URA & D-Cups
URA have said the design (Clarke Quay) had to be sensitive to the existing conservation buildings....
Mr Pimbley (Stephen Pimbley, a partner at Alsop Architects) says he has 'never felt obliged to design in context and would hope that no other Singaporean architect is thus obliged'.
According to him, context can mean many things. 'Unfortunately the easy route of pastiche is usually omnipresent,' he says. 'The original refurbishment of Clarke Quay was a rather unfortunate built-to-look-old attempt at recreating something that no longer held value. I believe this led to its eventual demise,'
Definition of Pastiche:
A work of art that intentionally imitates other works, often to ridicule or satire
We are back to colonial days where the West dominate our thinking. The irony is that I agree with him (Mr Pimbley). The funny issue with Singapore is we are never upfront about our intentions. We do not do conservation, we did re-construction, we did a themed agglomeration of buildings. The theme is "Old Singapore Warehouses". The purpose is to attract tourist. It is Disneyland Singapore style. Why must we hide under the label "consevation"? So that Singapore cannot be labeled a tabula rasa? So that we can be a world class conservation hub?
Definition of tabula rasa:
Latin for "a blank tablet." This phrase was used by John Locke (1632-1704) as he set forth his empirical theory of knowledge to indicate the state of the human mind at birth. Essentially, he contended that human beings are not born with any prior knowledge or disposition; thus, their minds could only be influenced by sense experience.
Can we just be honest with ourselves? Must we always hide our agenda? It is so much more productive if we make our intentions upfront and do not participate in actions that contradict with our intentions. If we want to do conservation, lets do conservation and not a billboard for Dulux paints. If we want to do a themed park to attract tourist. Lets not talk about conservation. If we are doing a themed park, I wish that the people of the land will rise and oppose it.
URA have said the design (Clarke Quay) had to be sensitive to the existing conservation buildings....
Isn't the above a funny statement? The existing conservation buildings are so vandalized that it does not resemble the old. The new design need to be sensitive to a themed version. A double movement backwards? Luckily Mr Pimbley has this response: 'I never felt obliged to design in context and would hope that no other Singaporean architect is thus obliged'
Secrets of Clarke Quay's floating D-cups revealed
Published May 21, 2005 in BT
Cabaret act is making waves at the $80m revamp of the riverside entertainment district
By ARTHUR SIM
(SINGAPORE) Those giant D-cups that line the Singapore River along Clarke Quay finally make some sense now. Crazy Horse Paris, the all-female cabaret show that 'celebrates the art of the nude', will play out there every night - twice a night - from December. And the floating bras couldn't be a better advertisement. Crazy Horse Paris, brought in by Eng Wah Organisation, will be just one of the new attractions coming to Clarke Quay when the $80 million redevelopment there is completed some time in mid-2006.
So far the other big tenant - lifestyle and entertainment development and management company LifeBrandz - has only said it has secured a deal to bring in Dashing Diva, a funky New York-based nail spa. And whatever else it's planning for the 80,000 sq ft or 30 per cent of the entire Clarke Quay development that it will take up remains a mystery.
Eng Wah's decision to take up 15,000 sq ft was a case of love at first sight. Managing director Goh Min Yen says she and Didier Bernardin, part-owner and director of Crazy Horse Paris, were immediately taken by the ambience of the building they checked out.
'With its traditional red shutters and the red pillars, we could instantly visualise the cabaret with the beautiful dancers on stage, the busy bar behind us and the classy restaurant complimenting the cabaret,' she says. 'We, especially Didier, felt an instant affinity with the red colours of the building as it matched the red used by Crazy Horse Paris, and took it as a sign that this should be the home for the new Crazy Horse cabaret in Singapore.'
Ms Goh also says Clarke Quay meets all the requirements that reflect the character of the Crazy Horse Paris, including the traditional buildings. She prefers not to comment on the D-cups, but likes the idea that Clarke Quay will be a 24-hour entertainment hub. The colourfully-lit D-Cups - sorry, canopies - that are part of Phase One of the redevelopment certainly help create a 24-hour atmosphere. But reaction to them has been mixed. For a start, everyone is stumped. Are they meant to be mushrooms? Tents? Brassieres?
CapitaLand, which owns Clarke Quay, calls them 'Blue Bells' - though they're not blue and don't look much like flowers. This aside, they offer shade. And at night they come alive with lights. Each 'Blue Bell' hovers over a 'Lilipad' suspended from a steel stem. The Lilipads - which look more like Venus Flytraps, in what could be a subliminal reference to Crazy Horse - are raised platforms for al fresco dining that cantilever 1.5m over the riverbank.
Clarke Quay was designed by renowned British architect Will Alsop and his firm Alsop Architects, whose controversial work in the UK has raised some eyebrows. He was once called architecture's 'Mr Blobby' by British media because his buildings are said by some to look like blobs.
Singapore architect Aamer Taher, who studied at the same school as Alsop - The Architectural Association in London - and has met the man says: 'Alsop is a nice guy but I hate the mushrooms (the D-cups)'.
Mr Aamer's main gripe is that they don't seem to be in character with the existing buildings. 'I understand the need for shelter, but did they have to be so big? You can't see the facades of the old buildings any more,' he says. Mr Aamer would have prefered something a little more subtle - but this was not to be. Stephen Pimbley, a partner at Alsop Architects, says the brief from CapitaLand was to transform Clarke Quay 'and provide a new language of installations that make Clarke Quay an enjoyable place to be'.
Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) approval was required for the cantilevered 'Lilipads' and 'Blue Bells'. And Mr Pimbley says URA was 'engaged positively throughout the design process'. So it's certain that URA would have said the design had to be sensitive to the existing conservation buildings, though where this discussion went, no one will know. Mr Pimbley says he has 'never felt obliged to design in context and would hope that no other Singaporean architect is thus obliged'.
According to him, context can mean many things. 'Unfortunately the easy route of pastiche is usually omnipresent,' he says. 'The original refurbishment of Clarke Quay was a rather unfortunate built-to-look-old attempt at recreating something that no longer held value. I believe this led to its eventual demise,' Mr Pimbley adds.
CapitaLand says Phase One of the redevelopment, which includes 30 F&B and entertainment outlets along the 200m river front, has been a success, with F&B outlets there reporting a 20 per cent rise in business compared with pre-renovation days.
Lachlan Gyde, vice-president of retail at CapitaLand, says the development is now aimed at PMEBs - professionals, managers, executives and businessmen. This was after about $300,000 spent on research revealed that there are about 1.5 million people in Singapore who fit this demographic and have 'nowhere to go'.
Some, like a 31-year-old media industry producer A S Syereen, like the new 'classier' Clarke Quay because 'it doesn't look so neglected any more'. And the Blue Bells? 'They grow on you'. This will be good news for Mr Gyde, who says comments so far have been mixed. But as the Australian national points out, when the Sydney Opera House was revealed 'everyone hated it, but Now everyone loves it. And that's half the fun of doing something cutting-edge'.
Mr Pimbley (Stephen Pimbley, a partner at Alsop Architects) says he has 'never felt obliged to design in context and would hope that no other Singaporean architect is thus obliged'.
According to him, context can mean many things. 'Unfortunately the easy route of pastiche is usually omnipresent,' he says. 'The original refurbishment of Clarke Quay was a rather unfortunate built-to-look-old attempt at recreating something that no longer held value. I believe this led to its eventual demise,'
From the article "Secrets of Clarke Quay's floating D-cups revealed"
Published May 21, 2005 in BT by ARTHUR SIM
Published May 21, 2005 in BT by ARTHUR SIM
Definition of Pastiche:
A work of art that intentionally imitates other works, often to ridicule or satire
We are back to colonial days where the West dominate our thinking. The irony is that I agree with him (Mr Pimbley). The funny issue with Singapore is we are never upfront about our intentions. We do not do conservation, we did re-construction, we did a themed agglomeration of buildings. The theme is "Old Singapore Warehouses". The purpose is to attract tourist. It is Disneyland Singapore style. Why must we hide under the label "consevation"? So that Singapore cannot be labeled a tabula rasa? So that we can be a world class conservation hub?
Definition of tabula rasa:
Latin for "a blank tablet." This phrase was used by John Locke (1632-1704) as he set forth his empirical theory of knowledge to indicate the state of the human mind at birth. Essentially, he contended that human beings are not born with any prior knowledge or disposition; thus, their minds could only be influenced by sense experience.
Can we just be honest with ourselves? Must we always hide our agenda? It is so much more productive if we make our intentions upfront and do not participate in actions that contradict with our intentions. If we want to do conservation, lets do conservation and not a billboard for Dulux paints. If we want to do a themed park to attract tourist. Lets not talk about conservation. If we are doing a themed park, I wish that the people of the land will rise and oppose it.
URA have said the design (Clarke Quay) had to be sensitive to the existing conservation buildings....
Isn't the above a funny statement? The existing conservation buildings are so vandalized that it does not resemble the old. The new design need to be sensitive to a themed version. A double movement backwards? Luckily Mr Pimbley has this response: 'I never felt obliged to design in context and would hope that no other Singaporean architect is thus obliged'
Secrets of Clarke Quay's floating D-cups revealed
Published May 21, 2005 in BT
Cabaret act is making waves at the $80m revamp of the riverside entertainment district
By ARTHUR SIM
(SINGAPORE) Those giant D-cups that line the Singapore River along Clarke Quay finally make some sense now. Crazy Horse Paris, the all-female cabaret show that 'celebrates the art of the nude', will play out there every night - twice a night - from December. And the floating bras couldn't be a better advertisement. Crazy Horse Paris, brought in by Eng Wah Organisation, will be just one of the new attractions coming to Clarke Quay when the $80 million redevelopment there is completed some time in mid-2006.
So far the other big tenant - lifestyle and entertainment development and management company LifeBrandz - has only said it has secured a deal to bring in Dashing Diva, a funky New York-based nail spa. And whatever else it's planning for the 80,000 sq ft or 30 per cent of the entire Clarke Quay development that it will take up remains a mystery.
Eng Wah's decision to take up 15,000 sq ft was a case of love at first sight. Managing director Goh Min Yen says she and Didier Bernardin, part-owner and director of Crazy Horse Paris, were immediately taken by the ambience of the building they checked out.
'With its traditional red shutters and the red pillars, we could instantly visualise the cabaret with the beautiful dancers on stage, the busy bar behind us and the classy restaurant complimenting the cabaret,' she says. 'We, especially Didier, felt an instant affinity with the red colours of the building as it matched the red used by Crazy Horse Paris, and took it as a sign that this should be the home for the new Crazy Horse cabaret in Singapore.'
Ms Goh also says Clarke Quay meets all the requirements that reflect the character of the Crazy Horse Paris, including the traditional buildings. She prefers not to comment on the D-cups, but likes the idea that Clarke Quay will be a 24-hour entertainment hub. The colourfully-lit D-Cups - sorry, canopies - that are part of Phase One of the redevelopment certainly help create a 24-hour atmosphere. But reaction to them has been mixed. For a start, everyone is stumped. Are they meant to be mushrooms? Tents? Brassieres?
CapitaLand, which owns Clarke Quay, calls them 'Blue Bells' - though they're not blue and don't look much like flowers. This aside, they offer shade. And at night they come alive with lights. Each 'Blue Bell' hovers over a 'Lilipad' suspended from a steel stem. The Lilipads - which look more like Venus Flytraps, in what could be a subliminal reference to Crazy Horse - are raised platforms for al fresco dining that cantilever 1.5m over the riverbank.
Clarke Quay was designed by renowned British architect Will Alsop and his firm Alsop Architects, whose controversial work in the UK has raised some eyebrows. He was once called architecture's 'Mr Blobby' by British media because his buildings are said by some to look like blobs.
Singapore architect Aamer Taher, who studied at the same school as Alsop - The Architectural Association in London - and has met the man says: 'Alsop is a nice guy but I hate the mushrooms (the D-cups)'.
Mr Aamer's main gripe is that they don't seem to be in character with the existing buildings. 'I understand the need for shelter, but did they have to be so big? You can't see the facades of the old buildings any more,' he says. Mr Aamer would have prefered something a little more subtle - but this was not to be. Stephen Pimbley, a partner at Alsop Architects, says the brief from CapitaLand was to transform Clarke Quay 'and provide a new language of installations that make Clarke Quay an enjoyable place to be'.
Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) approval was required for the cantilevered 'Lilipads' and 'Blue Bells'. And Mr Pimbley says URA was 'engaged positively throughout the design process'. So it's certain that URA would have said the design had to be sensitive to the existing conservation buildings, though where this discussion went, no one will know. Mr Pimbley says he has 'never felt obliged to design in context and would hope that no other Singaporean architect is thus obliged'.
According to him, context can mean many things. 'Unfortunately the easy route of pastiche is usually omnipresent,' he says. 'The original refurbishment of Clarke Quay was a rather unfortunate built-to-look-old attempt at recreating something that no longer held value. I believe this led to its eventual demise,' Mr Pimbley adds.
CapitaLand says Phase One of the redevelopment, which includes 30 F&B and entertainment outlets along the 200m river front, has been a success, with F&B outlets there reporting a 20 per cent rise in business compared with pre-renovation days.
Lachlan Gyde, vice-president of retail at CapitaLand, says the development is now aimed at PMEBs - professionals, managers, executives and businessmen. This was after about $300,000 spent on research revealed that there are about 1.5 million people in Singapore who fit this demographic and have 'nowhere to go'.
Some, like a 31-year-old media industry producer A S Syereen, like the new 'classier' Clarke Quay because 'it doesn't look so neglected any more'. And the Blue Bells? 'They grow on you'. This will be good news for Mr Gyde, who says comments so far have been mixed. But as the Australian national points out, when the Sydney Opera House was revealed 'everyone hated it, but Now everyone loves it. And that's half the fun of doing something cutting-edge'.
posted by bluabov at 9:57 am
1 Comments:
eh! update more often lah! No news about u. i worried. how?
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