9:25 PM
Vinay Singh
Open-air walkways and a high ceiling are among the many features helping The Star Vista stay naturally cool
Air-con, mall-loving Singaporeans can get set for a new shopping experience - a mall without air-conditioning.
Newly opened The Star Vista, next to Buona Vista MRT station, is said to be Singapore's first naturally cooled mall.
The 15-storey mixed-development building keeps cool by optimising wind flow and air movement through open-air walkways and a 33m-high grand foyer that is not closed up so air can flow in. The shops, however, are air-conditioned.
Photo: Nuria Ling
There are also air vents pumping out air 1 to 2 degrees lower than
the surrounding temperature and concealed fans to help with ventilation
if it gets too hot.
Above the mall is The Star Performing Arts Centre, which houses a 5,000-seat auditorium - Singapore's largest auditorium in the suburbs and one of the country's largest performance venues.
Visitors to the lobby of the auditorium can look down through a huge skylight cutout in the ceiling of the mall, right through to the lowest open level. The centre also has a sky bridge on the ninth floor where visitors can enjoy cool breezes and views of the Buona Vista neighbourhood. Together, both complexes are called The Star.
The architect behind the project is Mr Andrew Bromberg, design director of international architecture firm, Aedas. The whole development costs $976 million to build.
Speaking to Life! at the venue opening on Thursday, the 44-year-old American says: "It's a building that breathes with the surroundings. You realise that you are outside but feel protected as if you are inside. It is an amazing site. I wanted to harness that instead of making an enclosed space looking out the window."
Mr Bromberg, who is also working on the Sandcrawler, the regional headquarters of American film production company Lucasfilm in Fusionopolis, says he was trying to do something different with a shopping complex, as opposed to just building a regular mall. "Singapore has a good history of outdoor venues such as food markets and stands but not traditional outdoor shopping malls. What we tried to create was an environment that protects you from the outside and is comfortable even in the heat of the day."
His added challenge was having to work with two clients - CapitaMalls Asia for the mall side and Rock Productions which owns and manages the performing arts centre - and he had to design the 62,000 sq m site for many uses besides retail and food outlets.
Explaining how he ensured the retail side, the theatre and the parking lots had seamless transition, he says: "Both clients had different requirements and we had three systems to create together. I didn't want to divorce the various experiences such that they would operate on their own, so that was the complex part of getting everything to fit altogether."
The project, which has been open to the public for about a month now, has garnered accolades. It received the prestigious MIPIM Architectural Review Future Project Awards - which recognise unbuilt or incomplete projects - in 2010.
Mr Bromberg, who has won awards for his other work including the high-profile West Kowloon Terminus in Hong Kong, says: "We submitted the project for the awards with renderings. But the material that we gave did not come close to showing what we achieved in reality. So it was already a thrill to get recognition based on images. Now when people actually see it, it exceeds their expectation."
Photo: Nuria Ling
Retailers and shoppers give the open concept the thumbs-up. Co-owner
of District 10 Bar Tapas Restaurant Serena Lim chose the mall's first
floor because of the alfresco dining options. The restaurant can seat 80
outdoors and 40 indoors.
"Perceptions about outdoor dining has changed. Many people like to sit outdoors now. We liked that the mall let us dine outdoors and the design makes it nice and windy, so the experience is pleasant."
Public relations manager Luana Low, 26, has been to the mall for meals. She says: "I like that it's open concept. That makes it different, unlike your conventional mall design, which is closed off. It feels like a different world altogether."
Air-con, mall-loving Singaporeans can get set for a new shopping experience - a mall without air-conditioning.
Newly opened The Star Vista, next to Buona Vista MRT station, is said to be Singapore's first naturally cooled mall.
The 15-storey mixed-development building keeps cool by optimising wind flow and air movement through open-air walkways and a 33m-high grand foyer that is not closed up so air can flow in. The shops, however, are air-conditioned.
Photo: Nuria Ling
Above the mall is The Star Performing Arts Centre, which houses a 5,000-seat auditorium - Singapore's largest auditorium in the suburbs and one of the country's largest performance venues.
Visitors to the lobby of the auditorium can look down through a huge skylight cutout in the ceiling of the mall, right through to the lowest open level. The centre also has a sky bridge on the ninth floor where visitors can enjoy cool breezes and views of the Buona Vista neighbourhood. Together, both complexes are called The Star.
The architect behind the project is Mr Andrew Bromberg, design director of international architecture firm, Aedas. The whole development costs $976 million to build.
Speaking to Life! at the venue opening on Thursday, the 44-year-old American says: "It's a building that breathes with the surroundings. You realise that you are outside but feel protected as if you are inside. It is an amazing site. I wanted to harness that instead of making an enclosed space looking out the window."
Mr Bromberg, who is also working on the Sandcrawler, the regional headquarters of American film production company Lucasfilm in Fusionopolis, says he was trying to do something different with a shopping complex, as opposed to just building a regular mall. "Singapore has a good history of outdoor venues such as food markets and stands but not traditional outdoor shopping malls. What we tried to create was an environment that protects you from the outside and is comfortable even in the heat of the day."
His added challenge was having to work with two clients - CapitaMalls Asia for the mall side and Rock Productions which owns and manages the performing arts centre - and he had to design the 62,000 sq m site for many uses besides retail and food outlets.
Explaining how he ensured the retail side, the theatre and the parking lots had seamless transition, he says: "Both clients had different requirements and we had three systems to create together. I didn't want to divorce the various experiences such that they would operate on their own, so that was the complex part of getting everything to fit altogether."
The project, which has been open to the public for about a month now, has garnered accolades. It received the prestigious MIPIM Architectural Review Future Project Awards - which recognise unbuilt or incomplete projects - in 2010.
Mr Bromberg, who has won awards for his other work including the high-profile West Kowloon Terminus in Hong Kong, says: "We submitted the project for the awards with renderings. But the material that we gave did not come close to showing what we achieved in reality. So it was already a thrill to get recognition based on images. Now when people actually see it, it exceeds their expectation."
Photo: Nuria Ling
"Perceptions about outdoor dining has changed. Many people like to sit outdoors now. We liked that the mall let us dine outdoors and the design makes it nice and windy, so the experience is pleasant."
Public relations manager Luana Low, 26, has been to the mall for meals. She says: "I like that it's open concept. That makes it different, unlike your conventional mall design, which is closed off. It feels like a different world altogether."
Posted in: 
0 comments:
Post a Comment