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2nd Quarter 2010
Education
In looking at Education this issue, we cast the net wide, selecting campuses and schools in Asia that broadly speak of sustainability, from resource conservation to synergy with climate and nature. Does their design reinforce what is then taught in the classroom? In most cases, we cannot be sure (but we hope it does).
The sole union of design and curriculum that we could find is the FuturArc Showcase: Green School, Bali. Its cofounder, John Hardy, and director, Ronald Stones OBE, are also subjects of The FuturArc Interview.
We have also invited professors from several universities to tell us how they have (re)fashioned curriculum around sustainability. The Main Feature is a collage of perspectives from some of the top institutions in the region. It is prefaced with a contribution from Robert and Brenda Vale at the University of Wellington, New Zealand, who have been long-time advocates for a rethink of design pedagogy.
Click here for the table of contents. |
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1st Quarter 2010
The New Workplace
“Work”, as we know it today, has become unfettered by time and place, spilling out of the 2-by-2 cubicle, the 5-day workweek. If tasks associated with work cannot be contained as before, this begs the question: what happens to the workplace?
In their reflections on the evolving workspace, Carlos Montana and Andrea Garcia examine how office interiors have evolved, inside-out, shaping and reshaping the meaning of “workspace”. Looking from outside-in, Calvin Low, in a second commentary, discovers that the office building has its own agenda. It wants to be a landmark, a corporate icon, a “tower of power”, as he calls it. In addition, Tan Beng Kiang revisits Menara UMNO by Malaysian architect, Ken Yeang, and its bioclimatic predecessor, the Mahaweli Building by Sri Lanka’s Geoffrey Bawa. Both buildings were crafted outside-in, with passive ventilation strategies for the office interior.
This issue also features sustainable office buildings and several adaptive reuse projects—a church, a bank, a car park—retrofitted into stylish office interiors.
Click here for the table of contents. |
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4th Quarter 2009
Architecture of Well-being
When we sat down to deconstruct the notion of well-being, that most elusive of words, we knew that part of the problem is this disconnect between what designers think is comfortable and what a building’s occupants expect. Apart from calibrating comfort, we need to revisit the fundamentals of passive design against changing lifestyles. FuturArc speaks with Wong Mun Summ and Richard Hassell of WoHa Design in The FuturArc Interview and discover that architects walk a line, as it were, between responsible passive outcomes and occupant preference for mechanical cooling.
Another aspect of well-being is wellness. This issue is filled with projects, from healthcare facilities, temples and churches to resorts and sports amenities, each with its own take on what wellness means.
The FuturArc Showcase is a project we think best exemplifies the union of mind, body and soul. It features a small community project in the rugged terrain of Bhutan that seeks to connect its occupants, a community of novice monks, with their inner selves—tradition, culture and community—and an external reality—land, climate and activity.
Click here for the table of contents.
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3rd Quarter 2009
Green
The Green issue last year was a milestone. It was our biggest bestseller to date and was well received internationally. This year, there was no shortage of projects vying for coverage. However, we’ve obliged every submission to FuturArc to align to a common definition of Green with reporting on consumption, waste, occupant well-being, etc. Granted, this is the lexicon of Green rating tools and sometimes the answers are fuzzy, but it is a start. In the projects featured, there is a serious attempt to quantify outcomes.
Green is also no longer synonymous with soulless architecture. The FuturArc Showcase features The Centre for Sustainable Energy Technologies in Ningbo, China, in which form is deeply rooted in performance. We also speak with Maria Atkinson, Global Head of Sustainability at Lend Lease (The FuturArc Interview) who shares her thoughts on climate change, investing in capacity building and innovation, and connects the dots between policies and profits. In the Special Supplement we feature winners of FuturArc Prize 2009 and the newly launched BCI Asia Top Ten Green Award.
Click here for the table of contents.
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2nd Quarter 2009
People
People are the single most-forgotten factor in the making of Green. Too many buildings, striving for Green Mark or LEED, forget that the core day-to-day issue is comfort and well-being. Getting it “just right” happens when there is awareness and buy-in from people the project serves. In crafting sustainable design, this is absolutely crucial.
We devote this issue to People: allies, collaborators, champions of Greening.
On this, there is the question of public awareness, how this translates to behaviour. Calvin Low digs deep into The Great Green Disconnect, investigating the gap between knowledge and action. We also report on projects that connect communities in this issue. The FuturArc Showcase features tsunami relief efforts—23 villages in Sumatra—and the lessons learnt from reconstructing community life. Lastly, we assemble a list of advocates from the region; people who wrestle with issues of climate change and the human condition. The list is not exhaustive. It is part acknowledgement, part encouragement. It is our first attempt at celebrating people who are making a difference through ideas and actions. There will be more to come.
Click here for the table of contents. |
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1st Quarter 2009
Micro-Design
The 1Q 2009 edition is by far one of the best reads we’ve assembled at FuturArc, with more distinguished voices, more provocations, than ever before. In this issue, we zoom in on the different aspects of Micro-Design—details, materials, products and components—and question how we, as a society, think of production; the making of things.
Cheah Kok Ming quotes Mies van der Rohe and others, expounding on the “sublime poetry” that can happen when a brick is thoughtfully interfaced with another. Antonio Eraso shows off timber, as material, in all its sensual glory and speaks of the architect as “closeted craftsman”, struggling to reverse the banality of mass production. We are also honoured to speak with Janine Benyus, author of the highly influential book Biomimicry.
In addition, special coverage is given to the World Sustainable Building Conference (SB08) held in Melbourne in September 2008. The SB Conference is a milestone event, held once every three years, that charts the course of sustainability worldwide.
In line with what has been driving editorial content for some time, FuturArc also sports a new tagline: Architecture, Design, Sustainability | Asia-Pacific.
Click here for the table of contents. |
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4th Quarter 2008
Home
The FuturArc team takes a look at how the concept of Home has evolved, how we celebrate it and (sometimes) fudge it.
You will find in this issue homes for the well-heeled that are sensitive to climate, context and environmental outcomes. Case in point, the FuturArc Showcase this issue is the Linked Hybrid in Beijing. But we also wanted to show something about how the other half lives; where a home is not big-name designers and engineering superlatives, where it says something about community and craftsmanship. As such, for the second FuturArc Showcase project, we feature the work of Anna Heringer in Bangladesh in which architects, local craftsmen and villagers jointly unearthed the beauty of mud and wood.
Housing is also put into the sustainability context by Professor Ray Cole from University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada) in his article “Bringing home the realities of climate change”. In addition, FuturArc speaks with Ms Louise Cox, the newly elected President of the International Union of Architects (UIA), who by her job description, is the voice of the architectural profession worldwide.
Click here for the table of contents. |
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3rd Quarter 2008
The Green Issue 2008
The reality is that we live in times when, despite compelling evidence and the charms of Al Gore, there is scant action. And so the drum-beating persists until—as Kevin Hydes, Chair of the World Green Building Council, puts it—we reach a point when we are genuinely surprised when someone does not act on knowledge of climate change.
The FuturArc team, for its part, wants to nudge things along; this will be the first of many Green annuals. It features projects that speak of serious attempts at making a difference. We give airtime to experts who speak on subjects ranging from design education to life after fossil fuel. We talk with innovative minds and get insights into collaborative enterprises that are the building blocks of successful greening.
This issue also covers the FuturArc Prize, which wrapped up in January 2008, with great turnout. The results of this—the first large green building design competition in Asia opened to professionals and students—were subsequently announced at a series of eight FuturArc Forums held for the first time in cities across the region (Special Supplement 2008).
Click here for the table of contents. |
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2nd Quarter 2008
Remaking Metropolis
Cities—particularly in Asia—seem to expand, morph, multiply and reinvent themselves.
In this issue, FuturArc spotlights the City: the team looked at projects that,
by scale or strategic importance, are transforming the way we see a city;
re-crafting its experience and rebranding its identity.
And nothing says 'remake' better than Singapore's new downtown. A large swath of land
surrounding Marina Bay will be home to several new developments including the
much-publicised Integrated resort, F1 circuit and Marina Barrage.
Gardens by the Bay—by far the most original of these—is close to 100
hectares of prime real estate set aside for gardens, a Central Park-like oasis that
aims to be the must-see repository of horticulture in the Tropics.
The team also found projects with considerable bite in other cities—Sydney, Macau, Hanoi, Johor and Shanghai—each with a unique spin on our theme 'Remaking Metropolis'.
In keeping with the theme, the FuturArc team has tinkered with the Journal's format, remaking its structure, just a little. Each edition now includes a Main Feature, the FuturArc Showcase, the FuturArc Interview, Feature Projects and a Commentary section.
Click here for the table of contents.
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1st Quarter 2008
Information Technology in Design / Education
We start out this edition on two tracks leading towards ecological modernity. Track one focuses on integrated design process and track two on the evolution of design tools from computer aided drawing to building information modeling. On these tracks we find some startling projects offering hope for the built environment's partnership with nature as well as a wide-ranging discourse on changing architectural design processes. The subject of change also demands that we review educational architecture, since the educational landscape has been changing over the years and is vastly different today. As such, a selection of future school and university buildings across Southeast Asia, China and Australia has been featured.
This edition will also reveal the recipients of the much anticipated BCI Asia Top Ten Architects 2008 Awards. The BCI Asia awards are bestowed each year to the 10 most active architectural firms in Hong Kong SAR, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Click here for the table of contents.
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4th Quarter 2007
Green spaces bring relief—from sweltering temperatures and from the relentless concrete, steel and glass of the modern city. From large city parks to little patches of green, we seek refuge in our green spaces. In today’s world, we can find green spaces hanging from terraces, crawling up buildings and blanketing rooftops. Green roofs are an increasingly popular means of lowering a building’s energy costs; and governments are catching on, with incentives and regulations to encourage the use of sky greening. However, while green roofs are well established in Europe, Asia, particularly in parts of China, is still working out how best to utilise greenery in buildings.
This edition also marks a special milestone for FuturArc—we are launching our Australian edition. To welcome our new readers, we are especially privileged to have an exclusive view of the “Living the Modern_Australian Architecture” exhibition, showcasing the best of Australian residential architecture, at the DAZ German Center for Architecture in Berlin.
Click here for the table of contents. |
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3rd Quarter 2007
In this edition, FuturArc examines perspectives on preserving architectural heritage in our region. Laws do exist to protect historical and cultural buildings but sometimes enforcement fails when ancient neighbourhoods are swept away by mega structures. Conquering ignorance is often the first step in preserving heritage; owners may not know their buildings are heritage listed, let alone how to begin conserving them. Then there is the practical question of whether to restore, rezone or redevelop.
Despite the bleak picture, Singapore has emerged with a success story that took decades to accomplish; then there is Berlin—a city that lost so much architectural heritage last century, but has been carving a new identity in the hope of reliving its past glory.
Developing a well-appointed hotel with modern amenities isn’t easy, particularly if faced with the challenge of conserving a historical structure on site or preserving views to a historical building. The second half of this edition conveys a range of boutique hotels in China, Southeast Asia and Australia all designed to provide guests a unique experience; some brilliantly respecting heritage.
Click here for the table of contents. |
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2nd Quarter 2007
Getting around most large Asian cities, with the exception of Hong Kong and Singapore, is a trial to anyone’s patience. Bangkok, for instance, is troubled by innumerable challenges to its transportation system - traffic jams all over the city and no immediate public transportation relief in sight. Still, there might be some reason for hope. Reports on developments in China’s major cities and on innovations in the Jakarta transportation system indicate that the authorities are looking into ways to improve traffic and the worsening air pollution.
Also encouraging is the evidence of investment. FuturArc reports 15 transportation projects in this edition – six airports and nine rail stations – that are working to better link people to their own cities and vice versa.
Transportation and mobility present countless challenges to our rapidly developing cities. FuturArc aims to define those problems and find some small successes in confronting them.
Click here for the table of contents. |
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1st Quarter 2007
What makes for good indoor air quality? The generally accepted definition is comfortable air with minimal pollutants. That sounds fairly simple. Well, it turns out that it’s not. Establishing good indoor air quality means controlling the innumerable potential pollutant sources both outside and indoors while ventilating and conditioning the space, ideally in an energy-efficient manner.
This edition of FuturArc highlights some projects that show how it can be done: Australia’s Green Star green building rating system has introduced an Office Interiors rating, raising awareness of the importance of good indoor air; and the Seattle Housing Authority in the US has built homes targeted at preventing childhood asthma attacks.
To further celebrate the idea of healthy living, FuturArc looks at sports projects. With the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games just around the corner (China marked the two-year countdown in August), this edition runs a special section on Olympic venues, including a tour of the capital’s new projects. But the Olympics aren’t the only thing going on in sports in Asia-Pacific. Other exciting developments are happening in China, Southeast Asia and Australia.
Click here for the table of contents. |
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4th Quarter 2006
Asian cities—home to over 1.5 billion people—are among the fastest growing in the world. Of the world’s ten largest cities, six are in Asia. As these cities become home to more and more people, they will have an even-greater impact on the country’s politics, society and culture.
How cities should be planned to optimise this influence, however, is a question of great debate. There are questions of money and power; of social justice and sustainability; of vibrancy and creativity. In this issue FuturArc looks at the challenges faced by Asian cities at this time of extraordinary growth.
FuturArc also takes a look at perhaps the most important aspect of city architecture: Housing. Housing in Asia most often means high-density. We have found a range of high-density residential projects that showcase what is happening in the region, from high-luxury to low-income; from high-rise to low-rise; from design-focused to market-oriented.
Click here for the table of contents. |
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3rd Quarter 2006
This edition of FuturArc examines buildings in Asia that work at saving energy and water. Saving energy is one of the easiest aspects of sustainable building to grasp—most of us regularly turn on lights, heaters and/or air-conditioners in our houses. We have to pay for the privilege of using those technologies and who wouldn’t like to pay less than we do now? FuturArc takes a look at some buildings that offer that opportunity: a demonstration commercial building and high-end mixed-use development in Beijing, as well as a house in Thailand.
We also look at health projects from around the region. What better theme to cover—a collection of buildings that aim to promote healthier lives through their services and their architecture.
Click here for the table of contents. |
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2nd Quarter 2006
This first edition introduces FuturArc’s green mission with a general discussion of sustainability, including an interview with U.S. Green Building Council president and CEO Rick Fedrizzi and a review of Kerry Hill’s design for the University of New South Wales’ Asia campus in Singapore.
It also explores recreational architecture throughout the region, with special attention given to the casino building boom in Macau.
Click here for the table of contents. |
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