I went out to Singapore’s upscale housing district along Orchard Road this weekend to check out a few new starchitect-designed condo towers which have been garnering a lot of attention lately. Seen in the picture above, the towers on the left and right are by Pritzker Prize winning French architect Jean Nouvel, and the one in the centre by acclaimed dutch firm UNStudio.
UNStudio’s design for Ardmore Residence is subtly stunning, with interlocking curvaceous forms that wouldn’t be out of place in “The Jetsons”, sexy lines, double-height balconies, and a flared base. It’s extremely futuristic without resorting to gimmicks, an architecture that won’t end up looking dated.
The two Nouvel designed towers are both quite different, and similarly incredible. On the left, Nouvel 18 features dramatically carved skygardens with angled cable trellises for creeping plants. To the right, Le Nouvel Ardmore appears to be a simple boxy tower, but some units are set back to allow staggered skygardens within the rectilinear frame.
Another incredible tower spotted along the way, with dramatic cantilevers (presumably pools or skygardens?)
These towers join a slew of residences in Singapore with incredible designs by internationally acclaimed architects, including UNStudio’s Scotts Tower and V on Shenton, South Beach by Norman Foster, along with megacondo developments by Toyo Ito, Daniel Libeskind, Zaha Hadid, OMA, & Moshe Safdie.
Check out Goodwood Residence, another awesome condominium development in the area by local architects WOHA.
Images by Jonathan Choe
