Each December, FuturArc wraps up with a Year-End Issue that reflects on current efforts in sustainability, articulates the learnings from the past and points to what we can focus on in the future. For the online edition of FuturArc, we often report on events and projects that underline Green discussions in the moment. In case […]
Creative reinterpretations of historic colonial-era buildings
Many cities in Asia have a number of colonial-era buildings that remain standing till today. Often, these buildings were conceived as public institution, built with good ‘bones’ to support their lives for decades—if not centuries—to come. Yet, many of these buildings have stood empty and unused. This could be due to their functions falling out […]
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An oldie but goodie: A 140-year-old convent with multiple lives
In line with our ongoing student competition FuturArc Prize (FAP) 2022: Reinterpretation, we are highlighting projects that follow the theme. Click here to learn more about the brief and to submit your entries for FAP! While she might not seem like it, but this modest-looking building has been around since the 1870s, and has taken […]
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UWCSEA Dover Campus: Retrofitting for the future
Educational institutions are usually constructed to last many years—campus buildings that have served multiple generations are oftentimes seen as proof of both the architecture and the institution’s quality. However, it is inevitable that the programmatic needs, design considerations as well as performance targets would evolve over time. In order to meet demands of the modern […]
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Monash Woodside Building for Technology and Design: Setting and meeting energy targets for a large-scale Passive House building
The Woodside Building for Technology and Design is an educational facility of Monash University within its Clayton Campus in Melbourne, serving the Faculties of Engineering and Information Technology. The design has been developed by Grimshaw in collaboration with engineers Aurecon and client Monash University, embracing sustainability targets and best practices in integrated design. Such targets […]
Strung together: a hybrid retail emerges from an unused structure
In line with our ongoing student competition FuturArc Prize (FAP) 2022: Reinterpretation, we are highlighting previously published projects that follow the theme. Click here to learn more about the brief and to submit your entries for FAP! The existing building was initially constructed to be part of the Pudong landscape, but it had fallen into […]
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Singapore Zero Energy Cases
As targets are being put in place to green 80 per cent of Singapore’s GFA by 2030 and to achieve 80 per cent of new developments to be SLEB, buildings are driven towards achieving this goal. There are a handful of buildings that have managed to achieve zero energy, such as the National University of […]
A Singapore Perspective: Carbon Goals for the Built Environment
As the environmental agenda progresses, the simple words of Green building are being replaced more by the number or word zero. Zero is now often used as a noun for companies to arrive at their environmental targets. As most countries embark on the road to zero, there are critics who see this as greenwashing or […]
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Reaching Carbon Neutrality in Hong Kong: A model for high-rise, high-density sub-tropical built environments
Being one of the world’s most iconic cities, Hong Kong is famous for its distinctive subtropical built environment of high-rise, high-density urban areas juxtaposed with a large expanse of hilly and mountainous terrain. In this dynamic and vibrant city, human activities in the built environment account for about 90 per cent of the total electricity […]
Tianheng • Bayview
To create a healthy and pleasant living environment for residents of Tianheng • Bayview in Zhuhai, China, the architects focused on five aspects since the planning stage: health and wellness; ecology; smart technology; living convenience; and culture. Traditional artforms of painting and gardening inform the landscape experience, which varies from high to low elevations and […]
Green Shore Residence Phase II
This waterfront residential project sits at the tip of Luoxi Island in Panyu, Guangzhou, bordered on three sides by the Pearl River stream. It consists of eight towers of varying heights that are arranged in pairs, which open up into wide viewing corridors between them. This architecture is a response to the relationship between the […]
A Case Study from China: Low-carbon building innovations are changing future architecture
NEW ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN REQUIREMENTS UNDER CARBON NEUTRALITY GOALS With rapid urban and economic development, energy consumption is increasingly posing threats to the natural environment while the quantity and intensity of energy use in buildings are growing. As the Paris Agreement is leading a global shift towards a Greener economy and setting out the minimum actions […]