The client for this office building was an Australian developer who had moved to Vietnam. It was a prime site opposite the Presidential Palace Park and on a main road. The client wanted something that “punched above its weight” and took full advantage of the site. At 14,000 square metres with 14 floors it is not a big building, but the aim was nonetheless to provide a Grade A commercial development.
Formally, the idea was to design an envelope which did not consist of a traditional curtain wall box, but was a layered façade using sunshading and screen walls. Strategically, the aim was to create a building which offered a balance between work, life and the environment.
Regulations required a nine metre setback at the 9th floor, so the challenge was to find an appropriately logical form. Accordingly, the building was broken down into two volumes. One, called the Cube, occupies the prime position at the front of the site looking out to the park. The second volume, the Wrap, embraces the Cube. The 2 screening systems were made possible as a result of the cost-savings achieved with the base building, where construction was simplified down to masonry with paint and simple horizontal strip windows.
The Cube is clad in horizontal aerofoil extrusions of 220mm, while the Wrap is a screen wall of panels perforated randomly to enhance through-visibility. Some of the panels are open to give the wall texture, and are uplit at night to give the façade atmosphere. The main objective was to break down the daylight to minimise heat gain, while still maintaining acceptable light levels for computer work.
The façade serves not only an environmental function, but also as a more sophisticated reading of form. This is because it presents itself not as a singular object (that is, a glass box), but offers a more complex layered reading, changing constantly, depending on light conditions and the angle of viewing.
This project has been awarded a LEED Gold Certification in 2012. It’s the only project in Ho Chi Minh City to have garnered this prestigious green award.
President Place
PRESIDENT PLACE
The client for this office building was an Australian developer who had moved to Vietnam. It was a prime site opposite the Presidential Palace Park and on a main road. The client wanted something that “punched above its weight” and took full advantage of the site. At 14,000 square metres with 14 floors it is not a big building, but the aim was nonetheless to provide a Grade A commercial development.
Formally, the idea was to design an envelope which did not consist of a traditional curtain wall box, but was a layered façade using sunshading and screen walls. Strategically, the aim was to create a building which offered a balance between work, life and the environment.
Regulations required a nine metre setback at the 9th floor, so the challenge was to find an appropriately logical form. Accordingly, the building was broken down into two volumes. One, called the Cube, occupies the prime position at the front of the site looking out to the park. The second volume, the Wrap, embraces the Cube. The 2 screening systems were made possible as a result of the cost-savings achieved with the base building, where construction was simplified down to masonry with paint and simple horizontal strip windows.
The Cube is clad in horizontal aerofoil extrusions of 220mm, while the Wrap is a screen wall of panels perforated randomly to enhance through-visibility. Some of the panels are open to give the wall texture, and are uplit at night to give the façade atmosphere. The main objective was to break down the daylight to minimise heat gain, while still maintaining acceptable light levels for computer work.
The façade serves not only an environmental function, but also as a more sophisticated reading of form. This is because it presents itself not as a singular object (that is, a glass box), but offers a more complex layered reading, changing constantly, depending on light conditions and the angle of viewing.
This project has been awarded a LEED Gold Certification in 2012. It’s the only project in Ho Chi Minh City to have garnered this prestigious green award.
Front Elevation
Side Elevation
3D Model
AWARDS
LEED Gold Certification
Marvel Edge
MARVEL EDGE
This mixed use commercial building was the first project for Marvel Realtors. It was on an old factory site in the central business district and the brief was to attract a different clientele to those in the call centre environment on the outskirts of the city. It was to accommodate a large number of small office tenancies of 250 square metres and above. HB Design coined the term the ‘condominiumisation of an office building’, one which offered a wide variety of amenities that small offices don’t normally enjoy. Through a series of workshops with the client an extended brief was developed leading to the inclusion into the brief of garden terraces, shops, restaurants, business centre, gym, spa and a boutique hotel. This approach to the modern workplace also reflected a more mobile workspace with a range of both formal and informal areas, acknowledging that contemporary digital communication enables people to work away from their desk.
The form needed to clearly communicate this difference in approach. It aimed to depart from the straight lines and boxes of its context, becoming a 240 metre-long, 40 metre-high curvilinear shape – a modern groundscraper. Taking advantage of a lot of existing trees, a public park was created at the back as part of a strategy to make the ground plane part of the public realm. Cuts through the building on the ground floor allow the public to pass through the building to the park at the rear evoking the iconic ‘Hyde Park lines’. Two naturally ventilated galleries bifurcate the building, providing secure entry for the tenants and connecting with the building’s eight cores, each servicing half of one wing and so helping to create a more intimate scale.
The intention was to create a boutique feel and to build in flexibility. The top floor was only half occupied, the other half being an eco-deck given over to terraces, extensive greening and pools. A requirement for refuge terraces was turned into an opportunity by transforming them into sky boxes, double-height and triple-height, with plantings, creating an amenity for every wing.
The building has a three-layered façade consisting of a double-glazed curtain wall, private terraces and sunscreening.
As a hybrid building, Edge contributes to a richer urban context, especially in the way it engages on the ground plane with the public domain. The terraces humanise the building, while also forming part of a strategy to provide a more flexible workplace, one which goes beyond the traditional enclosed office.
Elevation
Site Plan
3D Model
Borivali Sales Lounge
BORIVALI SALES LOUNGE
We are pleased to share some images of our Borivali Sales Lounge project located in Mumbai, India which is nearly complete.
This is a sales lounge building designed for Oberoi Realtors to display the show units of a high-end residential development named Sky City at Borivali, Mumbai. The brief was to design a sales lounge building to accommodate three show units, 6-8 sales pods, discussion rooms and support facilities. It will also be necessary to reuse the sales lounge as an office building later once the sales for the development are complete. We developed the idea of a simple rectangular building block with its length aligned to the road and faced with an elegant curtain wall façade. The idea of a “frame within a frame” was the key design feature and the detailing of the façade evolved around it. The other facades were designed with an interplay of simple glass to glass joints and solid walls with textured paint surfaces.
The lounge space has a double height volume with a stone feature wall for the reception. The sales pods are organised around its perimeter. The space has been kept double height to showcase a large-scale physical model of the Sky City development. One show unit is planned on the ground level and the other two on the upper level along with various support facilities. There is an expansive terrace garden on the roof to cater for clients and to be used as a leisure zone for workers when the building is reused as an office in the future. The overall design and construction are expected to be finished within a period of 9-10 months and should open to the public in January 2017.
Elevation
Section
Ai Riggae
AI RIGGAE
Al Riggae development will encompass high and low rise residential towers located in the existing development area of Durrar located outside of Kuwait city. The project is targeted at expats and professionals working in Kuwait City who desire a high quality of modern residential living in a desirable location not far from the city center.
The master plan covers four plots of apartment towers which are planned to accommodate up to 100,000 square meters of GFA (Gross Floor Area) with an approximate total of 900 residential units. The development is planned to be constructed in stages giving greater flexibility and allowing occupants to move into the development more quickly.
Centralized to all the plots is ‘Plot E’ where an ‘Urban Oasis’ has been planned. This will include a clubhouse, recreational facilities and landscape gardens. The ‘Urban Oasis’ has been strategically located in the master plan giving desirable outlooks from apartments onto green areas.
Apartment towers are designed with a mixture of high-rise and low-rise residential typologies. The low-rise towers place more importance on garden views towards the ‘Urban Oasis’, while the curved triangular high-rise towers place more importance on engaging the prime views of Kuwait Bay located in the distance.
Internal apartment layouts have been designed with the inside-out philosophy starting with the unit design configuration. The concept has been to create a double height space experience at living areas for the larger apartments while giving the feeling of spaciousness throughout all rooms. The smaller apartment layouts are designed as simplex configurations with a long frontage of living and dining facing towards the balcony and outside views. This maximizes the internal space and also gives the feeling of spaciousness.
The micro-climates in Kuwait have informed how the façade has been designed to address these specific conditions. The façade has been designed around the ‘Cocoon Effect’ with deep facade reveals assisting in shielding the building envelope from excessive heat and glare. Apartments have also been designed to allow for good natural ventilation through rooms placing less emphasis on air conditioning and giving occupants greater flexibility with how they live.
The iconic forms of the towers will become to symbolize the modern and visionary status of the proposed residential development giving it a distinct identity on the Kuwait City horizon.
Private Villa
PRIVATE VILLA
Any architectural project may be likened to a journey, but the metaphor is especially apt for this residential project, which is still in progress after seven years – hence the HB Design moniker of “our Taj Mahal”. The client loves architecture and is a “serial home builder” with a strong grasp of design and a highly developed spatial sensibility. It is set on a rock promontory surrounded by trees and is part of a compound, so the connections, or pathways linking the buildings, become important. The site had a number of existing buildings some of which HB Design have re-constructed in new materials with slate roofs.
These existing Thai pavilions at the centre of the site anchor the design. The new architecture is designed on concentric, radial lines responding to the existing contours. This consists of a series of low-slung modern pavilions which line the coastline, accessed via multiple pathways. This positioning resulted from site studies and extensive studies in plan and section. As well as responding to the contours of the site, the pavilions are positioned to optimise sweeping views of the sea and along the coastline. It was also imperative that none of them was visible from key vantage points.
The materials are predominantly wood and Portuguese limestone, giving the whole development a restrained homogeneity. Despite the large size, it is nonetheless an exercise in the “art of making” with details carefully considered and the execution carried out with a high level of craftsmanship The project is ongoing and expected to complete in 2016.
Marvel Piazza
MARVEL PIAZZA
Located near the airport, the site has severe height restrictions, meaning a maximum of four storeys. This provided HB Design with the opportunity to continue their exploration of liveable high density, but, for the first time in India, with a low-rise development – as opposed to seemingly ever-higher towers.
The approach has been to take a simple pinwheel configuration of four apartments clustered around a common core. These clusters vary in terms of apartment sizes and numbers of bedrooms depending on location. The larger units enjoy the better views with more greenery, while the more compact units are in tighter parts of the design. Starting with a simple chequerboard matrix, clusters are then carefully shifted and offset to create a series of interconnecting landscapes, so avoiding repetitive massing.
As part of HB Design’s ongoing strategy to provide the highest quality experience for the occupants, all vehicular traffic is underground, freeing up the entire ground plane for pedestrians to create a rare experience at street level. The landscaping was developed in parallel with the architecture, resulting in a very intimate set of details and landscaping elements. Brick was chosen as the dominant façade material, giving the whole an intimate and natural feel. This is complemented by modern detailing and the insertion of key non-brick highlights, giving the design a uniqueness which distinguishes it from more formulaic architecture.
Site Plan
Site Section
Sukolilo
SUKOLILO
This is HB Design’s first commission in Surabaya and started out as a masterplan commission. It has since evolved into an architectural commission for the first phase of works on the site, which sits on the eastern edge of the city. This is an up-and-coming area which will soon be connected to the airport by a new high-speed road. There are magnificent views east over farmland to the ocean beyond.
It is a mixed-use development designed to complement a large villa development already under construction. The overall built-up area is 475,000 square metres. The residential component consists of mid-end apartments, high-end apartments, ‘Soho’ apartments and serviced apartments. In addition, there is office space, a retail mall and street retail. The masterplan stipulates five separate phases to be implemented over an extended period of time.
The design starts with the premise of providing the best views while also offering optimum solar orientation. This meant that all the apartments would be vying for the south-easterly aspect. The design resolves this potential conflict by producing buildings of varying height in a radial array. The aim is to prevent any self-blocking while at the same time providing a compelling skyline composition. The prime residential towers are designed around the theme of community, with social spaces designed into the tower fabric and so continuing HB Design’s vision of democratising the high-rise.
Site Plan
Floor Plan
Floor Plan
Model
Model
Sayana City
SAYANA CITY
This is a master plan for a mini-city sited adjacent to the second Jakarta ring road, which will eventually link to the airport with an on/off ramp 600 metres from the development. The surrounding area is smallscale residential and the intention is to scale the 5 million square foot Sayana City development in a way, which complements the existing urban landscape. As a mixed use residential, retail, hospitality and retail complex there is a clear agenda to differentiate this project from the airconditioned mega-malls which are now so common in Jakarta.
The strategy here is to reclaim the streets for pedestrians. Hence, this is an ‘outdoor mall’ with shops opening onto pedestrianised plazas and extensive green space. This open space is sculpted by the configuration of the towers and remains uncontested, because no one typology of building is allowed to dominate. This is manifested in the variety of scale, through views and thoroughfares, thus replicating an organic town and offering all the amenities of such a town.
At the ground plane, apart from the retail and hospitality, there will be three-storey ‘shophouses’ (6 metres wide and 13 metres deep). These are integrated into the four ‘lifestyle’ apartment towers with a podium above offering residents recreational amenities. These compact and flexible ‘soho’ apartments offer studio and one- and two-bedroom units. In the later phases of the development a large, gated residential compound will be added, followed by two linked commercial buildings.
The aim with Sayana City is to create the ultimate live/work/play environment, a virtually self-contained urban precinct offering an alternative to the pressured environment of Jakarta city proper.
Site Plan
Section
Oberoi Eternia
OBEROI ETERNIA
This is the practice’s first project for developer, Oberoi Realty. It is located in north-central Mumbai and is the first part of a two-phase development. The site looks west towards Sanjay Ghandi National Park and east towards Thane Creek and its surrounding mangroves.
This is a big project, with over 1200 apartments, and the aim was reduce the number of towers which would usually carry four or six units per floor. By designing ‘mega floorplates’ with twelve units and two cores it has been possible to reduce the number of towers to two. This means a simpler skyline and significantly less site coverage, allowing more space for gardens, pools and facilities. The challenge was how to make this large mass feel less monolithic and more like a cluster of towers. The solution was to break the floorplate down into distinct components. Hence, the two ends of the towers are triangulated and reach up to 200 metres in height. Meanwhile, the connecting element remains straight and stops considerably lower.
Also helping to offset the downside of higher density, the design of the structure pushes the load-bearing columns to the outside of the floorplate, so avoiding the typical intrusion of these into the rooms. This has also allowed the columns to play a significant role in the development of the façade where they become a major vertical ordering element, giving the tower a very simple expression.
Floor plan
Futian Foreign Language High School
FUTIAN FOREIGN LANGUAGE SCHOOL
The vision for the office and sporting facilities was to combine these two seemingly opposing activities into a single dynamic whole. This resulted in the physical and spatial integration of state of the art sporting facilities with ecologically designed office and meeting areas.
The overall planning of the new elements of the design aims to create an integrated whole, connecting the sports & office building and the dormitory block with the open sports grounds — the largest outdoor space of the school. Additional outdoor space has been created on the roof of the dormitory podium, forming a visual and landscaped link.
The goal of great architecture is for the whole to be greater than the sum of the parts. For the Futian School the goal was always to go beyond logistical planning – to create an exciting environment that speaks of the future and of possibility – to create an architecture that delights and inspires – one that provides spaces and environments that make the everyday experience exceptional.