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A 1969 school building in Singapore with “modern tropical” architecture has been converted into New Bahru, a shopping and dining location by local studios FARM and Nice Projects. More
A simple steel framework incorporates both desks and storage in the self-designed all-white studio of architecture firm Ministry of Design in Singapore.
With the MOD Workshop, studio founder Colin Seah set out to create a different type of workspace from Ministry of Design’s award-winning Bar Code office, which the practice occupied from 2010 to 2023.
Ministry of Design has designed a new office for itself in SingaporeThe new office is less than a third of the size, with a focus on facilitating collaboration between coworkers who don’t spend as much time in the office as they did before the coronavirus pandemic.
“In line with MOD’s transition towards a technologically-enabled work environment, which allows for most designers to work remotely, the Workshop dispenses with typical workplace conventions,” Seah said.
The space is divided by a steel framework that incorporates desks and storage”Instead, it devotes 60 per cent of the layout to creative face-to-face collaboration because when we do need to meet in person, we really want it to make it count,” he continued.
The 93-square-metre space is divided into a series of interconnected areas for collaboration, as well as hot desks and utility spaces, via a three-dimensional metal framework.
A wall clad with cable trays allows objects to be attached with hooks or magnetThe minimal scaffold incorporates screens made from frosted polycarbonate and fluted glass that allow light to pass through, generating a bright and layered aesthetic within the workspace.
The same materials were used to form shelves and worktops, with solid aluminium rods inserted into the polycarbonate panels to allow them to support heavier items.
One of the main workspaces is centred around what MOD describes as a counter-height “war room” table that can be used for shared creative activities as well as design discussions and presentations.
Ministry of Design creates lush “banking conservatory” for Citibank Singapore
The table’s surface is made from frosted tempered glass that, along with other glossy and mirrored materials, helps to bounce light around the interior and enhance the spacious feel.
The metal framework incorporates an adjustable lighting system above the table that can simulate different light conditions, while large windows minimise the requirement for artificial lighting during the daytime.
To one side of the table is a wall clad with cable trays, allowing objects to be attached with hooks or magnets. Shelving along the opposite wall forms part of a material and artefact library.
The interior is almost entirely whiteThe library shelves span the full length and width of the Workshop, ensuring the designers always have easy access to materials used to inspire and stimulate creativity.
A row of hot desks along one wall and a meeting table near the entrance provide alternative areas for working and collaboration, with utility spaces including a pantry, printer and storage tucked away in a corner.
In contrast to the bright-white interior of the workspace, a compact restroom concealed behind a mirrored door is designed as a private sanctuary lined with black tiles.
In contrast, the bathroom is clad in black tilesMOD has completed more than 140 projects since it was founded by Seah in 2004, offering clients a holistic service that often includes architecture, product design, interior architecture, branding or landscaping.
“We love to question where the inherent potential in contemporary design lies and then to disturb the ways they are created or perceived, redefining the world around us in relevant and innovative ways, project by project,” Seah said.
Previous MOD projects include an office in a conservatory-like atrium filled with tropical plants and a co-living space with all-white interiors.
The photography is by Jovian Lim.
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International practice M Moser Associates has repurposed a former power station in Singapore to create the global headquarters for technology company Dyson, with interiors blending the station’s industrial heritage with contemporary materials.
The transformation provides Dyson with 140,000 square feet (13,006 square metres) of office space. The design was both shortlisted and recently named public vote winner in the large workspace interior category of Dezeen Awards 2022.
Amphitheatre-style seating encourages informal gatheringOriginally built in 1926 in the Edwardian style, the coal-fired St James Power Station was Singapore’s first municipal power plant and remains an important heritage landmark, decommissioned in 1976 and used as a warehouse for nearly two decades.
During the transformation of Singapore’s industrial harbourfront into a commercial area in the 1990s, the plant became a bustling nightlife venue before closing in 2018, with the project to redevelop it beginning in 2019.
A sculptural spiral staircase frames the former turbine hallThe focal point of M Moser Associates’ design was the former turbine hall, which has been used to create a dramatic, four-storey atrium framed by exposed black steelwork and a sculptural spiral staircase.
Sheltered underneath tall trees in raised planters that double as desks, a cafe sits alongside an area of amphitheatre-style seating to encourage informal gathering.
Employees enter through the turbine hall”A dramatic four-storey industrial space, inspired by the quadrangles of university campuses, this central space serves as a circulation hub, connecting all areas,” explained the practice.
“Employees enter the Turbine Hall as they head to work, [and] are greeted with a symbolic reminder of the building’s new revitalised purpose – to spark design and technological innovation,” it continued.
M Moser Associates created a mixture of spaces insideOrganised around this central space, four levels are zoned into a mixture of offices, laboratories, and social spaces, designed to provide a range of more private, quiet spaces and collaborative areas.
On the top floor, spaces benefit from higher ceilings underneath the exposed, black steel trusses of the plant’s roof structure, and above this, a landscaped rooftop terrace provides external gathering space overlooked meeting rooms with full-height glazing.
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Externally, the building’s brick and paintwork has been restored with Dyson’s logo emblazoned on a chimney, and the new material choices seek to reference this industrial heritage.
A simple palette of dark stone, wood and metal complements and celebrates the contrast with the exposed structure, such as in an atmospheric meeting room housed at the base of one of the brick chimneys.
An atmospheric meeting room is housed at the base of one of the brick chimneys”Concrete flooring and black metal speak of the building’s past, while technical materials like polycarbonate, metal mesh and mirrored cladding announce its new future,” said the practice.
“This sympathetically repurposed building is a rare example of architectural renewal and urban sustainability,” it continued.
Concrete flooring “speaks of the building’s past”In London, another historic coal-fired plant – the iconic Battersea Power Station – has recently reopened following an extensive redevelopment by WilkinsonEyre, and now houses shops, office space and apartments.
The images are courtesy of M Moser Associates.
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A rattan cast created to protect the damaged wing of a toy puffin and a fractured plate held together with steel staples feature in R for Repair, an exhibition of repaired objects presented at the V&A museum as part of London Design Festival.
Curated by Jane Withers and Hans Tan, the exhibition is the second edition of R for Repair, and follows the first iteration of the show that was held in Singapore last year.
R for Repair is on display at the V&A in LondonThe show presented at London’s V&A museum includes 10 damaged objects repaired by 10 different designers from Singapore or the UK. They are displayed alongside three repaired objects from the original exhibition.
Responding to an open call, members of the public were invited to contribute sentimental but broken objects to the project. Designers chosen by Withers and Tan then repaired the objects in various creative ways.
Ng Si Ying repaired a toy puffin by creating a rattan cast for its wingDesigner Ng Si Ying created a cast and belt out of rattan and thread for Graham Secrets, a toy puffin owned by UK-based Oli Stratford, which was a gift from the owner’s parents on his 30th birthday.
Originally made by Danish silversmith and designer Kay Bojesen in 1954, the object was damaged by Stratford’s cat. Ying created a cast for the puffin’s wing in Singapore using an intricate weaving technique.
Rio Kobayashi used Japanese joinery to adapt an antique sewing chest”We wanted to pair designers who would be sympathetic to the owner’s emotional attachment and what are often quite moving stories behind the objects and why the owners treasure them, but might also have an unexpected take on the object and add new layers of meaning, enriching this evolving narrative of ownership,” Withers told Dezeen.
“We also looked for designers who might bring interesting techniques and unexpected experimentation to the repairs.”
The chest now has space to display drawings and paintingsAnother object repaired for the 2022 edition of the exhibition is an 18th-century antique sewing chest owned by Eleanor Suggett Stephens in the UK, which she inherited from her grandmother.
Suggett Stephens discovered that the chest contained previously unseen sketches and watercolour paintings by her grandmother, who wanted to be an artist but never achieved her dream.
Other objects include a repaired doll’s house by StudiomamaLondon-based designer Rio Kobayashi used traditional Japanese joinery techniques to raise the furniture’s feet, and also created a large tabletop designed to display and celebrate the secret artwork.
Kobayashi used walnut, ash, cherry, sapele, paint and glass to repair the chest, which Suggett Stephens said “represents that creative dream which never happened for [my grandma] and reminds me how fortunate I am to have a career in the arts.”
Studio Dam put a broken plate back together with staplesOther objects in the exhibition include a porcelain dinner plate that broke down the middle and was repaired with steel staples and epoxy glue by Studio Dam in Singapore.
British owners Karen Birkin and screenwriter Andrew Birkin, brother of actor Jane Birkin, submitted the plate for repair with an entirely open brief. Andrew Birkin quipped that Studio Dam could make a spaceship out of it.
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In response, the multidisciplinary studio took visual cues from Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which Andrew Birkin worked on early in his career.
Studio Dam was informed by juci, a traditional Chinese porcelain repair technique that involves the use of metal staples.
At the V&A, the objects are presented on bright yellow boxes”On one hand, the primary motivation was to bring creativity to repair through design,” explained Tan, discussing the exhibition.
“At the same time, we thought having designers and objects from two countries would add a dimension to the project as a design and cultural exchange.”
Tzen Chia playfully repaired a glass bottle for an anonymous ownerWithers also added that the exhibition intends to celebrate the process of repair and encourage the idea of giving possessions a second life.
“I think it is important to broaden the discussion around repair and explore the psychological as well as functional dimension,” concluded Withers.
“To understand why we keep things and how that can inform the design of products. How can things be designed with repair in mind so they improve with age?”
As London Design Festival kicks off in the capital, see other installations that are part of the event, such as a collection of rotating stone chairs by Sabine Marcelis.
The photography is by Zuketa Film Production.
R for Repair is on display at the V&A in London from 17 September to 2 November.
London Design Festival 2022 takes place from 17-25 September 2022. See our London Design Festival 2022 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.
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Design studio Wynk Collaborative has created a store in Singapore for Ginlee Studio, featuring pebble-washed interiors and an indoor garden for “quiet respite from the city”. More
Offices and meeting rooms are nestled among tropical plants in this wealth management centre in Singapore by local studio Ministry of Design.Conceived as a “banking conservatory”, the verdant scheme won an international competition launched by Citibank Singapore last year that invited entrants to reimagine the conventional interiors often associated with financial institutions.
Ministry of Design has created a conservatory within the Citi Wealth Hub
The brief set out by Citibank was to create a wealth management centre dedicated to its high net-worth clients, over an area of 2,787 square metres across floors six to nine of an office building on Singapore’s Orchard Road.
Across its four levels, the Citi Wealth Hub has more than 30 client advisory rooms alongside flexible office and event spaces, making it the bank’s largest wealth advisory hub in the world.
Levels seven and eight are filled with sinuous brass planters
The site is distinguished by its soaring atrium with tinted glass walls and skylights that create ideal conditions for growing tropical plants.
In recognition of this, the studio proposed an office scheme based around a lush conservatory that would anchor the entire office.
Seating alcoves are nestled into the greenery
On floors seven and eight, a series of social spaces are nestled within the greenery, including a bar, observation deck, garden pods, banquette seating and a central garden lounge with a honed Grigio Carnico marble bar.
“The choreographed verdant and lush greenery evokes an atmosphere where everything seems to flourish in a natural and sustainable manner – a nod to the ideals of wealth management,” said Ministry of Design’s (MOD) director of development Joy Chan Seah.
Garden pods replace traditional meeting rooms
“Although drawing from the virtues of biophilic design, the scheme aims to create a cultured conservatory and not a wild forest,” she added. “Introducing a measure of control and order amidst nature’s abundance, we created a series of carefully detailed planter box arrangements.”
These sinuous, hairline brass containers are lit from below to signpost pathways and meeting spaces among the foliage.
They are outfitted with TV screens and acoustic panels
On the seventh floor, garden pods were installed as an alternative to traditional meeting rooms. These are lined with acoustic panels and equipped with curved TV screens, concealed power points and cables for connecting laptops.
In collaboration with landscape architecture studio ICN Design, MOD carefully selected plants that would adapt easily to an air-conditioned environment, thrive even in the shade and create four distinct vertical layers to offer varied views at every level.
The planters are lit from below to help signpost pathways
For the tallest level, the designers selected betel nut feature palms, while elegant, feathery parlour palms sit below their crowns at the second level with bushy saplings and big-leafed arums in the foreground.
Feathery Boston ferns, rosette-leafed bird’s nest ferns and money plants occupy the lowest level, fringed by jungle-floor plants that are spotlit at night.
Marble planters decorate the eighth floor
The eighth floor is dedicated to Citigold Private Clients, leading the design team to opt for more luxurious materials such as walnut and marble, while an observation deck offers aerial views of the conservatory on the level below.
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Since this floor is less open to natural daylight, the planting here is smaller in both the horizontal and vertical scale, with planters set between desk alcoves and pathways.
Walnut wood lines the walls to create a high-end finish
Floors six and nine were conceived as “backstage areas” offering office space for the bank’s 210 relationship managers.
They hold a variety of hot desks, collaboration tables and a town hall for meetings.
Collaborative tables are fringed in planters
Large planters help create a calming work environment on these levels and are filled with shade-loving plants that, in the wild, would grow low on the rainforest floor.
Throughout the office, the temperature of the lighting is programmed to mirror human’s natural circadian rhythm and the movement of the sun, changing from blue to reddish undertones over the course of the day.
A marble reception centres the eighth floor
To keep the plants healthy the project uses a hydroponic system, in which plants are held in place by absorbent granules instead of soil.
Grow lights with special LED bulbs that mimic natural sunlight are integrated within the recessed architectural lighting.
Integrated lighting follows humans’ circadian rhythm
“We’ve had really good responses from Citibank and from their clients so far,” the studio said. “They’ve said this is unlike any other wealth management hub they have seen.”
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Studies have shown that access to green spaces, or even pictures of nature, can benefit workers’ mental health and improve performance in the office.
As a result, a plethora of plant-filled workplace interiors have sprung up over the past few years, including this co-working space in Lisbon with over 1,000 potted plants and trees, while tropical flora provides privacy for workers inside an office in Utrecht.
Photography is by KHOOGJ.
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Studio Wills + Architects has reconfigured an apartment in Serangoon, Singapore so that it accommodates the studio’s own office and a snug home for its founder.The home and office, which Studio Wills + Architects has named Project #13, is shortlisted in the small interior category of this year’s Dezeen Awards. It measures 64 square metres and takes over a 30-year-old apartment inside one of Singapore’s public housing blocks.
Throughout the day it functions as a workspace, while in the evenings it serves as a home to the studio’s founder, William Ng.
The office is on the left-hand side of the apartment
“The design really started just as two distinct and autonomous spaces under one roof that can be used independently and/or interchangeably,” Ng told Dezeen.
“One part eventually evolved as a home for me, as it minimises time spent commuting between work.”
At the rear of the office is a tiled bathroom
Although there wasn’t an abundance of space in the apartment, Ng and his studio first decided to section off part of the floor plan and turn it into a foyer.
“It creates a ‘buffer zone’ between the public and private domains, and at the same time enables two separate entry points, allowing the spaces within to operate independently,” explained the studio.
The foyer leads through into the right-hand side of the apartment, which includes a relaxed break-out area
A door to the left of the foyer leads through the studio’s office, at the centre of which are two long work desks for staff.
Set to the side of the room is a tall wooden volume that is integrated with storage and a tea-making station. There’s additionally a couple of shelving units for presenting architectural models.
Towards the rear of the office is a kitchenette and a bathroom – complete with a shower – that is entirely clad with square blue-grey tiles.
A wooden volume with in-built stairs leads to a mezzanine level
During office hours, staff can spill over into the right-hand side of the apartment to work.
It plays host to a relaxing lounge dressed with a plush, cream-coloured chaise longue and a lantern-style lamp that emits a warm glow.
Up on the mezzanine, there is a contemplative tea room
There’s another tall wooden volume, inbuilt with stairs that lead up to a mezzanine-level tea room where staff can escape for “quiet and contemplation”.
They can also get a bird’s-eye-view of the office through an opening that has been inserted in the wall up here.
Beyond the volume, there is an additional table and set of chairs which are used for meetings and another toilet.
A wall opening by the tea room provides elevated views over the office
These turn into domestic spaces for Ng after staff leave. Dinner can be enjoyed at the meeting table, the break-out area becomes a living room and the tea room serves as sleeping quarters once the seat cushions are replaced with a roll-out bed.
Directly beneath the mezzanine there is also built-in storage for Ng’s clothes and dressing room.
On the other side of the wooden volume is a meeting room, which can also serve as a dining area
Ng told Dezeen that having work and home so closely interlinked has been particularly useful during the coronavirus pandemic when there have been national lockdowns, more commonly referred to as “circuit breakers” in Singapore.
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“Before the circuit breaker, home was felt to be more within an office, but during the circuit breaker, it felt more like an office in the home; this was probably because the boundaries between the two shift and change with use,” he explained.
“The dining/meeting room was a space for zoom meetings without interference from adjacent spaces; also, the foyer became a space where food deliveries and material samples could be left with no physical contact.”
At night, the tea room transforms into a bedroom
Studio Wills + Architects’ Project #13 is one of five small interiors shortlisted in the 2020 Dezeen Awards. Others include Single Person, a design gallery in Shanghai that’s designed to resemble a cave, and Smart Zendo, a family home in Hong Kong that’s fitted with voice-activated technology and space-saving furniture.
Photography is by Khoo Guo Jie and Finbarr Fallon.
Project credits:
Architect: Studio Wills + ArchitectDesign team: Ng William, Kho KeguangC&S engineer: CAGA Consultants PteFitting-out contractor: Sin Hiap Chuan Wood WorksGeneral contractor: Wah Sheng Construction Pte
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Ministry of Design has created completely white interiors for this co-living space, which occupies a traditional shophouse in Singapore. Situated at the heart of Singapore’s buzzing Tanjong Pagar neighbourhood, Canvas House provides shared accommodation for creative locals and members of the ex-pat community. It takes over a four-storey shophouse – a type of building commonly […] More
