* DESIGN OF
THE YEAR 2010

Jury Citation

This complex represents an experiment in high-rise, high-density public housing that gives a new dynamic to a familiar residential form. In the process, it provides architecture for a broad public with a new attitude to the use of vertical public space.

The provision of health and well-being amenities on exterior links is combined with an intelligent set of interior plans. These include a sensible division between wet and dry zones, and internal wall arrangements that anticipate potential demolition to provide both flexible and adaptable space.

Façade variations that remove a feeling of institutional conformity are derived from a palette of plan types combined with the economic disposition of low-cost pre-cast elements.

Above all, The Pinnacle@Duxton is a striking addition to the city centre skyline which announces that height, views and amenities can be the province of ordinary families.

This project serves as a reminder of the social value of design.

Nominator Citation

ER YAP TIEM YEW
DIRECTOR
BUILDING AND INFRASTRUCTURE DEPARTMENT
HOUSING AND DEVELOPMENT BOARD

The Pinnacle@Duxton redefines high-density living. The project is heroic in that it rises from the quagmire of complex issues surrounding this typology to provide an elegant demonstration of new possibilities for this housing typology. The design is both resolutely pragmatic and incredibly beautiful. It is unapologetic about its massiveness and yet is sensitive to its context, even enriching the skyline by its unique silhouette. At the highest order of thinking, The Pinnacle@Duxton challenges one to be creative, to dare to dream and to continue to challenge the improbable.

By observing the unique character of the 2.5ha site, the layout of the seven highly efficient towers housing 1,848 units responds optimally to the context. The layout, in a deceptively simple sweep, addresses intricately entangled issues. From environmental factors like minimising solar exposure and the conservation of existing trees, to urban conditions like preserving the frontage of the existing community centre and connections to the linear park, to aesthetic considerations like the reduction of perceived mass and the maximising of distant views, the layout effortlessly addresses each and every issue. And yet what pushes the design from good to great is that it is not satisfied by the resolution of pragmatic requirements but surges forward into the unknown to imagine a new aesthetic, an aesthetic that is authentic and truthful to the nature of its construction. By cleverly inventing a system of repetition from simple façade panels, the entire building becomes an intricate artwork. The façade demonstrates how modularisation and pre-fabrication can be differentiated, how it can provide diversity and, mostly, how it can be beautiful. During the construction, before the colours were applied and before the entire ensemble could truly be appreciated, the building looked heavy and massive, but upon completion the building was totally transformed into something at once light and mesmerising. It is a testament to the visual power of the façade and the understanding of the aesthetics of massive surfaces. Residents are empowered with the choice of façade elements that suit their desires. They can choose from the basic units to those with bay windows, balconies and planter boxes.

The façade panel itself is an ingenious invention. Designed to be structurally integral for hoisting, it is at once both skin and structure. Columns and beams are integrated with walls, windows, balconies, planters, bay windows and canopies. Even the rainwater downpipe is perfectly concealed in the façade and yet easily accessible. The compact site in the business district means that there is heavy congestion on the ground. By constructing the panels in off-site pre-fabrication plants, high-quality finishes were assured. The site then became a place of assembly. As the panels were assembled, multiple elements were put together at the same time. Almost the entire building, including the household shelter and staircases, were modularised and prefabricated. The structural design is rational, clear and efficient; superbly adapted to prefabrication construction. And by providing a column-free living space within every unit, the units become easily adaptable. The internal lightweight concrete walls may be totally removed for a full open-plan apartment. This allows the unit to adapt over time to the changing needs of each and every homeowner.

The 50-storey tower blocks with the small site coverage might suggest that more ground is available for communal spaces. However with a plot ratio of 9.37, a density that is three times that of the usual public housing projects, the ground becomes a highly contested surface. The car-park becomes the largest programme followed by the electrical sub-stations and refuse centres. These programmes take over the entire site. The design wrestles with this seemingly insoluble situation and the result is an imaginative new architectural ground. The new ground is the environmental deck that wraps over the car-parks and services, creating a new urban hill. The new ground is public and well-connected but raised above the street level. The rise in elevation creates a threshold for a secure and safe space for residents. This ground plane becomes an important mediator of the public and private realm. The design imaginatively used allegorical sand dunes and fluid dynamics to generate paths, planting strips and courtyards. Air and light wells and ventilation gaps are cleverly integrated with the landscape. The landscape becomes the organising surface, providing large and small-scale places for the community. The environmental deck creates beautiful green communal spaces that act as the catalyst for chance encounters that lead to the formation of friendships and community. Children’s playgrounds are intentionally programmed adjacent to the childcare and kindergartens, the food court right next to the Duxton Plain Park, the shops and clinics right next to the bus stop along the pedestrian path. The environmental deck is stitched to the city seamlessly, providing connections and short-cuts and a dynamic ground plane. By transforming the ground into a social dynamo, both receiving and generating social activities for the residents as well as for the city, the design has turned what might have been a congested space of car-parks and services into a meaningful landscape full of potential for social interaction and bonding.

The designers have even traced the imprint of the historic first high-rise public housing built in the 1960s with a series of light reeds. The outdoor gallery called “Traces” is an architectural installation that pays homage to the historical significance of the site. The historical park is complemented by the nutmeg court that houses the trees planted by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew on the original site on two separate occasions. The historical element is relevant as it provides an aesthetic expression of the site that extends the public space beyond not just the physical but also the metaphysical. This will, in the long run, create greater awareness of the impact of history on our development.

While the new ground provides the most significant contribution to the streetscape, the most impressive component of the design is the sky garden. Like all great ideas, it is the unusual combination of two almost incongruent elements – the tower and the bridge. The result here is the creation of almost 2ha of land in the air. Instead of becoming floors for mechanical services, the sky gardens provide a platform for sharing the networking of buildings. Seven sets of water tanks become three, seven sets of façade maintenance units become one. Escape paths multiply. And, best of all, there are brand-new spaces for the community. Like golden threads weaving through the seven blocks, the sky gardens on the 26th and 50th storeys are the highest public spaces anywhere. It is a totally new form of public space. On the more active 26th-storey garden, an 800m jogging and walking path connects a series of pocket gardens. Like Alice in Wonderland, one encounters spaces that are new landscapes. At once play surfaces and lookout points, the ground plane folds and undulates to create interesting new elevations with stunning views of the city. The designers know that the view is the main protagonist here and created every possible device to heighten the drama of height and distance views. An outdoor gym with stationery bicycles and step machines in one pocket, a small climbing net in another, and a climbing rock in yet another. In other sensorial gardens, “craters” are created as unusual displaced landscapes with colourful telephone pipes playfully worming out of the ground. Up on the 50th-storey sky garden, the city fades away along with our stresses and worries – a “beach” beckons, and at last, a short trek to the top of the metaphorical mountain for the most dramatic bridge with pods for star-gazing. The atmosphere up on the sky garden is calm and relaxed. A boulevard, following the shape of the blocks, strings together all the gardens. The vistas and view angles change as one walks along the path. At times one is looking back at the building, at other times at the magnificent city view and towards only open sky. The design is simple yet dramatic. To top it off, the look-out points on either end of the 26th and 50th storey sky gardens marry the breathtaking panoramic views harmoniously with a hint of the indoors by using the finishing touches of pebble-shaped outdoor furniture.

More than just gardens, the simple act of joining the blocks together creates a totally unique and original space for the people. The Pinnacle@Duxton demonstrates that living in the city does not mean congested and crowded spaces. The sky bridges turn the shortcomings of additional service space into a delightful opportunity. In this project, the public spaces are imaginative with the right touch of restraint, always delightful and creative.

The high-rise, high-density building form, as demonstrated by The Pinnacle@Duxton, is inherently the most sustainable building typology due to the intensive sharing of infrastructure. As cities continue to expand at a staggering rate, it will not be land that is the limiting factor. It will be the low performance infrastructure that will make developments unsustainable both in fiscal and environmental terms. The compact urbanism as suggested by this project will point the way towards an environment that is green, connected and complete. With sufficient mass and density to support a local economy and a transit-oriented environment, The Pinnacle@Duxton is opening the door for high-rise, high-density urbanism that is sustainable socially, environmentally and economically.

The design expertly handles the extremely large project by creating spaces that relate to the human scale, always acutely aware that it is at this scale that the project is experienced. With keen attention to detail and a powerful silhouette, The Pinnacle@Duxton is a proud demonstration of the best of public housing. It is well executed and a remarkable addition to the urbanscape. Singapore and the world will look towards The Pinnacle@Duxton> for years to come where liveable high-rise, high-density developments are concerned. The project has paved the way for a sustainable urbanism that is compact, connected and complete. And most of all, it is an astounding display of originality and a solution-based approach to creating a building that is both practical and extremely beautiful.