-metre diameter solar powered breeze shelters each equipped with a massive motion sensor-activated fan and a colourful, fully interactive water feature in the precinct's activity plaza.
These interventions all lead pedestrians to the fully glazed, solar powered visitor centre designed using geometric mesh steelwork to house exhibitions and information on Marina Bay's fast developing environs.
Marina Bay, as it grows, will effectively double the size of Singapore's city centre. Global Cities like Singapore recognise the importance of urban fabric. This project demonstrates the Singapore Government's commitment to urban renewal and infrastructure and the value the government places on design excellence. The projects reflect that in future, successful urban interventions must use advanced environmental and engineering designs to create an increased aesthetic value for a city.
Client: Urban Redevelopment Authority (Singapore), Consultants in joint Venture: Design Architects - Cox Architecture (Australia), Local Architects – Architects 61 (Singapore), All Engineering – Arup (Singapore and Sydney), Quantity Surveyor - Davis Langdon & Seah (Singapore), Landscape Architects - Tierra (Singapore)
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