Put into context
This quick look at Duo by Ole Scheeren of Buro-OS reveals two sculpted towers designed as an interaction with their surroundings
The design for Malaysian-Singaporean joint venture, M+S Pte, actively engages the space of the surrounding city to form a new civic nucleus in Singapore’s modern metropolis. The two towers are not conceived as autonomous objects, but defined by the spaces they create around them.
Singapore consistently ranks as one of Asia’s most livable cities. However, it is increasingly dominated by isolated individual towers that favor exclusion over social connectivity. The prescribed zoning confronts the project with a dual dilemma: it splits the site into two separate pieces, and leaves large, bulky footprints for the resulting tower envelopes which risk overpowering the surroundings and the intimate scale of the adjacent historic Kampong Glam district.
The design for DUO subtracts circular carvings from the allowable building volumes in a series of concave movements that generate urban spaces – a kind of “urban poché” that co-opts adjacent buildings and symbiotically inscribes the two towers into their context.
Awards: CTBUH Urban Habitat Award
Home kitchen bathroom commercial design
Stretching out to nature
Weathered charm
Natural is always in style