Hill Street has 8 architectural styles

Modern
Hill Street Centre, The Treasury, Singtel building

Post Modern
Grand Plaza Parkroyal

Brutalist
Excelsor Hotel

Oriental
SCCIOB

Islamic
Masjid Burhani - it's a skyscraper!

Venetian Rennaisance
Stamford House

Edwardian
Hill Street Fire Station

Classical
Old Police headquarters

These are all the pics I could find
http://www.scciob.edu.sg/Library/SCC0307001/Images/SCCIOB_05.jpg
Masjid Burhani and SCCIOB

Stamford House
http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/500/300stff2dfr.jpg

http://media.mumineen.org/archive/photos/taameerat/sing.jpg
Masjid Burhani

BTW, I'm not sure about the styles, I need your conformation, and more pics!:D

I aint too sure about the classifications, but yes, this street has a lot to be looking at.

Here are some pics.
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/2/103dscn1149.jpg
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/2/103dscn1150.jpg http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/2/103dscn1151.jpg
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/2/103dscn1146.jpg

:cheers:

MITA Building (former Hill Street Police Station)
http://www.jellesen.dk/webcrea/places/sing/34x.jpg

Superb ! I like this kind of streets,they are like museums ! :)

We have a square in my city where you can find gothic,neo-gothic,baroque,neo-baroque,renaissance,neo-reneissance,art-moderne,art-noveau,art-deco,and modern architecture examples :)

Thanks to you guys, that Masjid has been added to s.com! I never realised it has a tall section at the back! ;)

Central Fire Station
http://itclub.vs.moe.edu.sg/cyberfair2003/images/landmarks-centralfire-1.jpg

Throughout the 19th Century serious fires occurred frequently. Once they started, they spread quickly, causing massive destruction of property and many deaths. Three fire stations were built in 1888 at Cross Street, Hill Street and Beach Road, but they were insufficiently equipped to deal with the situation. To solve this, Central Fire Station was opened in 1909. The heritage of Central Fire Station educates the public about the history Civil Defence in Singapore and how important it is to be united during times of emergency.

In 1905, the Municipal Authorities employed Montague Pett as Superintendent to reorganize the Singapore Fire Brigade. He recommended the construction of a modern central fire station, whose design included garage space for the first motorized fire engines, staff quarters, a host of time saving devices as well as a watchtower. Improved equipment and an increase in the fire brigade staff led to a substantial decrease in the number and scale of fires in the crowded town area.

The station still provides fire fighting, ambulance and rescue coverage for the Central District to this day, and is the oldest existing fire station in Singapore.

MITA Building

http://itclub.vs.moe.edu.sg/cyberfair2003/images/landmarks-mita-1.jpg

This building, home of the Ministry of Information, Communication and The Arts (MITA), was the Old Hill Street Police Station and Barracks. Designed by the Public Works Department in 1930 under the direction of F. Dorrington Ward, the building took 4 years to complete. It was then the largest building in Singapore.

The 6-storey building consisted of the Police Station, charge rooms, offices, garages, quarters for 125 married policemen and 144 single Inspectors of Police. It remained a Police Station during the Japanese Occupation and a police post up to 1980.

With the introduction of the housing priority scheme for the Singapore Police Force, the policemen were able to buy their own flats and the last occupant left in 1979.

The building was renamed Hill Street Building on 12 May 1983 and served as offices for the National Archives of Singapore, the Official Assignee and Public Trustees and the Board of Film Censors till 1997, when it was closed for renovations. The building reopened in January 2000 and is known simply as MITA at the Old Hill Street Police Station.

Oh, did u guys realise that Central Fire Station just had some major rennovations? The old colonial-style architecture of the front elevation is preserved. but if u look carefully, the sides of the station are now cladded in contemporaray steel and glass.

Originally posted by rEXxx

Oh, did u guys realise that Central Fire Station just had some major rennovations? The old colonial-style architecture of the front elevation is preserved. but if u look carefully, the sides of the station are now cladded in contemporaray steel and glass. Is it? Well I have yet to notice it. I suppose that is the same way they are going to preserve Cathay Building?

Originally posted by huaiwei

Is it? Well I have yet to notice it. I suppose that is the same way they are going to preserve Cathay Building?

Yupz, Cathay is gonna be done pretty much the same way. The distinctive front facade of brown tiles will be preserved, and intergrated into the new office cum residential complex behind

Thanks rex. I just hope they dont do anything silly to it! :D

Btw, here's a rendering of that Masjid Burhani thingy:

http://www.emporis.co.uk/files/transfer/6/2003/11/229445.jpg

Looks like a proposal for Riyadh.:D

The Oriental building is known as the SCCCI Building ,or the Singapore Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (phew! long name!)

There was an Art Deco building ,the Eu Court ,which stood opposite Stamford House now it is gone....

http://picas.nhb.gov.sg/data/tn_pcd/19990001309-8346-3102-2033/img0092.jpg

Also ,the Modernist 30 Hill Street:
http://www.kpf.com/images/Projects/30_HillSt/n1201_5001z.jpg

The Classical/Armenian Style Armenian Church ,the oldest church in Singapore.
http://itclub.vs.moe.edu.sg/cyberfair2003/images/landmarks-armenianch-1.jpg

The cost of construction, recorded as 5,058 Spanish Dollars, was borne by the Armenian community in Singapore, India and Java as well as European and non-Christian Asian merchants of Chinese, Malay, Arab and Jewish origins.

It was built in 1835-36 by G. D. Coleman, the noted architect who also designed Parliament House, the first St Andrew's Cathedral and the present Telok Ayer Market. (Coleman first came to Singapore in 1823 and was appointed Superintendent of Public Works, Overseer of Convict Labour and Land Surveyor in 1833).

The interior of the church is in the traditional Armenian style. The exterior (which originally featured a domed roof) is a neoclassical design by G. D. Coleman. The Armenian Church is one the few surviving examples of his work and is considered one of his finest. It was consecrated on 26 March 1836.

Singapore's Armenian communities had been small but prosperous. The were only twelve Armenians in Singapore when the church was built and no more than one hundred at its subsequent peak. Although the community has declined in number, regular Orthodox Christian services continue to be held at the Church.

Also known as the Apostolic Church of St Gregory the Illuminator, named for the 4th century monk who converted the Armenians to Christianity, the Armenian Church was consecrated on 26 March 1836. The community it served was modest in size, but prosperous and prolific. Among its more well-known members were the Catchick Moses, who co-founded the Straits Times newspaper, Sarkies Brothers, who established Raffles Hotel, and Agnes Joaquim who discovered Singapore's national flower - the Vanda Miss Joaquim - a natural hybrid orchid which was named after her in 1893 (which is now the Singapore's national flower - Vanda Miss Joaquim).

The Armenian Church also bears the significance of being the first building to have electricity in 1909, when electric lights and fans were installed.

Although it has been many years since regular Armenian services have been held at the church - the last appointed priest having retired in the late 1930s - the Armenian Church and its immediate surroundings have been carefully maintained

My mistake ,The Treasury is on High Street ,not Hill Street.

Btw ,huaiwei ,how did you guess the Masjid Burhani was built in 2000?

There's another Architectural Paradise Street ,Balestier Road.

It has the styles:

Brutalist (Balestier Point)

Art Deco (Hoover Hotel ,Shophouses)

Art Nouveau (Shophouses)

Post Modern (Shaw Plaza)

Victorian (Shophouses)

Traditional Chinese (Wu Cao Da Bo Gong Gong)

Art Nouveau/Classical (Shophouses)

Classical (Shophouses)

Victorian/Classical (Shophouses)

Classical/Oriental (Shophouses)

Art Nouveau/Oriental (Shophouses)

Victorian/Oriental (Shophouses)

Victorian/Art Nouveau (Shophouses)

Oriental (Shophouses)

Singapore Eclectic (Shophouses)

Modern (Institute of Technical Education West (Balestier))


If you ever happen to pass by there ,check out those shophouses ,most of them are very ornately carved and very beautiful ,although some are quite run-down and in need of repair.

Singapore has its own unique style called Singapore Eclectic.Its a mix of Victorian ,Art Deco ,Traditional Malay ,Oriental ,Art Nouveau ,Classical and Baroque.

It's very confusing ,actually.

I live quite near Balestier Road abd I'm surprised it has that many styles. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled the next time I go down there. I must say the shophouses there are quite charming and 'natural' though.

Originally posted by RafflesCity

I live quite near Balestier Road abd I'm surprised it has that many styles. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled the next time I go down there. I must say the shophouses there are quite charming and 'natural' though. Come to think of it, I told you the Balestier area has lots of skyscrapers too, and you were doubtful as well? Looks like you overlooked your own neighbourhood! :D

In fact ,the whole stretch of road all the way from Balestire Road to Lavender Street and the adjacent Jalan Besar all have magnificiant shophouses worth checking out!

Also ,the Emerald Hill area have lots of Peranakan styled shophouses only found in South-East Asia.

Other areas include Katong area (West Coast Road and adjacent streets) ,Geylang Road and adjacent streets ,Sultan Mosque area ,Chinatown area and Tanjong Pagar area all have very ornate and beautiful shophouses ,although some are rather dirty and in desperate need of cleaning.

You sound like another one of us who is a shophouse hunter!

Good to note that those shophouses you mentioned that were located at Lavender, well at least that batch at the end near Lavender MRT will be conserved and intergrated with a high-rise condo! :D

CapitaLand plans 43-storey condominium for Jellicoe site (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=69200)

Oh ,where are they?

Are they on the opposite side of the ICA Bldg ,beside the very colourful (Blue ,yellow and red) office?

Originally posted by redstone

Oh ,where are they?

Are they on the opposite side of the ICA Bldg ,beside the very colourful (Blue ,yellow and red) office? If the colourful building you mentioned is the wavelink Building, then yes, it is just beside it. Its that empty plot of land whereby you can see the row of shophouses at the far end along Penhas Road, I think. I see them when I pass by along Kallang Road.

Here you are:

http://www.ura.gov.sg/sales/jellico04sep03/images/locmap.jpg

http://www.ura.gov.sg/sales/jellico04sep03/images/aerial.jpg

Originally posted by rEXxx

Oh, did u guys realise that Central Fire Station just had some major rennovations? The old colonial-style architecture of the front elevation is preserved. but if u look carefully, the sides of the station are now cladded in contemporaray steel and glass.

Did you notice that the MITA Building ,the side facing the fire station is very new?

A block was demolished (for reasons I don't know) then rebuilt.


And oh!Renonvation to the Wavelink!Very beautiful and different from its original look!

Originally posted by redstone

And oh!Renonvation to the Wavelink!Very beautiful and different from its original look! Eh? So it is that short building over there? I didnt pass by that place for quite some time, and even if I did, I hardly noticed it! Think I will keep a look out for it next time. ;)

http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/500/300sccci.jpg

The SCCCI Building and the Masjid Burhani.Taken by me.:D

It looks as thou Peninsular's top has been borrowed by the SCCCI. :D You using a film camera for this shot? I noticed your photos tend to look "redish".

Yah ,can't afford a digital one.

I had it enhanced and resized.

A entry-level digi cam now can come at just 300 or so. Quite comparable to a film camera, and certainly cheaper in the long run since you dunt have to buy film and pay for processing anymore. I would say its quite a pity that some of your very rare shots were taken by the normal cameras, because we cant be too sure if they will last forever....

pictures from pbase.com

Central Fire Station
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/504/103fire_station.jpg

SCCCI Building
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/504/103chinesechamber.jpg

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/504/103chinesechamber.jpg
Is that the National stadium at the left of the first tier green roof?

It looks like Turning Torso being condstructed in S'pore.:D

Oh, and the Masjid's 'minarets' can be see at both sides like horns.:)

Hey did any of you saw that news about the fire station opening up for visits? Anyone game to go? ;)

I went there when I was very young, my dad brought me there.:)
I also sat on the big red engine:D

Wahaha......do you still consider yourself as young now? ;)

Ah, that's why I added the word 'very':D

Originally posted by Cliff

Ah, that's why I added the word 'very':D Haha....coz I am wondering if you feel it is still appriopriate to go visit it now. :D

Aerial of the Masjid Burhani. It looks so unreal.
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/504/103hsmosque.jpg

Ok I remember where you took this from. :D

Originally posted by huaiwei

Ok I remember where you took this from. :D

Where? PP?

Originally posted by Cliff

Where? PP? What is PP??

Originally posted by huaiwei

What is PP??

I think he means Peninsula Plaza. No I took it from top of Swissotel;)

Originally posted by RafflesCity

No I took it from top of Swissotel;) Looks so tiny and short from up here, dosent it? :D

One of them is at the Jalan Besar area ,which has flamboyant styles of shophouses like Art Deco ,Classical ,Neo-Classical ,Singapore Eclectic and so on.

The oddest buildings there are - a Chinese temple surrounded by an Art Deco wall and a church in the Oriental style.


Anyone has any more good 'introductions'?:D

RESUSCITATED: THE RESTORATION OF CENTRAL FIRE STATION

The historic and the ordinary give breadth and depth to the physical presence and memory of a city. One such example is the recently renovated Central Fire Station, in operation since 1908. FUNG JOHN CHYE expounds on how aspects of the building restoration are deeply emphatic towards the wider built-urban ecosystem.

“Umbrella, light, landscape, sky –
There is no language of the holy.
The sacred lies in the ordinary.”
Deng Ming-Dao, 365 Tao Daily Meditations

http://www.singaporearchitect.com.sg/magazine/212/images/44a.jpg

The power of architecture lies in an architect’s ability as synthesiser of space and form in response to programmatic requirements. This notion is an essential and inevitable part of his psyche, inculcated during his education and strongly emphasised by most schools of architecture. One needs only to flip through an architectural magazine to see a myriad of seductive images competing for attention. Composed photographs taken with precision to reveal a project’s prettiest face serve to glorify form and reaffirm the architect’s skills in manipulating visual stimuli. Sophisticated computer technology accelerates this cause by flexing its powerful digital muscles to arm-twist one’s perception; at times creating a super-reality that veils the larger purpose of architecture.

In contrast, conservation projects demand a different attitude that opposes an architect’s instinct to invoke the powerful desire for form. At the outset, the measure of success has been decided and non-negotiable. There is only one way to judge such architecture – its sensitivity towards the inherited historic and socio-cultural heritage, urban context and physical geometry. Faced with such a stringent yardstick, the architect is often tempted to recover a lost aesthetic palette by exploiting even the slightest opportunities. One of his primary means is to use colours to overwhelm the strong textural quality of most conservation buildings. Where new addition forms a part of the project, the similar desire to recover lost ground is exercised through a practical rationalisation process that optimises floor area and engenders high visibility. Here, there is a notional correlation that equates conservation with restoring to absolute newness. Often, materiality becomes an excuse for achieving a visual cacophony denied in formal expression.

However, there exists a larger role for the conservation architect – as curator of our urban and built heritage. Often this requires a mindset that seeks to integrate, rather than contest, the existing milieu. Every city is an ecosystem in itself where the tangible (built) and intangible (urban) constituents reside in a complex web of interconnected and interdependent relationships. Akin to its natural counterpart, this built-urban ecosystem is a unique composition of visible and memorable entities that are its iconographic constituents. It must embody a balanced mix of architectural and spatial typologies across the spectrum of a city’s time-scale, in order to engender a holistic bearing, and sustain collective memories amongst its inhabitants. In this man-made ecosystem, there is certainly a role cut out for conserving the city’s heritage. Undoubtedly, the desire to lend prominence through imageability is immense for high profile conservation projects involving a building of great historic, religious or socio-cultural significance. Yet, too often the adaptive re-use of secular buildings and those of lesser civic pedigree displayed the same egocentric opportunism.

Against this backdrop, the recent restoration of the Central Fire Station by PWD Consultants offers a viable alternative approach to conservation projects. Despite being gazetted as a national monument in 1998, the Station’s historic significance pales in comparison to many other civic and religious monuments. However, its role in Singapore’s built-urban ecosystem cannot be discounted. Completed in 1908, the Station’s first buildings comprised a main block fronting Hill Street - this housed the fire engines - and two utilitarian living quarters to the rear. Together they enclosed an open drill court. A distinctive tower rising some thirty metres from Hill Street marks the main block which in its heyday offered the highest viewpoint of the surrounding cityscape, second perhaps only to the hilltop views from Fort Canning Hill.

Architecturally, the main block’s Edwardian style features a strong visual mix of rusticated fairface brickwork and white plaster. Corners and edges are articulated in alternate bands of brick and plastered elements such as keystone, pediment, frieze and other mouldings. Unlike its more famous cousins such as the Empress Place building, old Parliament House and Supreme Court - built in the period when stripped neo-classicism in white Shanghai plaster was the order of the day for important civic buildings - the Station’s architecture has achieved a public presence without the associated austerity. It is perhaps valid to suggest that this red-white aesthetics spawned a genre of fire-station architecture, such as those at Queensway (now SCDF Camp) and Serangoon. Unfortunately, some had their brickwork painted or plastered over through the years.

The significant contribution of this style to the built iconography of its time should be emphasised, particularly at the beginning of the 20th century, when burgeoning trade activities created a corresponding proliferation of building works. The number of major buildings that employed the distinctive brick-and-plaster juxtaposition, across different architectural typologies and various localities, can attest to its popularity.

Especially around the present-day civic and cultural district, the Wesley Methodist Church (1908), former YMCA building (1911) – a prominent landmark fronting Bras Basah Park, Methodist Publishing House (1908, now MPH) and the Singapore Cricket Club renovated by Swan & MacLaren in 1906-7, all employed the contrasting red brick-white plaster theme. For schools around the Bras Basah area, the former Medical Office (circa 1900) was another highly recognisable urban marker at the North Bridge Road-Bras Basah Road junction.

Highly imageable, this rusticated aesthetic was also found in Chinatown, with the Jinricksha Station (1903, Tanjong Pagar Road) and former Chinese Theatre Hall (circa 1911, next to Thong Chai Medical Institute) as prime examples. Elsewhere, in Orchard Road, the former Orchard Road Market (1911) and the Teutonia Club (circa 1905, now Goodwood Park Hotel) also carried this signature style.

http://www.singaporearchitect.com.sg/magazine/212/images/44b.jpg

Perhaps it is no coincidence that many buildings of the mid-20th century continued to explore this powerful visual mechanism despite the emerging influence of a new spirit. The former Rediffusion Building (1948-9 Clemenceau Avenue), National Library (1962, Stamford Road), former National Theatre (1963, River Valley Road) and several public housing schemes retained the red-white juxtaposition of plastered concrete frame and brickwork, albeit executed in the clean geometry of the Modern Movement. One may even suggest that this leitmotif is still alive in the ubiquitous HDB blocks of today, notwithstanding the original pure white plaster losing out to colourful newly repainted frames.

Sadly, many of these highly recognisable urban markers and iconographic constituents of our city have been obliterated in the name of progress. The burden now rests on the Central Fire Station to continue as a bearer of this iconography. Being the oldest surviving fire station in Singapore, its evolution reinforced this urban identity. Several major additions were made over the years, notably the main block extension in 1926. An annexe block was also added in 1936 at the entrance along Fort Canning Rise. Both of these continued the dominant brickwork style, such that their age differences remain indiscernible to the uninformed observer. As an acknowledgement of their architectural merits, the main tower block and its adjoining 1926 extension have been gazetted for conservation in 1998.

Keeping to the original spirit, the latest restoration by PWD eschewed the opportunity to indulge in making a loud visual statement. Instead, the architect capitalised on the operational nature of this civic institution by adopting a no-frills approach that seeks to restore the original buildings, by stripping off extraneous layers accumulated previously through several ad hoc renovations and additions. In the process of excavating the ‘archaeology’ of the Station, the clues to an appropriate conservation strategy emerged.

Firstly, the Annexe block is retained, despite initial insistence by the client to demolish it for better vehicular access of the new larger fire fighting engines. The alternative would have been inconceivable – a lop-sided entrance leaving an awkward gap in the urban edge at the prominent Hill Street-Fort Canning Rise junction. This is one instance where function is subservient to the greater urban good. Happily, the client now appears to have accepted this decision, and the operational aspect of the Fire Station appears none the worse for it.

Another important resolution in the restoration work is the removal of a double-pitched rooftop structure over the 1926 extension block that is in discord with the Station’s architectural language. This decision is intended to recover the purity of the original architectural grammar by restoring a flat horizontal roofline.

The architect’s third major intervention is the removal of the rear utilitarian living quarters, which are now replaced by a new L-shaped block executed in a contemporary but contextual design. Simple in form and articulation, the latter made references to the conserved blocks in terms of floor line, scale, material and proportion. Using prefabricated brick cladding to echo the original brickwork, the architect also incorporated modern elements of crisp glass parapet, perforated metal sunshading screens and stainless steel railings, without overwhelming the conserved blocks. This non-imposition is clear to the observer standing in the internal open drill court.

In a rare instance, the net floor area is actually reduced after restoration, following the removal of an ad hoc rooftop structure and the rear living quarters. This possibility arises from the programmatic change in the user’s operation - the need for live-in spaces is much lesser now. Instead, the clients required a more spacious drill court to cater for the larger turning radius of new fire fighting engines.

While facilitating these changes, the design further attempts to preserve the visual link between Central Fire Station and Fort Canning Hill, by framing the view to the Hill with a series of steel bridges connecting the new dormitory and dining blocks of the new Extension. From the open drill court, one enjoys a vista up the landscaped slope leading to the former Fire-Director’s house on Fort Canning, which is currently under the jurisdiction of National Parks Board. However, this is where the project is less successful - the original site layout actually offered a more generous and unobstructed view to the Hill. Nonetheless, it still allows for visitors on Fort Canning Hill to get a glimpse of the firefighters’ daily routines, an urban connection that is an intangible but important aspect of city life. In an earlier design proposal, a physical connection to the Hill via a link bridge at the second storey was considered, but dropped due to operational considerations.

http://www.singaporearchitect.com.sg/magazine/212/images/44c.jpg
12 New elevated linkway towards conserved block.

One noteworthy contribution of this project is the client’s decision to convert two levels of the original tower block into a Heritage Gallery, allowing public access to the Station, which was previously out-of-bounds. Visitors to the Gallery enter from Hill Street and pass through one of the original portals, which formerly served as parking bays for fire engines. This gesture blurs the boundary between public and private domains, signalling the birth of a new role for the Central Fire Station. It provides an opportunity for the public to reclaim a part of this historic urban icon, located at the boundary between Chinatown and the seat of
public governance.

At the detail level, where a conservation architect is tested to the limit, this restoration job stood up to the technical challenge of maintaining the iconic brickwork. A technique was derived to repair badly weathered bricks, by scrapping off the deteriorated surface and cladding over with new brick tiles, such that the contrast between old and new bricks is almost indiscernible. In fact, adopting appropriate restoration techniques is a critical aspect of all conservation projects, sometimes to the extent that everything else is subsumed under its prerogative.

There are lessons to be learnt from the Central Fire Station’s restoration. The architects attributed the project’s success to the no-frills adaptive re-use approach responding to the nature of operation of the occupants, where key design decisions were left mostly to the architect. Yet, besides this convenience of minimal intervention, the project would have been less successful if the architects have tried to create sacredness out of the ordinary. A fire station is but an everyday structure, performing at its best when in the operational mode. Any attempt to superimpose a larger-than-life symbolism on the architecture would have resulted in a strange misfit.

Another essential ingredient to the conservation of Central Fire Station is that the building’s function has remained relatively unchanged over nearly a century. While some buildings are endowed with prima donna status from day one – such as a national museum, Supreme Court, etc. – others like the Station, ordinary at birth, acquire significance through the passage of time. Its emblematic architecture has grown to become a rarity, reinforcing the raison d’être for conservation. This transformation is an essential and inevitable aspect of a city’s natural growth, which must not be lost in our incessant pursuit of modernity.

Ours is a city of rapid erasure. This is the real consequence of an accelerated physical growth over a compressed timeframe of 35 years, post-independence. There is thus an urgent need to retain the iconographic constituents of our built-urban ecosystem in a manner based on symbiotic rather than coerced adaptation, both in usage and architectural strategy.

Undeniably, to most people, Singapore’s success in conservation over the past twenty years was due largely to an ability to resolve the potential conflict between heritage preservation and commercial viability. This had given rise to some strange bedfellows where commercialisation meets conservation in an awkward juxtaposition. In many instances, the new usage pattern sits uncomfortably with the original building typology, such as former religious or civic institutions. One may argue that this inherent contradiction does not necessarily invalidate the achievements of these adaptive re-use projects in functional resolution. However, in the broader context of our built and urban heritage, the underlying values of commercially driven approaches to conservation need to be critically re-examined. Other options in conservation strategy should be explored to engender greater variety and relevance to the existing urban fabric. The responsibility then lies with the architect, especially when the new programmatic demands of conservation projects - as in the case of the Central Fire Station - do not call for a disproportionate level of conspicuity in its final form.

It is pertinent that architects re-examine their role in conservation projects to facilitate the sustenance of our built-urban ecosystem. The propensity for an architectural alchemy that imposes ultra-modern fashion statements onto the fabric of our built and urban heritage must be curtailed in favour of greater authenticity and reverence for the evidence of natural ageing, in terms of both conservation strategies and techniques. Newness, unavoidable in any conservation project, can be seamlessly integrated as in this project, down to the painstaking detail of restoring every single brick.

Historic architecture should be given a chance to breathe at its own pace, and the ordinary allowed to prevail, in an urban milieu that favours the densely packed, power-suited, high-rise icons of the 21st century. Without the historic and the ordinary giving breadth and depth to its physical presence and memory, a city will lack the backdrop against which its primary iconographic constituents can proudly stand. Like a piece of well-woven tapestry, a memorable city is where a unique pattern language emerges from its constituent iconography, evoking multiple responses in the observer. Only by including as wide a range of architectural and urban typologies can Singapore exist as a complete built-urban ecosystem that is truly sustainable. The case for the old and ordinary is not only tenable but also desirable. For, what is ordinary today will evolve to become exceptional tomorrow. Therein lies sacredness, and the door to a great city.


PROJECT INFO
Client Ministry of Home Affairs/
Singapore Civil Defence Force
Consultants PWD Consultants Pte. Ltd.
(Full Architectural, Engineering and QS Consultancy)
Restoration Consultant A.R.C. Pte. Ltd.
Landscape Consultant Foliage Pte. Ltd.
Building Contract Duration 24 months
Completion Date December 2000
Site Area 4251 m2
Gross Floor Area 4225 m2
Plot Ratio 0.994
Building Coverage 39.9%
Building Contract Sum SGD$5 million

Wow...very detailed writeup there! :)

Yup..very very detailed.

A pic from pbase.
http://img43.photobucket.com/albums/v133/RafflesCity/sci.jpg

Wownderful!:cool:

Here's a shot I took from Swissotel
http://img51.photobucket.com/albums/v157/baqthier/swissviewarch.jpg

Cool! You can see several religious structures in there, mosque, church, freemason and the Philatelic Museum :cool:

Talk about diversity!:D

Yup..very very detailed.

A pic from pbase.
http://img43.photobucket.com/albums/v133/RafflesCity/sci.jpg

Hmm....thats very nice.....:yes:

In response to this discussion, I was send the following information.

---oooOooo---

Dear Sirs:

I enjoyed browsing through your website with its supberb photographs, but there is an error about Agnes Joaquim.

She did not discover the orchid in 1893. She bred it, taking some years to do so.

As the Curator of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, Henry Ridley himself stated in June 1893 in the Gardeners' Chronicle, "A few years ago Miss Joaquim, a lady residing in Singapore, well-known for her success as a horticulturist, succeeded in crossing Vanda Hookeriana Rchb. f., and V. teres, two plants cultivated in almost every garden in Singapore.

I hope your text can be corrected and credit be restored to Agnes Joaquim for her hard work and great achievement.

Details can be found in my articles in the Malayan Orchid Review vol. 34/200 The Orchid Review ( Royal Horticultural Society) September 2004 Respected Citizens; the History of Armenians in Singapore and Malaysia 2003

Kind regards

Nadia Wright

Nadia Wright
Amassia Publishing
http://www.amassia.com.au

hmmm..did redstone provide some info from a source thats not entirely accurate? :)

On what? :? :? :?

On what? :? :? :?

Page 1, post #13 of this thread.

Where did you get the information from? Why not edit it to include the source link?

The mosque at High Street

http://img130.exs.cx/img130/6017/highstmosque.jpg

the most representative of singapore! all living in harmony.

Telephone House still retain's the old building's Islamic base!

telephone house looks quite outdated and old. its shld be refurbished so as to match the surrounding buildings, SMU, RafflesCity

how is the base of Telephone House Islamic?

I cant even make it out in my pic lol

Take a picture of the tower of the Telephone House's base. You'll see. :yes:

Base of the SCCCI Building

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v427/rotpics03/scci.jpg

http://img130.exs.cx/img130/6017/highstmosque.jpg

I never noticed this thing before... Interesting one ^^

^

baqthier says its design might be Indian-Muslim :cool:

i think the proper style name for stamford house is renaissance revival.

MITA Building

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v427/rotpics03/mita.jpg

MITA MITA MITA~... wonder wad's in there. the place always gives a creepy feeling... mainly because of its 'emptiness'... is there any place or building nearby to shoot a full aerial view of the building?

MITA houses some government agencies such as NAC and NHB and a bunch of offices. They've got galleries and cafe on the first floor.

MITA MITA MITA~... wonder wad's in there. the place always gives a creepy feeling... mainly because of its 'emptiness'... is there any place or building nearby to shoot a full aerial view of the building?

You should go in one day, it will completely change your perception of the building!!

Now the street has 9 architectural styles, including the new international styled HSC!

I kinda remember posting an old aerial view of Hill Street..... I need the pic ASAP.
It shows a very beautiful building in a sea of lower buildings.

Central Telephone Exchange.