A look back at FuturArc in 2024

Here are our most popular sustainable projects …

In 2024, FuturArc published close to 70 projects from Asia and beyond! They have been curated by our editorial team to showcase a range of sustainable design approaches, from small-scale installations to city-wide interventions.

⠀

Readers’ Favourite: Rifle Range Nature Park by architects61 and Henning Larsen (Online Exclusive)

Rifle Range Nature Park: Reviving a former quarry into a green buffer

Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, one of the last remaining primary forests in Singapore, is under threat from development and human activity. To serve as a green buffer, the Rifle Range Nature Park was designed to protect the reserve from edge effects and abutting developments as well as enhance ecological connectivity and providing complementary habitats. Located at the site of the former Sin Seng Quarry that had been abandoned for 30 years, the landscape had poor soil conditions and overgrown scrub vegetation. Because of this, one of the project’s main objectives was enhancing biodiversity. A comprehensive nine-month baseline study on plant […]

⠀

JSW Sanjeevani Hospital by SJK Architects (From 1Q 2024: Health/Wellness)

JSW Sanjeevani Multispecialty Hospital

According to a study in 2019, around 86 per cent of medical visits in India are from individuals living in rural areas, with a majority needing to travel over 100 kilometres to reach available healthcare facilities.1 The same study states that although 73 per cent of the nation’s populace live in rural areas, they have access to only 25 per cent of all healthcare facilities, which means that the remaining majority of medical resources are located in cities. The lack of facilities outside of large cities has led to gaps in important health indicators; on average, people living in India’s […]

⠀

Epiwalk Rejuvenation by Anggara Architeam (From 2Q 2024: In-between Spaces)

Epiwalk Rejuvenation: Refurbishment of Epiwalk Lifestyle Center

This project attempts to ‘revive’ the spirit of Epiwalk Mall, located in one of the most expensive mixed-use complexes in Jakarta, by transforming the transitional space between the main building and the site. The concept seeks to complement the existing riverside area—a popular jogging route—by establishing a visual ‘biophilic’ connection via a floating garden built from an existing canopy. PLATE-SHAPED GARDEN Central to the design approach is to change the canopy into a floating garden that enhances social interaction and public engagement. The main concept arose from tampah, a traditional winnowing tray, to symbolise Indonesian culture that celebrates gathering together […]

⠀

GREEN@WAN CHAI by BREADstudio (From 2Q 2024: In-between Spaces)

GREEN@WAN CHAI: A Recycling Centre Out of the Ordinary

Recycling has become a transactional task. We would bring used glass bottles, cans and waste paper to the recycling depot, and sort them into the various coloured bins denoting the items each one accepts. It is precisely how convenient recycling has become that recycling centres have become mundane infrastructure—they are seen as uninspiring and no longer demonstrating the important role they play to conserve natural resources and reduce pollution. To address such concerns, the Environment Protection Department (EPD) rebranded its recycling centres under the catchy moniker GREEN@ COMMUNITY and opened new recycling stations across Hong Kong. They are the largest […]

⠀

Ideas from the next generation of architects and designers …

Did you know that students and fresh graduates (across all levels of higher education) can submit school work to be featured in FuturArc? Selected works will be published in our Next-gen Design future, which is dedicated to highlight ideas from tomorrow’s sustainable leaders!

⠀

Readers’ Favourite: The Garden of Wisdom by Abraham Chintianto

The Garden of Wisdom: A public library and safe haven for plants

This design idea for a public library in the equatorial climate of Balikpapan, Indonesia envisions Nature as a source of knowledge or “an old, giant book”, as described by architecture student Abraham Chintianto. He mentioned: “Nature and education goes hand in hand as inseparable parts in maintaining and developing knowledge for the generations ahead.” Hence, this idea of the coexistence between natural ecosystems and large-scale learning environments became the starting point in developing the library, dubbed the Garden of Wisdom for blending together the functional spaces with a series of gardens and flora conservation areas.  ‘Protective’ design  The site overlooks […]

⠀

Singapore’s ‘Identity Corridors’ by Singapore Polytechnic’s School of Architecture and the Built Environment

URA collaborates with Singapore Polytechnic to ideate landscaping for Singapore’s ‘identity corridors’

Did you know that Singapore is in the process of co-creating its land use and development plan for the next 10 to 15 years together with the public1 through the Draft Master Plan 2025? One of the public engagement activities is the shaping of five ‘Identity Corridors’ that has been outlined by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) in 2022, building on their Identity Node initiative that was introduced back in 2002 to retain distinctive neighbourhoods.2 The five corridors are Thomson-Kallang (comprising Singapore’s north-south Transit Priority Corridor as well as the Kallang River); Historic East (from Old Airport Road to Geylang […]

⠀

Landscaping Proposals for Malasari Village by International Landscape Architecture Student Workshop (ILASW) 2024

Landscaping proposals for Malasari Village

Located on the foothills of Mount Halimun in West Java, the village of Malasari is known to be a Nature-based tourism destination with a national park nearby, along with forests, waterfalls, and agricultural expanses such as tea fields, as well as cultural destinations of arts and crafts. However, the area is highly vulnerable to natural disasters such as earthquakes and landslides due to its geo-meteorological and ecological characteristics, including steep slopes and high rainfall. The village was the subject of International Landscape Architecture Student Workshop (ILASW) 2024, where participants proposed ideas to improve the village’s resilience and add value for […]

⠀

H’mong Cultural Center by Danh Minh An

H’mong Cultural Center: Vibrant activity atop the mountain

The H’mong ethnic group is one of the 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam, specifically from Dong Van District of Ha Giang Province. “In today’s society, as cultural values are highly regarded, the H’mong people have had more opportunities and potential for development. However, they do not yet have a central community space that can strongly mark and affirm this,” said architecture student Danh Minh An from the University of Architecture Ho Chi Minh City. Therefore, Danh envisioned the design of a H’mong Cultural Center to provide the community with a space to preserve, showcase and proliferate their original crafts and […]

⠀

Insightful conversations …

Readers’ Favourite: Liu Tao & Cai Chunyan, Atelier tao+c

“We traced back to the idea of space without characteristics, and before ‘branded’ and ‘logo-ed’ furniture takes predominance.”

Liu Tao & Cai Chunyan

Liu Tao and Cai Chunyan co-founded Atelier tao+c in Shanghai in 2016. Cai received a master’s degree in architecture from the Berlage Institute in Netherlands, and Liu graduated from Shandong art college. They have handled projects in architecture, interior design and product design, being especially active in the architecture of adaptive reuse. Through various projects in ageing neighbourhoods, the firm examined the in-between nature of trend cycles, showing us how the aesthetics of transience are sometimes necessary to support certain functions/typologies or ‘futureproof’ a space by way of flexibility. Their projects have won various awards, most recently in A&D Awards […]

⠀

Milinda Pathiraja, PhD, Robust Architecture Workshop (RAW)

“Although we’re creating public toilets, we didn’t want to limit ourselves to just that. We aimed to establish a civic territory, a public space.”

Milinda Pathiraja, PhD

Speaking with Milinda Pathiraja feels a lot like being in the presence of a bright light—in terms of an architectural analogy, perhaps a lighthouse. Personally speaking, it would be a familiar lighthouse: Milinda was not only a former FuturArc Prize 2017 juror, but his highly acclaimed projects were also profiled frequently in this magazine over the years. His work and approach are measured, methodical and meticulous.  Milinda’s projects are strongly rooted in the local socioeconomic and cultural contexts where the methodology, materials and manpower come together in the construction and architectural design processes to form a foundation, as it were, […]

⠀

FuturArc Prize 2024 Jury Meeting Special with Dzung Do Nguyen, Farizan d’Avezac de Moran and Dr Tony Ip

“I look at cultural integration a lot more, especially when it comes to residential projects, and the external impacts an entry has, apart from the development of the context that they are submitting—and what are the outside ripple effects that are coming in.”

FuturArc Prize 2024 Jury Meeting Special

Deciding on the winners and runners-up of a competition that has brought in hundreds of submissions from around the globe is no small task. We recognise that each entry has been thoughtfully crafted by entrants to express their ideas in various site contexts. Hence, this year’s jurors, Dzung Do Nguyen, Farizan d’Avezac de Moran and Dr Tony Ip have been selected to represent different ‘spheres’ of practice within the built environment, from architecture/engineering, city planning and conceptual design to strategic partnerships, policy advocacy and bio-engineering. Throughout the years of organising FuturArc Prize, we have received questions from hopeful entrants such […]

⠀

Didi Contractor via Lakshmi Swaminathan

“One of the key things I learnt from Didi is that we need to know how to do something before asking someone else to do it, especially as women architects. It’s how we gain respect in a male-dominated field.”

Didi Contractor

Architectural sage Didi Contractor devoted the later part of her life to designing environmentally conscious buildings while living in the small village of Sidbari in India’s Himachal Pradesh. Renowned for her use of natural building materials and designs deeply rooted in sustainability, she inspired countless students with her visionary approach. Lakshmi Swaminathan, her dedicated mentee, honours Didi’s legacy in A Call to Return, a book that encompasses a compilation of Didi’s writings, lectures and personal reflections. A fan of Didi, Nipun Prabhakar took a journey through space (by visiting Didi’s house) and time (by talking to Lakshmi) in an attempt […]

⠀

Commentaries on Green design concepts, trends and case studies …

Infill with impact: Architectural additions that enrich urban spaces

Infill with impact: Architectural additions that enrich urban spaces

In urban areas, is it better to clear land for new developments or add to what’s already there? While constructing on greenfield sites is associated with lower initial costs, it often results in the loss of green spaces and endanger biodiversity in cities. In contrast, densifying urban centres can support a better quality of life and efficient delivery of services by introducing a variety of functions. In support of this view is the infill approach, which ‘injects’ new structures on vacant or underutilised plots. By leveraging a site’s existing infrastructure and amenities, this type of development potentially reduces the embodied […]

⠀

Photo Story: In-between Spaces

Photo Story: In-between Spaces

STEPS/THRESHOLD Where there is no public furniture in civic places, sometimes the next best thing on which to sit and take a breather is steps or raised threshold. From the pedestrian to the dramatic, these stepped spaces accessible to the public are often used as a spot for respite, a temporary stop to catch one’s breath or thoughts, by oneself or with others. 1 At Patan Durbar Square, Kathmandu, Nepal: the orange-draped statue is of Hanuman, an Indian deity prominent in Hinduism; on the steps are people selling vegetables in boxes. 2 A street scene in Mundra, Kutch, Gujarat, India […]

⠀

The Symbiotic Relationship between Housing and Health

The Symbiotic Relationship between Housing and Health

Climate change was famously called a monster of our own making. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019, which swiftly evolved into the most significant health problem of this century. The health and economic fallouts are well documented, particularly on already vulnerable families and communities. ⠀ For some people, staying at home posed threats to their health and well-being, including infestations, mold, and structural housing problems. Through these global crises, housing continues to play a pivotal role in ensuring people’s health and well-being. When the pandemic struck, governments around the world including Asia ordered people to stay at home […]

⠀

Seeking Wellness from the Earth

Seeking Wellness from the Earth

For the past year in 2023, I have been a regular at City Sprouts, a community farm in the heart of Singapore. Every Thursday at 9am, I along with five other volunteers am guided by our dedicated volunteer coordinator on a three-hour journey through the farm. The tasks vary each week, depending on the farm’s needs. Sometimes, we trim basil plants; other times, we dig holes for repotting papayas. Almost always, we engage in a love-hate relationship with cutting up dead leaves for the compost bin. After half a day of hard work under the sun and in the soil, […]

⠀

Readers’ favourite magazine covers …

Every year, FuturArc‘s core editorial content revolves around our quarterly print magazine. Each issue’s cover, created by our lead designer Hans Lim, illustrates a specific theme in the field of Green and sustainable architecture—you can click here to view our previous years’ themes, or view our upcoming editorial themes here.

Over Instagram polls, our readers voted on their favourite cover of 2024, which is tied between the 1^st Quarter issue (Health/Wellness) and the 3^rd Quarter issue (Green Awards: Architecture for Life After)!

“Where before, architecture was conceived primarily to shelter and protect humans physically from the elements, today, architecture is tasked with elevating our overall health and well-being, with physical and mental aspects now viewed as a comprehensive whole.

In this modern age, health in architecture intersects typologies and programmes, private and public domains, as well as local and global impacts.”

⠀

“Everything in the natural world is born, lives and dies. While most humans spend the majority of their lives wrapped up with birth and living, they are less inclined to delve into the topic of death or dying. Yet we all know that this cycle is inevitable—there is no birth without death, no death without birth.

In present times, there is nowhere that has not been affected by the severity of changes in Earth’s climate—we have been dealt with the hottest day ever recorded in history; people are dying of extreme heat; and the fate of small island nations are hanging by a thread.”

FuturArc was awarded at SOPA 2024!

This year, we received an Honourable Mention and was shortlisted for three categories at the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) 2024 Awards for Editorial Excellence, a prestigious award that has been celebrating journalism best practices in the region and globally for over 25 years. FuturArc is the only publication that focuses on sustainable architecture and design to receive the accolade at SOPA 2024.

FuturArc Wins Honourable Mention at the SOPA 2024 Awards

HONG KONG, 21 JUNE 2024 – FuturArc is happy to announce that we have received an Honourable Mention at the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) 2024 Awards for Editorial Excellence, a prestigious award that has been celebrating journalism best practices in the region and globally for over 25 years. FuturArc is the only publication that focuses on sustainable architecture and design to receive the accolade at SOPA 2024 Awards. The 2024 awards cycle received over 700 entries to be awarded in 21 categories. According to SOPA, among the themes that stood out this year were the worrying state of […]

We would like to thank all our contributors, partners and readers for proliferating Green knowledge and maintaining the spirit of sustainability through our publication. See you again in 2025!