SINGAPORE: DP Architects, one of Singapore’s oldest architectural firms, has designed many of the giant mixed-use projects here. Such developments are becoming more complex, with a diverse range of uses.

The $1.3 billion Singapore Sports Hub, with its striking architecture, retractable dome and exterior lights, became the latest landmark in the city-state when it opened at end-June.

Sitting on a 35ha waterfront site in Kallang, it is Singapore’s latest integrated development, and includes the new National Stadium with a capacity of 55,000; the indoor OCBC Aquatic Centre; the 441,324 sq ft Kallang Wave shopping mall where the central attraction is the world’s tallest indoor rock climbing facility; and a Water Sports Centre.

However, the grass, or lack thereof, became a national distraction when the first football match was held at the National Stadium in August, a friendly between Italian league champions Juventus and the Singapore national team.

The lamentable state of the pitch, with its bald patches, drew flak again at the friendly match between Brazil and Japan last month.

The hybrid turf used by the stadium was pronounced by the Singapore Football Association as falling “short of the expected international playing standard”.

Another $1.5 million was reportedly spent on deploying special lights, which act as sunlight, to facilitate the growth of the grass.

More than 10 experts have been engaged to look at ways to improve the grass condition before the Asean Football Federation Suzuki Cup on Nov 23.

“Everyone who sees me asks about the grass,” says Francis Lee, CEO of DP Architects.

“We finished the Sports Hub in 2014, but we’re not involved with the grass.”

DP Architects had collaborated with Arup and AECOM on the design and master plan of the Singapore Sports Hub.

“Even my husband was asking me about the grass,” adds Angelene Chan, deputy CEO of DP Architects.

Despite the recent hiccup over grass, the Sports Hub is a mixed-use scheme that is drawing more than just attendees of concerts and sporting events.

On weekends, families visit the mall where there is a huge FairPrice Xtra, a sportsthemed hypermarket, a Uniqlo store and many eateries.

In fact, at the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) Architectural Awards last month, DP Architects bagged five awards, the most by a single firm.

One was for the Singapore Sports Hub, and another was for Zhongshan Park, a mixed-use scheme located on Balestier Road, which contains a Grade-A office tower, a retail podium, two hotels (Ramada and Days Inn) and the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall located within a park setting.

Response to tight urban environment
“Increasingly, people want to live, work and play without having to go long distances,” says Chan.

“In a tight urban environment such as Singapore, mixed-use is the way forward.”

The population density in Singapore has also increased over time, from 7,025 persons per sq km in 2009 to 7,615 per sq km in 2014, according to the Department of Statistics.

Mixed-use schemes have evolved over the years, incorporating “more programmes” beyond retail, offices and residences to suit the needs of city dwellers, says Chan.

In Singapore, this is also taking place in the suburban regional centres.

An example is the Tampines Town Hub.

A redevelopment of the former Tampines Stadium and Sports Hall, it will occupy a total of 5.6ha, or the size of seven football fields, with a built-up area of 1.29 million sq ft.

It will incorporate the Tampines Regional Library, clinics, childcare centre, culinary and music studios, a community club, hawker centre and town square.

Even government agencies such as the National Heritage Board office and the North East Community Development Council will be co-located there.

The complex will also house a regional sports centre, with swimming pools, tennis courts, gymnasium and jogging track.

Designed by DP Architects, the construction of Tampines Town Hub started in July, and is scheduled to be completed in phases from 2016.

DP Architects also designed the Punggol Town Hub, which will incorporate a community club, regional library, hawker centre, a town square and other amenities.

Both town hubs are said to be driven by multiple stakeholders under the People’s Association.

The town hub offers an integrated lifestyle, one that is “people-centric, all-inclusive and combines recreational, sporting, community and culture facilities under one roof”, says Chan.

Connexion, which was completed earlier this year, is another example of a mixed-use scheme designed by DP Architects that does not have the usual residential, office and retail components.

It contains the 250-room One Farrer Hotel and Spa, which is connected with the Farrer Park Medical Clinics, as well as a private hospital — the Farrer Park Hospital.

The entire development is also linked to the Farrer Park MRT station.

DP Architects has played a pivotal role in the evolution of Singapore’s cityscape.

The firm had been involved in the design of major landmarks in the country, many of which are giant mixed-use schemes.

They include Marina Square, a major shopping mall linked to three hotels, namely Marina Mandarin, Mandarin Oriental and Pan Pacific, which was designed in collaboration with John Portman & Associates; Pontiac Land’s Millienia Walk mall, which is linked to two premium office towers (Millenia and Centennial Towers) and the Conrad Centennial hotel, where DP Architects collaborated with John Burgee and Philip Johnson; as well as Suntec City, where DP Architects worked with Tsao & McKown Architects on the design of the giant mixed-use scheme with a convention and exhibition centre linked to a mall with close to one million sq ft, which is in turn connected to four office towers.

The firm was also involved in the design of Esplanade — Theatres on the Bay, as well as Resorts World Sentosa.

More recently, DP Architects collaborated with Ole Scheeren on the design of DUO by M+S, which is set to be a new landmark mixed-use development with office, residential and hotel, at the junction of Ophir Road and Beach Road.

‘Vertical living’
According to Lee, one of the first mixed-use schemes designed by the firm was the 31-storey People’s Park Complex, which has offices and apartments sitting on top of a retail podium.

It was also the first shopping centre of its kind in Southeast Asia with an atrium (or “city room”), and was influenced by the Metabolist Movement in the 1960s, pioneered by Japanese architects.

The shopping mall was completed in 1970, while the residential block was completed in 1973.

“It was ahead of its time because it was able to manifest into a built form those theories and concepts of metabolism being discussed [then],” explains Chan.

Another milestone development, according to Lee, was Golden Mile Complex, which was also conceptualised along the lines of the Metabolist Movement.

It was the first truly integrated development in Singapore.

Standing 16-storeys tall and costing $18 million, the development sits on a 1.3ha site, and contains a shopping centre with 411 shops, 226 offices and 68 apartments.

The project was designed by DP Architects as “a vertical city”.

“At that time, it was a fantastic concept for urban living,” recounts Lee.

“Golden Mile Complex, unfortunately, didn’t live up to its name.”

At the time, the idea was to extend the work, live, play concept throughout the entire stretch of Beach Road, but it never quite took off in that direction, he adds.

Had the project remained in the hands of a single owner, instead of being strata-titled and sold to different unit holders, it would not have deteriorated to the extent it has today, he reckons.

It was described as a “vertical slum” and “a terrible eyesore” by a member of parliament six years ago.

Attempts at collective sale have however, been unsuccessful.

Malls going for ‘special’
DP Architects is also behind the designs and facelifts of many of the malls along Orchard Road, such as Wisma Atria, Mandarin Gallery, Paragon, Robinsons The Heeren, Knightsbridge at the Grand Park Orchard hotel, and Orchard Central.

“If you didn’t know, you wouldn’t have guessed that the designs were all done by the same architect,” says Chan.

“Every developer wants their mall to look different from that of others.

I’m working on two other projects on Orchard Road, and one of their first requirements is that the mall has to be different, to be special, and not something that’s been repeated.”

The mall that epitomises the changing trends in shopping malls over the past three decades is Wisma Atria.

DP Architects not only designed the original mall in 1986, but was involved in its facelift back in 2004 after its sale to Pacific Star, and again in 2012, when it changed hands and became part of Starhill Global REIT.

Thirty years ago, the façade of Wisma Atria was designed like a blue closed box.

“In the 1980s, malls were inward- looking and people didn’t want shops opening out.

Now, everyone wants direct street frontage; it’s all about creating a presence, reflecting a lifestyle,” says Chan.

Likewise at Paragon, DP Architects has been involved in two major enhancements of the shopping mall over the past decade.

The first was in 2003, when Paragon was integrated with Promenade into a single mall.

Then in 2008, Singapore Press Holdings spent $45 million in making over the façade to incorporate pop-out glass boxes featuring duplex stores for luxury brands with direct street frontage.

The mall is now part of SPH REIT.

‘World’s biggest mall’
However, the project that propelled DP Architects into the limelight was The Dubai Mall, which has a total internal floor area of 5.9 million sq ft, making it the largest mall in the world in terms of total area when it opened in 2008.

It has more than 1,200 stores, a 250-room luxury hotel, a Cineplex with 22 screens, and also contains the Dubai Aquarium & Discovery Centre, an ice rink and a Sega Republic indoor theme park.

The Dubai Mall is developed and owned by Emaar Properties, headed by its founder and chairman, Mohamed Ali Rashed Alabbar.

The retail arm of Emaar Properties, called Emaar Malls Group, was listed on the Dubai stock exchange last month.

The mall still holds the record as the most visited shopping and leisure destination, attracting more than 65 million visitors annually in 2011 and 2012.

Plans are underway to expand The Dubai Mall by another 1.2 million sq ft.

And DP Architects has been called in to work on the first phase of the expansion.

“There’s still a waiting list of tenants who want to enter The Dubai Mall,” says Chan.

“Luxury brands such as Prada and Louis Vuitton want to expand their concept stores, and this expansion allows them to do that.”

According to Lee, “this [The Dubai Mall] was a very important project for us”.

He felt that it was almost a once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity.

Owing to the success of The Dubai Mall, DP Architects has attracted the attention of mall owners from around the world.

The firm has secured the design of a retail project in Kazakhstan recently.

“It’s important to have a global reach,” says Lee.

Currently, about half of DP Architects’ revenue comes from Singapore, with the rest from its overseas portfolio.

However, Lee wants to grow the proportion of overseas revenue beyond 50%.

“Singapore is too small,” he concedes.

‘Oldest’
DP Architects has come a long way since 1967, when it was called Design Partnership.

Founded by Koh Seow Chuan, a stalwart in the local architectural scene, the firm changed its name to DP Architects in 1975.

“We’re one of the oldest firms, and the largest in Singapore,” says Lee.

He reckons that the defining moment for DP Architects was the recession in Singapore in the mid-1980s, following the collapse of Pan-Electric.

He vividly recalls that the directors had called for a big meeting then to discuss whether they should retrench staff or suffer a pay cut together.

At that time, DP Architects had only 50 to 60 architects.

The decision was that there would be no bonuses for the next three years, and while the founding directors took a heftier pay cut of 50%, younger architects such as Lee saw their salaries slashed by 30%.

“But we didn’t retrench anyone,” he says.

“And that was the best thing that ever happened.”

When the economy recovered, and development plans that had been mothballed as a result of the recession were revived, the firm was able to secure many projects as it had the manpower in place.

“Had we downsized, we would have had to start hiring again, and the whole culture of the place would have changed,” explains Chan.

“Although I wasn’t in that downturn, you will find that once you suffer a downturn together, everybody becomes closer because there’s a common bond, a shared interest, and it shapes the culture of the office.”

There are still staff who have been with the company since 1967.

These include Koh; Gan Eng Oon who has been a partner of the firm since 1967; and Chan Sui Him, DP Architects’ chairman who had joined the firm in 1968.

There are also many staff who have been with the firm for more than three decades.

Lee, who is 63, has been with the firm for 36 years, serving as CEO for the past decade.

Meanwhile, Chan, who is 50 this year, has been with the firm for 24 years.

“To me, [that recession of the mid-1980s] was a very important time,” adds Lee.

“I’ve seen six economic downturns.

But with each downturn, we’re better prepared and we try to make sure that the impact on us is less.”

And even as Singapore celebrates its Golden Jubilee next year, DP Architects is preparing to celebrate its own half century in 2017.

This article appeared in the City & Country of Issue 652 (Nov 17) of The Edge Singapore.