Designing homes and common spaces for a better future
Surbana Jurong Group’s HDB Design Awards affirm the group’s alignment with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
Successful designs for housing and other related needs must ultimately create sustainable and liveable spaces where communities can thrive. It is a principle Surbana Jurong Group holds fast to, and for which it has been acknowledged yet again when it recently clinched three HDB Design Awards.
The HDB Design Award 2021 is awarded to SAA Architects, a member of Surbana Jurong Group, for EastLink I & II @ Canberra and Neighbourhood Centre, in recognition of SAA Architects’ design excellence.
SAA Architects joins the ranks of other architects in Surbana Jurong who have won HDB Design Awards in previous years. Common Green at Matilda Edge won a design award in 2020. Punggol Point Cove won the HDB Innovative Design Award the same year. The group’s architects behind the Punggol project were recognised for elevating the perception of public housing with their designs.
Headquartered in Singapore, Surbana Jurong Group is a global consulting firm for urban, infrastructure and managed services.
Surbana Jurong has built more than one million quality homes and critical infrastructure in Singapore. Its motto, “Building Cities, Shaping Lives” emboldens the group’s 1,000 architects and designers to fulfil aspirations and enrich lives with every assignment.
Sustainable living and landscapes
Design techniques are anchored on Environmental, Sustainable and Governance principles.
Building community was a key consideration for EastLink I & II @ Canberra. SAA Architects sought to encourage active mobility amongst residents by connecting the project with Canberra MRT Station at the nexus. Its network of pedestrian linkways connects the entire development, which comprises public housing blocks and Canberra Plaza, a new-generation three-storey neighbourhood centre that integrates commercial and community facilities with public housing.
Sustainable landscaping at EastLink I & II @ Canberra absorbs heat, shields residents from the sun and cools surfaces.
Other eco-friendly features include motion-controlled, energy-efficient lighting at staircases and separate refuse chutes for recyclables at every block.
Punggol Point Cove takes advantage of the windy seafront along the eastern shoreline of Punggol Point District to ventilate and cool the development’s 11 residential blocks through staggered heights. Blocks are also orientated with a north-south facing to lessen solar heat gain. Multiple connecting sky bridges at mid-level connect the residents and build community.
Lifts are equipped with fuel cell systems to recycle heat generated when they are in use.
The development is fitted out with centralised chutes for recyclables, and a pneumatic waste conveyance system that saves manual labour, cuts pest infestation and decreases waste decomposition.
Also awarded at the HDB Awards 2021 are Surbana Jurong engineers for the Common Services Duct in Tengah Town and KTP engineers for Tengah Park Contract 2.
“Winning the HDB awards affirms our commitment to design liveable homes and sustainable community spaces for future generations, in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals,” says Surbana Jurong’s group chief executive officer Wong Heang Fine.
Adapted from a feature in The Sunday Times, 24 October 2021
