Commentary

Imposing as they are, most office buildings remain unremarkable. This is because their development is driven mostly by economic expedience, not necessarily creative expression or climatic response, crazy shapes notwithstanding. Following the conceptual and technological breakthroughs of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, the office building hit an evolutionary plateau. The great majority of modern office buildings are still essentially curtain-walled clones. Some have argued that the dumb glass box has a place in the city as a 'background building', providing a quiet foil for its 'landmark' neighbours. But that is cold comfort when, like fast food, no major city in the world is immune from the inanity of the dumb glass box in its myriad mutations.

Asian cities are no exception. Norman Edwards and Peter Keys, in their book Singapore Guide to Buildings, Streets, Places (1988) dryly described the Singapore office tower thus: "Notwithstanding the endless variety of fancy shapes (the 'got-to-be-different' syndrome), office tower buildings are all basically the same: tiers of office floors of usually regular shape, supported by a structural frame, served by a vertical core containing lifts, fire stairs and mechanical and electrical services and sheathed in an exterior envelop or skin."

Twenty years on, their acerbic assessment appears valid in Singapore, and could well extend to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Manila and lately Hanoi. Latter day office towers are likely to boast of large floor plates in the name of programmatic efficiency; attempts at context relevant design appear to be skin-deep, sometimes literally. One current global fad is to embellish façades with seemingly gratuitous geometric patterns.

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Calvin Low is trained in architecture and journalism. He joined the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) in 1985 to help establish urban conservation in Singapore. In 1995, he pursued journalism, spending nine years at Singapore Press Holdings, eventually serving as News Editor for Streats, Singapore's first freesheet. As URA's Head (Urban Studies) between 2004 and 2006, he conceptualised, authored and edited such books and exhibitions as 20 under 45 and Shaping Singapore. An architectural columnist for The Straits Times (Urbanscrawl), his latest book is 2007's 10 Stories — Queenstown Through The Years.

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