Sliced Porosity Block

Project Details

Project Description

FROM THE INTERNATIONAL HIGHRISE AWARDS COMITTEE:

At the heart of the office and residential complex Raffles City is a large square with five highrises grouped around it. The façades of the buildings have a white reinforced concrete frame, each with 1.8-meter openings and oblique supports to guard against earthquakes. Precautionary geothermal measures, sun-protection glazing and energyefficient fittings make a major contribution to making these highrises environmentally sound. Moreover the building materials used were, for the most part, locally sourced. The building development along the adjoining Ren-Min-Nan Street is lower, thus effecting a smooth transition to the surrounding smaller-scale buildings. On the ground floor there are small retail units which open out not only onto the street and a shopping passage on the inside, but also onto a nearby park. During evening hours illumination effects on the building façades make for a particularly spectacular experience in the surrounding district. Here, the architects took their inspiration from a poet hailing from Chengdu. There are squares with water-gardens on three levels, which also serve as skylights for the shopping center on the level below them. Not only is “Sliced Porosity Block” a visually unique building complex, but at the same time the architects have succeeded in producing an urban space that invites residents to stroll, linger and meet their friends sheltered from the traffic and noise.