48 North Canal Road is an bespoke addition on top of a pair of conserved shophouses in the Singapore city centre. Designed by WOHA Architects, the building is angularly crafted in a way that represents a new approach to historic conservation.
This building is one of the first projects that I helped out on as an intern at WOHA. One of my first tasks was to make the model of the building, here’s a shot of the model in front of the completed building:
The new building is respectfully set back from the conserved facades. The redevelopment is used as an office, and the lower conserved floors with low ceiling heights were less useful as office spaces. So the office components were raised above the existing building, allowing the side of the heritage structures to be carved out at the side to create an intimate pocket park along the street.
The building is located just behind the WOHA office and we use the pocket park as a shortcut heading to work.
Here’s a few shots of the interior taken upon opening in 2012:
The new components of the building are gold, contrasting the pure white heritage structures below. The faceted building form allows the geometry to react to the irregular site boundary, existing buildings, and height control regulations. Overall, it creates an interesting formal composition like a gold ingot.
The golden facade is comprised partly of metal cladding, solid where necessary and perforated to provide natural ventilation for staircases and services.
The glass portions of the facade use a double glazed glass with a fine copper mesh between the two layers, which looks solid from the outside but provides views from the interior. It also helps to protect the interiors from the tropical sun.
The building is connected to an adjacent office building by an angled bridge that doubles up as a small event space.
The setback and stepped form of the building allows rooftops at various levels which host outdoor terraces with tropical gardens.
The coolest terrace is the rooftop, which provides fantastic views of the city and the iconic garden hotel Parkroyal on Pickering. An angular bar wraps around the the periphery of the terrace along the glass railing, making it the perfect venue for a rooftop party!
Images by Jonathan Choe
