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Büro Ole Scheeren completes DUO Twin Towers with honeycomb patterns in Singapore

Singapore Architecture News - Apr 30, 2018 - 05:09   23729 views

Büro Ole Scheeren completes DUO Twin Towers with honeycomb patterns in Singapore

Büro Ole Scheeren has completed a pair of towers with concave surfaces featuring honeycomb patterns on their facades in Singapore. Dubbed as DUO Twin Towers, the project was developed to "symbolize the symbiotic relationship between Malaysia and Singapore and the positive effect on a larger urban, as well as regional context", within the scope of a joint venture development between two countries.

Envisioned as "an act of reconciliation", the towers function as a knit together a previously disparate part of the city. DUO integrates the surrounding context with its diverse mix of functions around a 24-hour accessible public plaza to form a new civic nexus for the dynamic, prosperous life of Singapore.

Büro Ole Scheeren completes DUO Twin Towers with honeycomb patterns in Singapore

The project is comprised of two expressive sculptural towers that have been dynamically carved to create a series of circular urban spaces. One of the towers, reaching 186 meters in total, entirely contains 660 residential units scattered across over 50 floors above ground, while the other tower reaches 170 meters with 39 floors of office spaces and rooms for a five-star hotel operated by Andaz.

Büro Ole Scheeren completes DUO Twin Towers with honeycomb patterns in Singapore

Incorporating curved facades rippled with the delicate texture of a honeycomb shading system, the buildings’ slender forms envelope the public spaces, while the resulting geometries complementthe angles of the existing architecture and create a landscape of covered and open-air gardens, walkways, cafes and restaurants.

"Rather than functioning as a piece of individual and self-referential architecture, DUO is a sensitive insertioninto Singapore’s urban fabric that unites a group of existing buildings through spatial integration and establishes a coherent overall urban figure. It turns a previously neglected neighborhood into a lively center for social interaction," stated Büro Ole Scheeren in a press statement.

Büro Ole Scheeren completes DUO Twin Towers with honeycomb patterns in Singapore

"DUO is about a sense of urban responsibility,” said Ole Scheeren, principal of Büro Ole Scheeren. "It shows how architecture can become a tool of reconciliation within an otherwise disparate and fragmented urban context. The project repairs a broken piece of the city and celebrates public life as the central quality of a socially responsible urban environment."

"DUO is a joint venture between two countries, and the project has come to represent this important duality. Our architecture articulates the dynamic relationship of two urban figures and generates symbiotic effects beyond the project itself with a positive impact on the larger context," added Scheeren.

Büro Ole Scheeren completes DUO Twin Towers with honeycomb patterns in Singapore

Located on the main route into the city from Singapore’s Changi Airport and nestled between the historicKampong Glam district and vibrant commercial Bugis Junction, DUO integrates living, working and retail with public gardens, cultural installations, and a diverse urban context.

The studio creates vibrant commercial spaces weaving around the footprint of the towers through a sequence of gardens and walkways that pass in and out of the towers hovering above. The plaza is open to the public 24 hours a day and celebrates the lush tropical vegetation that grows across Singapore. 

This parkland mixes a series of gardens and landscaped leisure zones which are linked to the rest of the city through multiple connections above and below ground. The development is further served by multiple transport hubs and integrates direct access to the Bugis metro station. Vehicles reach the towers by a series of dedicated ramps, allowing the plaza to serve as a fully pedestrianized space.

Büro Ole Scheeren completes DUO Twin Towers with honeycomb patterns in Singapore

Meanwhile, high above the city on the towers’ geometric offsets and projecting cantilevers, large elevated terraces and a public observation deck offer spectacular views across Singapore’s skyline.

"The main gesture of DUO is to give something back to the city," continued Scheeren. 

"We didn’t want a gated community or a privatized space, so we created a 24-hour accessible public realm that connects to all of the different aspects of the surrounding city. The landscape is conceived as something highly organic and completely permeable – its liquid geometry allows you to flow through the site in almost any direction. It’s a celebration of public access and activity."

Büro Ole Scheeren completes DUO Twin Towers with honeycomb patterns in Singapore

DUO demonstrates how a landmark building can be sensitively embedded within a civic context and how form can be simultaneously performative and sculptural. Ole Scheeren, Founder and Principal of Büro Ole Scheeren, used a method of subtraction in the design of DUO. 

The architect created circular spaces by carving the building’s mass to establish and articulate precise urban relationships. "The two towers are not merely an addition of independent objects, but perform as a space-generator," stated in a press release. 

These circular spaces are integrated to the neighboring buildings, while creating a vibrant and diverse landscape of public exploration through the whole district. A series of verticaloffsets and cantilevers further articulate the towers’ silhouette and generate a series of elevated public spaces.

"Instead of thinking about the building as just an object in its own right, we have defined the towers through examining urban space and reintegrating the area’s existing architecture into something new. By carving a series of precise urban figures, suddenly, all of these floating objects find their precise anchorage in a spatial context," added the firm.

Büro Ole Scheeren completes DUO Twin Towers with honeycomb patterns in Singapore

The honeycomb comprises a series of hexagonal sunshades that help protect the towers from the heat and glare of the sun, without interrupting the views out over Singapore’s gardens, oceans and skyline. The grid also provides texture to the smooth, concave curves of the towers, as well as accentuating the dramatic cantilevers and setbacks that form the physical body of DUO. The slender edges of each building are marked by a series of thin, vertical lines, designed to emphasize the elegance and refined expression of the towers.

"The honeycomb expresses the dynamic curvatures of the facade and simultaneously becomes an environmental tool," added Scheeren. "Our strategic deployment of passive environmental design strategies greatly enhances the sustainable nature of the development. Duo is a project about acting with responsibility towards the urban environment and the public domain – both environmentally and socially."

Büro Ole Scheeren completes DUO Twin Towers with honeycomb patterns in Singapore

Image © Büro Ole Scheeren

Büro Ole Scheeren completes DUO Twin Towers with honeycomb patterns in Singapore

Image © Büro Ole Scheeren

Büro Ole Scheeren recently completed the Guardian Art Center, featuring pixelated volumes and floating box, a new hybrid cultural institution is situated on the doorstep of Beijing’s historic Forbidden City. The German architect Ole Scheeren's other prominent projects include The Interlace - an irregularly-arranged housing complex in Singapore, the pixelated MahaNakhon skyscraper in Bangkok. 

The firm is currently working on a new high-rise building in Frankfurt, Germany, as well as a 333-metre-tall skyscraper in Vietnam. Ole Scheeren runs his offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Berlin and Bangkok.

All photographs © Iwan Baan 

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