It's time to respect space in high-density environments

It's time to respect space in high-density environments

Thor Kerr, Contributor, Jakarta

Architects and urban planners are under pressure to make apartment buildings more "livable." The dream of a landed house in the outer suburbs is being tainted by commuter nightmares, flooding and burglary.

Conversely, some early experiments in condominium development have created high-rise slums or failed to attract tenants; look around Jakarta.

Even the government in Singapore, where high-density housing has been the most successful in Southeast Asia, is reconsidering the way that apartment towers are designed.

At last year's convention of the Architects Regional Council of Asia, award-winning architect Charles Correa stood before the National Minister of Development and 300 architects lambasting the inhumanity of high-density housing designs in Singapore.

Correa, winner of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, announced that time had come to respect people's space, privacy and creativity in high-density housing.

The Singapore Ministry of Development is listening.

Late last year, it launched a competition to find fresh innovative ideas for high-rise, high-density housing for its future Duxton Plain complex of 1,800 apartments. The competition attracted 480 registrations, almost half from overseas. The winning design, by Singapore firm ARC Studio Architecture + Urbanism, emphasized the importance of tenants having clear, unobstructed views from their apartments and easy access to gardens.

The complex of seven 48-storey apartment towers will include a series of communal gardens on bridges linking the towers at the rooftop and at the 26th floor. The towers will be arranged to maximize views of the city skyline, giving most apartments good unobstructed views. Open spaces, called "urban windows," between the towers allow residents to view the city skyline even from street level.

Correa's message is that people need space, particularly a perspective of "space to sky" which he explains through an analysis of ancient temple design. A good architect can provide a feeling of space even in the most densely populated areas. Developments that respect human need for space are more likely to succeed in the long term as residents will suffer less from the stresses of high-density environments.

A recent edition of Architecture Asia magazine features an article on the Royal Gardens Shanghai project which emphasizes human need for space in its design. The project's international design team, led by CMC Designworks of Malaysia, studied ways to satisfy the diverse needs of contemporary Chinese society, even looking at ways to facilitate personal expressions of interior style and content.

The architects did not want to create apartment "blocks." Instead, they broke the building masses down with facades that are fragmented and abstract. Balconies and glazed walls surround each apartment and bay windows articulate the buildings' corners. Each building is surrounded by water and gardens to create a feeling of private space.

Hard and soft landscaping complement the public spaces between apartment buildings. The architects exploited the potential diversities and flexibility of modern spaces.

Good architects are trying to create environments that respect space, privacy and creativity amid rising population densities. If they succeed, their buildings will be worth living in. If they fail, expect more slums and ghost towns.

The writer is a director of BCI Asia Construction Information, the publishing agent of Architecture Asia.