Designing for light, air, water, heat & energy through wall & skin

Singapore has achieved many accolades as a
liveable city, recognized for its excellent infrastructure and use of
technology, but there is a critical need to emphasize social and community
aspects, panellists pointed out at the Philips Seminar on “Future Living Spaces
in Singapore”. Philips has plenty of innovative plans for lighting and living,
as does the Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (Lava) with plans to cover
‘ugly’ buildings with a woven fabric mesh, or ‘skin’, to add more than
aesthetic appeal.  More on Sustainable
Cities 2011 coming up.

Report from Philips (3 August 2011):

Make Singapore a more sustainable, liveable
city by increasing community interaction

Singapore has achieved many accolades as a
liveable city, and is recognized for its excellent infrastructure and use of
technology, but there is a critical need to emphasize the community aspect,
panellists pointed out at the Philips Seminar on “Future Living Spaces in
Singapore”. Held on 30 July, the public seminar, organized by Philips as part
of its 60th anniversary celebrations in Singapore, attracted close to 200
participants, including tertiary students from arts and design colleges,
institutes, polytechnics, universities as well as members of green and
sustainability societies.

Panel members, comprising representatives
from Economic Development Board (EDB), Philips Design, Singapore Environment
Council (SEC), Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) and Tsao Foundation,
discussed the macro trends of aging, climate change, sustainability and
urbanization, and their impact on future living spaces in Singapore.

Re-establishing kampong spirit, increasing
social bonding and inclusivity

A key conclusion drawn was the lack of
community interaction and social bonding in today‟s Singapore society. “With
today‟s urban flats, we boxed people up in their home, resulting in a loss of
interactivity and sense of community. We think of living spaces as only our
living room. But for future living spaces, we need to think beyond our homes.
Initiatives, such as Vertical Kampong by the National Volunteer &
Philanthropy Center, look at reviving the kampong spirit in the community we
live in by promoting the spirit of trust, helping and sharing with one
another,” said Howard Shaw, former Executive Director of SEC and Senior Vice
President, Corporate Social Responsibility, Halycon Group.

“It is time to re-establish that sense of
kampong spirit and for Singaporeans to look beyond our four walls. We have done
a lot in hardware in Singapore, but we need to do a lot more in „heartware‟,”
he continued.

Tai Lee Siang, President of Singapore
Institute of Architects (2007-2009) and Group Managing Director of Ong &
Ong Pte Ltd, elaborated further, “We used to spend a lot of time at the dining
table with parents and grandparents, but now we can‟t even fit in a proper
table at home as space is getting smaller. We need to make spaces more
innovative. Singapore is known for its excellence in embracing hardware and
technology, but the key challenge is to develop our city with a soul. We still
have a lot of work to do to build up the social and cultural aspects of our
city, while leveraging technology to help create solutions or build facilities
that can increase social bonding and inclusivity.”

Technology not the only answer

The panellists also highlighted that while
technology plays an important role, it is also about a cultural and mindset
shift. “Technology is not the answer to everything. It is but a means to a
goal, which is to improve quality of life, and hence, must be human-centered.
At Philips Design, when we conduct design probes, we always begin by looking at
people and thinking about their needs. We also take a multi-disciplinary
approach to consider different viewpoints and work creatively with people from
various fields to overcome constraints,” said Jack Mama, Creative Director of
Probes program, Philips Design.

“In envisioning future living spaces, I believe
there are many opportunities and possibilities. Our attitudes towards waste and
energy consumption have to change drastically. How can we solve the challenge
to urbanization? How can we make 40 square meters perform like 80 square
meters? Thinking and rethinking the space and how we live in that space is
critical,” Mama further elaborated. “Within the design probe projects we have
set out to address some of these issues within different future contexts and
suggest new possibilities. These projects serve as a catalyst to stimulate
debate and feedback around selected themes and in turn generate what we call
contextual insights.”

Challenge of climate change

Climate change is also a challenge for any
city that strives to be sustainable and liveable. The threat of climate change
will continue to have significant impact on the physical, biological and human
systems around the world. According to the World Meteorological Organization,
the 1990s was the warmest decade, and the 1900s was the warmest century during
the last 1,000 years.

“Over the last forty years, the government
has been dealing with challenges relating to limitations on land, water and
other resources. We have developed innovative urban solutions which we can
offer to the world. Today, we need to design our buildings to be much more
energy efficient, as dealing with climate change and environmental
sustainability will be the key challenge this century. In Singapore as well as
globally, we need to accept that at some point, there are physical limits to
growth. The Earth has a finite carrying capacity. We need to look at how we can
create prosperity without necessarily having high growth rates. Prosperity
without growth doesn‟t imply stagnation or lack of progress. It just means we
channel more efforts towards achieving outcomes that may be difficult to
measure, but which are increasingly important, e.g. creating more liveable
spaces, improving the quality of human relationships and improving income
equality,” said Toh Wee Khiang, Executive Director of Human Capital and
Building & Infrastructure Solutions Divisions, Singapore EDB.

A city for all ages

At the same time, Singapore is also grappling
with the challenges of a rapidly aging population. By 2030, one in five
residents will be 65 years or older. By 2050, Singapore‟s median age will be
54, similar to Japan and Italy, making it one of the demographically oldest
countries in the world.

Dr. Mary Ann Tsao, President and Founding
Director of the Tsao Foundation, added her perspective in relation to the
elderly population. “Singapore is a remarkable city, but I am not sure if we
are a city of all ages, especially for the elderly. People are living longer
now, and thus a liveable city has to be a city for all ages, to be inclusive,
to allow and invite participation from all citizens in all aspects of life.
Technology can play a role in enabling connectivity between people, and with
nature. We need to re-look at how we plan public spaces, make them accessible,
and at the same time, improve the flow of information, amongst people in the
community, young and old, be it within or outside of homes.”

Building a sustainable, liveable city and
forging a new identity

The panellists also pointed out unique
challenges faced by Singapore in building a sustainable, liveable city. An
interesting point raised by Howard Shaw was that Singapore would need to look
at food security, beyond water and energy security. “Currently, only 1% of land
in Singapore is used for food production. There is an opportunity to look into
vertical farming and food producing units, such as using our HDB flats, near
our living spaces within our city,” added Shaw.

Tai also highlighted how Singapore is unique
when compared to other bigger countries. “The issue of identity for Singapore
needs to be approached differently from bigger countries where the ratio
distribution of demographics is very different. Singapore has a population that
is made up of both citizens and foreigners – how do we forge a new identity
that is not purely based on citizenship, but instead create a community to make
everyone feel that they belong here? We need to re-look at Singapore as a new
kind of city-state, as an economic and technology hub with global citizens
housed within a small island of less than 700 square kilometres sharing a
common goal.”

Making cities liveable or making liveable
cities cannot be achieved without the help and the support of the communities
and the inhabitants of the cities.

“Through this seminar, we hope to raise
awareness and inspire the public, in particular the students, to think about
future living spaces in Singapore – rethinking how we plan physical space, as
well as social spaces, whether it‟s through design, technology or a
multi-disciplinary approach to build community and make Singapore a more
livable city for people of all ages, said Wong Lup Wai, Country Manager of
Philips Singapore. “Innovation centred around human needs is the key to improve
people‟s health and well-being and to help secure the long-term future of our
city. And we hope to see some inspiring and creative ideas from our students
through Philips Singapore‟s „Future Living Spaces‟ contest.”

The contest is open to all tertiary students
from 29 July to 19 September, and the video contest entries will be made
available for public voting online till 23 September. The top 20 entries will
be identified by the highest number of votes. The judges will then pick the
best idea as well as the most inspiring and most innovative ideas, from this
list. The top 3 winners and the top entries, will win $10,000 worth of cash and
products in prizes.

For more information about the contest,
please visit http://

About Royal Philips Electronics

Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands
(NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) is a diversified health and well-being company, focused
on improving people‟s lives through timely innovations. As a world leader in
healthcare, lifestyle and lighting, Philips integrates technologies and design
into people-centric solutions, based on fundamental customer insights and the
brand promise of “sense and simplicity.” Headquartered in the Netherlands,
Philips employs about 117,000 employees with sales and services in more than
100 countries worldwide. With sales of EUR 22.3 billion in 2010, the company is
a market leader in cardiac care, acute care and home healthcare, energy
efficient lighting solutions and new lighting applications, as well as
lifestyle products for personal well-being and pleasure with strong leadership
positions in male shaving and grooming, portable entertainment and oral
healthcare.

Source: www.philips.com.sg/futurelivingspaces

Architect proposes eco-friendly, lightweight
mesh to modify facade

By Jonathan Pearlman for The Straits Times (1
August 2011):

On a busy Sydney street just outside the central
business district stands a lone, dark-brown 27-storey tower that almost seems
to defiantly welcome its reputation as the city’s ugliest building.

The main building of the University of
Technology, Sydney (UTS), has repeatedly been named as the city’s worst by
experts and in online polls, partly because it is so conspicuous. If it had
been built a little to the east, it might have gone unnoticed in the city’s
cluster of skyscrapers.

Instead, the stark, Brutalist-style 120m-tall
tower stands out at the beginning of Broadway, just as the skyline flattens
out.

The building, or ‘slat-stack’, is so
notorious that it has spawned lapel pins and T-shirts. Former UTS
vice-chancellor Gus Guthrie characterised it with a quip: ‘We have a tower, but
no one could claim it was an ivory one.’

It has even been criticised by one of the
world’s best-known architects, Mr Frank Gehry, who was hired recently by the
university to build a new business school. He could not conceal his distaste
for its infamous central tower.

Adding to the insults, the building was
completed in 1979, making it one of the city’s first big projects after the
completion of the iconic Sydney Opera House, an architectural wonder that has
been honoured with a spot on the Unesco World Heritage List.

The question, then, is what to do with such a
celebrated eyesore. The multinational firm Laboratory for Visionary
Architecture (Lava) believes it has the answer: cover it up.

Mr Chris Bosse, a director of the firm, which
has branches in Sydney, Shanghai and Stuttgart, has proposed applying his
pioneering, environmentally friendly concept of lightweight architecture.

The plan would involve covering the tower in
a woven fabric mesh, or ‘skin’ – and it could even have ramifications for
Singapore in the future.

The skin would not only replace the infamous
stark brown slats with a glowing, soft facade of composite textile mesh, but
would also include a range of environmental functions, such as collecting
rainwater at the base and trapping air to reduce the energy use of the tower.

The tinted windows of the building are now
sealed. But the skin would allow the windows to be opened to let in light and
air, reducing the need for electric lighting and air-conditioning.

It could also function as a screen at night -
an effect created by implanting solar cells into the fabric that can generate
enough power to beam images or messages.

‘Every city in the world has these buildings
that were built in the 1960s and 1970s and are coming to the end of their
aesthetic and technological lifespan,’ Mr Bosse said. ‘The buildings are
outdated and are not changing. The question is what to do with them. We want to
wrap the tower in a skin and turn it into something new.’

Mr Bosse, who studied at the Institute for
Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design in Stuttgart, said this would not
only update the building aesthetically but also enable the tower to be
naturally inducted and lit.

‘Energy collected during the day can be
converted to light and electricity,’ he said. ‘We want to build with less
materials, less cost and less of a carbon footprint.’

He was a designer of Beijing’s Water Cube -
the award-winning aquatics centre built for the 2008 Olympics. He said Lava’s
aim is to learn from nature and apply it to engineering and architecture.

‘We look to the structures of leaves and
spider webs and coral reefs and we always see lightweight structures which are
very beautiful,’ he said. ‘We are trying to make architecture more lightweight
and more beautiful.’

Mr Bosse noted that traditionally, the facade
of buildings do not react to the environment. ‘They are built to shut out the
environment, for the worst case scenario – rain or the cold,’ he said. ‘We want
to create concepts in which buildings breathe naturally and let sunlight in.’

He said the cost of installing a skin on a
building would be about 10 per cent to 15 per cent of the cost of rebuilding it
from scratch.

In the case of the UTS Tower, a skin would
take about three months to install and would cost about A$15 million (S$20 million).
It could be fitted to the tower without affecting the functioning of the
building.

UTS vice-chancellor Ross Milbourne believes
the skin proposal is probably the best way to modify the tower. But the refit
would be several years away, as the university is already spending A$1 billion
on refurbishments to buildings including the Dr Chau Chak Wing Building, the
first building in Australia designed by Mr Gehry.

Meanwhile, Mr Bosse has spotted other
potential sites for his skin. He is in discussions with Sydney about covering
the city’s ugliest carpark, a 1961 concrete block in Goulburn Street, near
Chinatown.

He also believes the skin could fit in
‘beautifully’ in Singapore. He recently returned from a research visit and last
year exhibited a work titled Digital Origami Tigers at i Light Marina Bay, a
sustainable light art festival in the Republic.

‘Singapore is a new city but the first
generation of buildings were built in a simple fashion,’ he said.

‘In Asia, they tend to pull buildings down
and rebuild them. It comes at a cost… Singapore really values the arts and
invention. It is also a city of lights. The skin concept could blend in
beautifully.’

Source: www.stqaprev.asia1.com.sg