I know most forumers find it revolting. But, would you consider buying Golden Mile Complex? Whatever it is, can you share your thoughts about it here? The resale price for this LH property is about S$160 - 320 psf depending on its condition and size.

--------- From here (http://www.singaporearchitect.com.sg/archive/issue202_99/20299_feature.html) ---------
Built in 1972 by Design Partnership, the Golden Mile Complex at Beach Road was originally known as the Woh Hup Complex. This "city" of layers is a sloping 16-storey mixed-use complex. I370 shops, 500 parking spaces and offices, come together in an agglomeration that is interspersed with naturally ventilated interstitial spaces connecting the various parts together.

http://www.singaporearchitect.com.sg/archive/issue202_99/images/goldenmile01.gif

http://www.singaporearchitect.com.sg/archive/issue202_99/images/goldenmile02.gif

The complex was the first here to adopt stepped terracing in order to cut down noise pollution and to reduce the impact of its scale from the busy Nicoll Highway. It affords the apartments and offices an unobstructed panorama of sky and sea and adequate terraces for developing small sun-lit gardens. On the northwest side, the stepped form allows the floor above to shield those below from the high temperatures of midday sun. Passing through the Nicoll Highway, right after the Merdeka Bridge, it is hard to miss the stepped terrace; it looks like a hill cut out diagonally to harness the energies of the sun. A closer look reveals that indeed, each floor does achieve equal amount of sunlight. The original open balconies however, have been altered considerably. A certain sense of chaos now seems to explode from the balconies with an array of ad hoc, add-on roofs of different materials. A place for plants inside an open balcony is reduced to potted shrubs dotting a narrow space, like some outcasts outside the windows.

http://www.singaporearchitect.com.sg/archive/issue202_99/images/goldenmile03.gif

A totally different scene awaits one at the corridors of the residential units from the 16th storey downwards. Time seems to pause, observing port-hole windows, sauntering along deserted corridors and descending stairways. Entrances of some units can be seen to have 'implanted' figments of their idiosyncratic taste in the form of granite, lion statuettes, and gold trimmings, totally ignoring the original port-hole windows and unpretentious ceramic tile flooring.

http://www.singaporearchitect.com.sg/archive/issue202_99/images/goldenmile04.gif

Descending the diagonal stairways at northwest side reveals the intentions of the architect. Each descend, which is aligned to shade the floor above from the sunlight, leads to the roof of the podium block - a very wide multi-purpose space bounded with chain-link fencing. Originally designed as a space for recreational and communal use (it still has markings of a badminton court) that allowed mutual surveillance from the apartments above, thus surpassing sense of community/communicability in Corbusier's roof terrace at the Unite d'Habitation. Now this space is desolate. Its ancestry however is traced not to the Unite but to the "vast corridor", a semi-public space of the Japanese Metabolist movement, which were assigned the role of connectors between public and private areas. These experiments included those of Kurokawa and Kikutake on the problems of group dwellings or mass housing in treelike, slablike and layered mass housing were known to the designers of the Golden Mile. Obviously, some form of importation of ideas from Singapore's outside has occurred.

http://www.singaporearchitect.com.sg/archive/issue202_99/images/goldenmile05.gif

http://www.singaporearchitect.com.sg/archive/issue202_99/images/goldenmile06.gif

Just below of this vast corridor are offices ranging from law firms to import/export traders. They are set against criss-crossing staircases and corridors. Like a sundial, tall columns and stepped staircases cast shadows during the day in this interconnected space.

The void that penetrates through the building was designed to bring sunlight from the 'vast corridor' to the shopping area below. Because of fire safety requirements, the void is covered by a lightweight angled metal roof, cutting off all natural light to the hustle and bustle of the shopping below. Penetrating this separator, one is in the shopping zone. Once in the shopping arcade, the atmosphere changes drastically. This is now yet another site of importation. The amazing shopping area teems with a life that makes one think one were in Thailand. For the grocery shops, hawker stalls, coffee bars, barbers, to even a supermarket, are largely patronised by the transient Thai workers in Singapore. Even the signages are in Thai. Passing through grocery stores that sell all kinds of meat, vegetables and preserved food and the ever-present smell of lemongrass becomes quite a feast to the senses. Restaurants offering authentic Thai food (probably prepared by Thai cooks) are located right at the front next to travel agents and moneychangers. There are also several major bus companies offering a wide range of bus routes to all parts of Peninsular Malaysia up to northern Thailand. As a site of embarkation to the lands up north, it is also a site of disembarkation for foreign incursions into Singapore from the north. What is foreign serves to disrupt the boundaries of the resident. Identities, cultures in the broader sense are negotiated and sometimes threatened.

But for all the incessant strains of Thai music, and the continuous hum of native Thai; it takes just one ride up the lift through that thin metal layer, to change all that. It is remarkable that, this single architectural element separating the otherwise continuous atrium space potently sets up an acute sense of duality; functionally, experientially and ideologically between the above and the below, the north and the south. Ironically, this segregation of the upper areas from the shopping areas also ensures that the Metabolist dream remains unfulfilled.


------------------------------------------------
Here's how Golden Mile Complex look like
http://www.streetdirectory.com.sg/images/simg.php?r=11048348071951&bo=1

Here's the current resale prices
Area(Sqm), Price($), Price per sqf, Date of Option
86 300000 $324.08 Oct-05
86 245000 $264.66 Jul-05
204 360000 $163.95 Jun-05
807 1630000 $187.65 Apr-05
204 520000 $236.81 Apr-05

Honestly, I prefer the older houses to the new ones. If it were freehold, I'd buy it in a flash.:)

Others on my mind:
International Plaza(BEST)
The Riverwalk
High Street Centre
etc

204 360000 $163.95 Jun-05
807 1630000 $187.65 Apr-05


The top one is insanely cheap, and the bottom one is insanely huge!

807SQM?????????YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING!

Any idea how long till its tenure expires?

btw, for prices like those, GMC will be my future home!:D

The price is indeed amazing for the larger units, but I suppose there must be a lot of refurbishment needed...
Frankly speaking, International Plaza and Riverwalk have really appealing locations, but I don't find Golden Mile Complex' location very attractive... I can't even think of a decent supermarket nearby (but maybe it's just me :-) ).

Oh and yeah, I want to see the floor plan for that 807sqm unit ^ ^

Frankly speaking, International Plaza and Riverwalk have really appealing locations, but I don't find Golden Mile Complex' location very attractive... I can't even think of a decent supermarket nearby (but maybe it's just me :-) ).

I guess its okay, better than the much more expensive Pebble bay across the basin.:yes:

btw, I also want to see the huge unit's plan.

i would consider, and i probably would get one if i had the money and if the neighbours dont put me off too much

@pengui
there are no decent supermarkets in tampines either - i always travel far and wide for grocery shopping :)

I guess it would really depend on what you intend to do with it.

I know a church organisation has a unit (rented though) about 5000 sq feet used as a library for theology students. It was economical and practical for them.

With the image it projects, I am not sure if it is attractive as a office if you intend it to be an investment.

:) :)

P/S: Sorry I presume you are considering commercial units rather than residential ones. Has to be right - as some of these are too large to be homes?

I managed to go up to Golden Mile Complex. :)

- The views were great! Unfortunately limited at the common areas... :( Can see Kallang Bay and good sea views (level 16) as well as the construction of the CCL station infront :p
- The penthouse units had large doors (can't see inside) and had security cameras installed.
- Lifts were relatively new but not cold enough. :D Clean and has marble flooring.
- Units on lower floors aren't as impressive on the outside as 16th floor.
- Doorkeeper is right. There are many offices but on lower floors - e.g. 12th/13th didn't explore lower floors than that.
- The lift to apartments are on the left and right columns of the building separated from the shopping area.
- There are supermarkets/stalls selling grocery items in the same building. Or nearest hypermart is at Carrefour Suntec ;) For wet market, walk opposite to the Beach Road flats' side.
- To see what kind of views it enjoys, go to www.riveredge.com.sg and select location to view the day/night pano which is similar (but you have to imagine it from lower viewpoint)

had some images taken yesterday. But, imagehost is giving me problems today. I don't have Penthouse floor plan. But, I guess they were really huge 2-flr units and their windows are "normal" i.e. not sloped like the rest. Huge and heavy doors.


Since, it's built in 1972, I guess its lease is around 60 years left.

Some info from CPF website for those who are considering buying old properties
Buying old property (Source: http://www.cpf.gov.sg/CPFHSG/ARTICLE_SUNDAYTIMES.PDF)

FANCY that old apartment in bustling Chinatown?

Prior to July 19 2005, you could not use your CPF savings to buy a private residential
property whose remaining lease was less than 60 years. Now you can.

Beware: To begin with, you can use CPF savings only if the property has a
remaining lease of at least 30 years.

Even then, you cannot just buy any old property. The remaining lease must be at
least enough to cover you until you reach 80 years old.

So if you are 35 years old, the property must have a remaining lease of at least
45 years at the point of purchase, says Mr Ng of Leverage Holdings.

In joint purchases, the age of the youngest owner using CPF savings for the
mortgage repayment will be used to determine the minimum lease required.
Note that banks still do not give financing for the purchase of properties with a
remaining lease that is less than 60 years, says Mr Lim Kok Guan, managing
director of Home Advantage, a mortgage broker. Only Hong Leong Finance does,
he adds.

Beware: Unlike normal property purchases, you will be more restricted in how
much you can use your CPF savings to pay for private residential properties with
remaining leases of between 30 and 59 years.

The percentage is calculated according to this formula: Remaining lease when
the CPF member is 55 years old divided by lease at the point of purchase
multiplied by 100.

So if you are aged 35 and buy a property with a remaining lease of 45 years, the
maximum CPF savings you can use is only 56 per cent of the valuation limit, says
Mr Ng.

The Doors of 16th floor Penthouses.
http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/6852/0011qy.jpg
http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/7767/dscn16530ps.jpg

The Views
http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/7387/dscn16491vb.jpg
http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/6204/dscn16583pz.jpg

If I had a few hundred million to spare I'd buy the whole building, knock it down and bulild something awesome there, it's such a great site! Yeah I'd love to buy Golden Mile Complex, if only it were possible... Now where can I get a few hundred million bucks? I guess it's probably quite nice inside though.

If I had a few hundred million to spare I'd buy the whole building, knock it down and bulild something awesome there, it's such a great site! Yeah I'd love to buy Golden Mile Complex, if only it were possible... Now where can I get a few hundred million bucks? I guess it's probably quite nice inside though.

I hope you would be able to do that one day :)

Similar to Eng Cheong tower in the vicinity, it's 99 years LH. I see the potential to top up the lease and redevelop it. Furthermore, Nicoll Highway station is just nearby at Concourse.

Though I won't touch the properties in this building (as an investor), I must say two things really good about it:

(1) Fantastic views from the higher floors

(2) The cascading architecture (more obvious when viewed from the Nicoll Highway side) which is so rare in Singapore. There is a cascading private apartment block near Haw Par Villa but I cannot remember the name now.

There is a cascading private apartment block near Haw Par Villa but I cannot remember the name now.

Palisade.

Palisade.
:old: That is it ! Getting old ... (me, not the building)

Is Palisade the one next to Gloria Mansion ? Very interesting building !

I know most forumers find it revolting. But, would you consider buying Golden Mile Complex? Whatever it is, can you share your thoughts about it here? The resale price for this LH property is about S$160 - 320 psf depending on its condition and size.

Personally, i am quite comfortable with stepped designed building and its neighbourhood. the only concern i have might be the proximity of these buildings from the accident which took place not too long ago! I am just skeptical abt the structure despite all the promises given from a certain authority!

BTW, did anyone take note of this City Loft stood quietly next to Golden Mile cinema? Any info to share? thx.

^^

it was swaying like a "see-saw" during the tremors in Indonesia, or so the residents said.

^^
Really? But, it's still standing there at beach rd as of date and u aren't afraid of going up, are you? :D ;)

Sounds cool, I've never felt an earthquake before :-p

Me too, haha.

^^
Really? But, it's still standing there at beach rd as of date and u aren't afraid of going up, are you? :D ;)

nope not really...but if I were to be staying there I would consider that as a factor. That said, it is normal for buildings to sway ;)

Another downside to this place...


48-year-old Thai national killed at Golden Mile Complex

...Pan Weihong, who runs a business at Golden Mile Complex, said: "It's no surprise. There're fights here every Saturday. A few weeks back, two Thai men suffered head injuries."

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/180828/1/.html

so exciting! :D

just joking. :P

vibrant streetlife indeed :yes:

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/5186/ura2ar.jpg

I'll take it. :D

Golden Mile's new colour!!! :eek:
http://www.streetdirectory.com.sg/images/simg.php?r=11048348071951&bo=1

http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/6350/gmc2jm.jpg

Making use of my cam's super zoom...
http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/3442/gmc9xf.jpg

^^ NIce :D i like it

I love the color combo too. *nice*

It's nicer, but still not nice enough for such a masterpiece... sigh....

oh my...bold yellow! :eek2:

but somehow it does fit the image

Do you think the new colours are better?

yah sort of....it looked so drab previously.....the building has a lot of potential still...but needs a makeover inside as well.....but the shopping area does serve the foreign Thai community well I guess...

The shopping mall needs a clean up.

Colour scheme can be improved, still is better than the old colour though.

how about colours similar to MICA building? :D

I'll get used to that if I see it.....but at least the new paint cleared all the grime....and given the future development of the waterfront in that area...good they repainted.....but the worst part is still the front of the building :puke:

you puke too much tonight. Guess your dinner is gone. :D

is there any way to demolish / give it a new facade? e.g. can SLA/URA take back the land citing redevelopment for some reasons?

i suppose if it becomes structurally unsound then it must be demolished, or should the government need the land on strong grounds they can acquire it...

on the other hand, who knows it may be conserved! :lol:

The slope is even worse. Looks like slums on a slope. :puke:

hmmm... like the National Theatre?

What would be considered as "Strong Grounds"? i.e. what are the valid reasons for doing so?

Guess it might be conserved after it's converted to something else... or give the residents a dryer / ban them from hanging clothes at the window / balcony. :D

Do not let new residents to modify their balconies/rooms. :D

ohh yah perhaps...

one example was I believe the building that had to make way for the Circle Line, or perhaps..road widening....

Golden Mile, Tanjong Pagar Plaza, S'pore Power Building, DBS, OCBC can be the next generation National Monuments.

Here's the current resale prices
Area(Sqm), Price($), Price per sqf, Date of Option
86 300000 $324.08 Oct-05
86 245000 $264.66 Jul-05


This is comparable to the conservation apts in Tiong Bahru but the larger units - wow! What's the lease?

But Golden Mile is not a particularly nice place to be hanging around at... my friend got her buttocks molested while she was waiting for a cab just outside the travel agencies!

edit

i loved palisades for its funicular lift and the poolside. views are great too, though a bit blade runner-esque.
incity lofts is great inside- high ceilings, great finishes- i think there are a few articles on the development on the net?

Golden Mile still shines

The Golden Mile Complex was a model for the idea of living and working under one roof

5 Aug 06

http://straitstimes.asiaone.com/STI/STIMEDIA/image/20060804/ST_IMAGES_LIFSCRAWL01t.jpg

A WITTICISM on architectural etiquette might suggest that the design of Golden Mile Complex (GMC) was inspired by the Hajjah Fatimah Mosque, located diagonally across Beach Road.

After all, GMC owes its iconic presence to its leaning Nicoll Highway facade that had earned it its 'typewriter building' monicker. And the historic mosque, a gazetted national monument, is famous for its off-plumb steeple - Singapore's very own leaning tower.

In truth, GMC's architects were looking quite the other way when they conceived its design in 1967: Instead of referencing the past, the team for the project, led by the architect and urbanist William Lim, was looking into the future.

This was reflective of the era's ethos, coming just two years after Singapore's unexpected and traumatic birth as a nation, when the need for a progressive national identity was almost palpable.

The boldness of the architects' vision in GMC must have been breathtaking, set against the urban reality of the day - crippling chronic congestion, decay and infrastructural dysfunction after more than a century of unbridled growth under colonial rule. It was a period that planners refer to as the 'planning vacuum'.

Indeed, this effect was intentional. The architectural thesis that GMC represented was revolutionary - not just for Singapore but globally, too. It stood as a concrete realisation of the architects' vision of a futuristic city-within-a-building that offered a whole new, integrated way of living in a modern, tropical, urban Asian context.

Today, it remains faithful to this thesis, with retail, office and residential spaces carved out of the bowels of a benevolent megastructure - a concept of late 1960s vintage that spawned the mixed-use developments of today.

Unlike today's mixed-use developments, however, its design incorporated a further element of urban utopia: Its architecture was intended to (literally) transcend the physical boundaries of its site, located at the far end of Beach Road.

Through an extrusion of its cross-section along Beach Road, a new 'city corridor' was to have been formed, thus creating a veritable 'Golden Mile' along the road.

But GMC architects' idea to perpetuate its architectural theme was not taken up by other project developers along Beach Road. The building thus stands today, the only segment of this Asian metropolitan model ever to be built; a sentinel of architectural innovation for latter-day designers to take inspiration from.


International appreciation

STILL, this audacious attempt at restructuring the urban landscape more than 30 years ago continues to attract the appreciation of international architectural circles.

In his 1995 essay Singapore Songlines in his book S,M,L,XL, Dutch critic and architect Rem Koolhaas described GMC and the contemporaneous People's Park Complex - both products of the Urban Redevelopment Authority's first Sales of Sites in 1967 - as 'masterpieces' of experimental architecture and urbanism.

'These first sales launch at least 10 projects that alone make Singapore perhaps the most impressive repository of realised architectural doctrines of the Sixties, a city-sized museum,' he wrote.

If so, GMC must be a most earthy exhibit. Once, its iconic sloping facade faced an evil-smelling graveyard of derelict ships in Kallang Basin. Today, the basin is all cleaned up but GMC's facade has seen better days.

Thankfully, such is the might of its architecture that its muscular beauty is hardly compromised by these expedient accretions of ad hoc awnings and balcony enclosures.

Internally, its hierarchy of soaring and intimate spaces signalling the public and private realms, and its dynamic geometries expressed right down to the floor patterns remain largely intact.

No wonder, then, the lead architect's confidence in the lasting impact of his work. In February this year, during an interview for City Lights, a TV documentary series on architecture which featured GMC, Mr Lim said: 'I was talking to Koolhaas (when he visited in November 2005). He asked me at dinner: 'What do you think about these additions?'

'I said, 'Wonderful, it adds character to the building.' And he said, 'I totally agree with you.''


By Calvin Low, urban scrawl

just heard some stories about Golden Mile Complex:
1) Metro used to be there
2) It was a favourite location among Japanese in the 1970s
3) There was a Japanese espionage group operating a business in that building in the 1970s.
4) It's formerly known as Woh Hup Building

http://www.ura.gov.sg/skyline/skyline06/skyline06-01/images/p3_image.jpg
Picture source from URA - http://www.ura.gov.sg/skyline/skyline06/skyline06-01/text/pg3.html

Not sure if all are true. But, there isn't any lodged caveats in the past 1 year. Probably, going for enbloc soon? :D

Why not? every site will have a good or bad past history.

Golden Mile has good view of F1 circuit and is ripe for enbloc, but might be to late to purchase. The next door Concourse's condominium development is targeting $1600 psf.

Aesthetically it may not be the best looking, but let's put it aside as there is always some form of subjectivity involved in physical appearance without context. Conceptual and sociologically the beauty of this building is the collective individualism that forms a unique cultural mosaic that sets this building apart from another. And it is amazing that over 40 years this building has evolved from brutalism to somewhat of organic architecture. Surely it is a witness to the underlying and intangible sociological changes in Singapore.