The River, involving 200,000 square metres of GFA, pushed HB Design to a new level, requiring more than a doubling of staff numbers. The proposal from the client was highly ambitious in so far as it involved two towers with a total of almost 1000 units on the ‘wrong side’ of the Chao Praya River. But the vision was to change that mindset with a landmark building. For HB Design it represented a special challenge because it signalled another shift in scale.
After initially considering three towers, it was decided to construct two towers (72 and 44 storeys), providing the same amount of sellable space with floorplates of 1400 square metres. This also presented the opportunity to ensure that all apartments had good views. Then, orienting the towers on a north-south axis framed the river to show its meandering course either to the sea or up-country, while also providing the best solar orientation.
The architectural expression is driven by a yin-yang principle whose first iteration is to off-set the two towers and break down the mass. This is enhanced by a highly sculptural gesture giving a different articulation to the two principal sides of each tower. One side is an elegant curved curtain wall, the other has a more textured expression, a series of ‘pigeon holes’ which acknowledge the units themselves.
A new water cooled air-conditioning system enabled floor to floor heights to come down from 3.4 to 3.2 metres, adding an extra three floors to the buildings. This innovation also enabled the CDU to be brought in off the balcony, removing it as both a heat and noise source and giving the development an added marketing edge.
Innovative vertical planning enabled a variety of different unit types. This involved clustering all the serviced areas (kitchens and bathrooms) adjacent to the corridor, enabling the risers to be easily transferred to the main core, thus liberating the plan for different lay-outs. The main façades reflected this diversity and so avoided the usual monotonous repetition of typical floors.
The condominium has a large parking podium on top of which there is an ‘eco deck’, an extensive landscaped area with pools, pavilions and other supporting amenities. It also offers a unique amenity in the form of a private boat service linking the condominium with the ‘right’ side of the river.
In a gesture to urban placemaking, the river frontage was conceived as part of a civic design, hosting publicly accessible restaurants and retail amenities.
Ocean Drive
OCEAN DRIVE
In traditional Italian architecture the main floor of the house was located on the 2nd floor and called the “piano nobile” – the noble floor.
In this project we were confronted with a context that was extremely dense (neighbours only 4 metres away) without the possibility of creating privacy through boundary walls.
Our solution was to elevate the living/dining room areas to the 2nd floor, along with the swimming pool, thereby creating privacy from the road and the beach, and enhancing the views out over the ocean.
In order to avoid the copycat structures prevalent in Sentosa (the stringent design guidelines required a pitched roof, along with a host of other highly prescriptive design parameters) we created a single architectural entity, called the “wrap”.
This continuous surface starts out as the floor of the “piano nobile”, wraps vertically to create an opaque surface towards the street and finally ends up in a double-pitch roof, satisfying the regulatory guidelines without literally resorting to a traditional roof architecture.
Elevation
Section
Third Floor Plan
Casa Sandra
CASA SANDRA
This is an addition to a house designed by Hans many years earlier. It had a modern floorplan but some traditional Spanish elements such as the roof. It also had a large garden, some of which was used for this 100 square metre, self-contained 2-bedroom addition.
The aim was to give the main house and the addition their own privacy. The addition is like a pool pavilion, a retreat, rather than a family house. It consists of two elements: a timber-clad box containing two bedrooms with their en suites, and a white-painted concrete wrap-around shell which faces the pool on one side (containing the living area and kitchenette) and a screen-walled bamboo garden on the other side. The bedrooms look on to a ‘secret garden’, making them places of retreat, with the whole ensemble of space well-lit and enjoying generous cross-ventilation.
The way the two elements slide like a kit of parts into easy engagement highlights the principle that the architectural expression should embody the construction and erection systems. Hence, the way all the parts come together is celebrated by considered design and exposure. This includes the frank conversation between materials – the Iroko-clad box, the Spanish limestone flooring, the 2.8 metre-high, double-glazed sliding glass doors and white plaster finishes.
Although the design was simple, construction proved difficult and it took five years and four contractors to build. The problem was building within a craft-based vernacular tradition, where the local contractors were used to building Spanish haciendas. The result was a disjunction between what was drawn and what got built. Regardless of the frustration, however, the project demonstrated the value of persistence and perseverance in achieving a successful outcome.
Front Elevation
Floor Plan
3D Model
Chee Hoon House
CHEE HOON HOUSE
Vertical Stratification
The house consists of 3 clearly differentiated vertical stratas:
• Basement: subterranean • Ground floor: open box (to garden) • Upper floor: closed box
The architecture of each strata is clearly defined. The basement is focussed around a central courtyard.
The ground floor is a glazed box with a seamless relationship with the various outdoor spaces. The upper floor is an enclosed box with punctuations defined by strictly defined viewplanes.
Engineering Privacy
The envelope of the house has been defined by the relationship of the internal spaces with the external context. In the case of the ground floor the interior invites the exterior in with the confines of that level defined by the landscaping edges along the perimeter.
In the case of the upper floor, the immediate context was accurately modelled and, following the resolution of the floor plan, clearly defined view cones set up. These cones intersected with the envelope to define the openings – each unique in size and geometry.
Materiality
The material palette of the house has been kept deliberately simple with only a few key materials used over and over again. All materials are natural, without paint, varnish or other surface coverings. The upper box is clad in a mosaic of copper panels – resembling a cracked eggshell. The other materials are simple granite flooring, wood and natural anodised aluminium.
Diagram
Marvel Sangria
MARVEL SANGRIA
The design separates out a 4-storey podium structure from the slab blocks above. At the lower levels the architecture forms formal courtyards designed to be distinctly different from one another, these courtyards will also acts as both the heart and lungs of the project. Having a unique terraced organisation, it enables visitors to step downwards, level by level, discovering new views and sensations at every point, being bounded on 4 sides with lush gardens and water bodies. Above the podium lie the tower blocks arranged in optimal north/south orientation which accommodates the high unit counts, yet allows unobstructed views out from every unit.
Gurgaon Gateway
GURGAON GATEWAY
The vision for this project was guided by an overriding desire to deliver a project that exceeded expectations on every level. We wanted to get away from the ubiquitous cookie-cutter approach, where a typical tower block is repeated. For this project we took inspiration from the organic nature of cities, which have towers of varying sizes and heights. This was achieved by developing a higher density footprint for the buildings – one that allowed for an aggressive ‘erosion’ of building heights in order to meet the overall project target areas. The erosion process itself, was not random, but driven by concerns of prime orientation, the impact on the sense of spatial enclosure (of the gardens) and the views out from units.
Site Plan
Tower Type B, Typical Floor Plan
Tower Type A, Typical Floor Plan
Marvel Selva Ridge
MARVEL SELVA RIDGE
Selva Ridge is a low-density development on the outskirts of Pune, built into a hillside with an extensive forest reserve. Featuring generous villas and 7-storey low-rise apartment blocks, the design has preserved almost all of the existing trees creating a residential enclave built around “community”. Homes are designed to embrace the outdoors with large pools and gardens.
Vehicular traffic has been supressed, in the interest of creating a pedestrian-friendly environment – one in which children can freely play without risk. The gardens are a mix of existing and new features. A 50m pool with a floating gym sit alongside generous common facilities such as BBQ areas, a multi-purpose hall and a yoga/wellness centre.
With a magnificent forest reserve right in the middle of modern infrastructure, Marvel Selva Ridge Estate is a masterpiece that blends the brilliance of technology with the wonders of nature.
Auris Serenity
AURIS SERENITY
This ultra-luxurious mixed use complex will be coming up in the western suburbs of Mumbai. Comprising of 4 residential towers of 50+ storeys each, street retail and an elevated tropical landscaped Eco-deck, the project site is about 4km from the Arabian Sea as the crow flies and has sea views over the distance.
The inspiration for the design was to create iconic landmarks puncturing the skyline of Western Mumbai through a triangular tower configuration which maximizes the salable areas of units facing the sea at a distance. Each of the towers is rotated at different angles to maximize their views of the sea and also to counter overlooking into the adjacent towers. The units vary from a 2 bedroom simplex to a 6 bedroom duplex.
The façade is divided vertically in bands of curtain wall and aluminum composite panels which reflect the hues of the sky along with the skyline of Mumbai. The variation in the tower ‘petals’ is punctuated with duplex ‘sky deck’ units and also sky-gyms. The top-level penthouse duplexes house lavish 6 bedroom units with stunning views of the city and the sea from 200m above it.
The Eco-deck podium elevated over 7 levels of parking and spread over 4 acres has been designed as a tropical resort garden with multiple lifestyle spaces. It boasts of 2 large swimming pools in addition to the multitude of reflecting lotus ponds and 3 clubhouses to cater to different facilities for the 5000+ residents of the development.
Site Plan
Floor Plan
PROGRAM
TOTAL FLOOR AREA // 164,000 SQUARE METRES
TOTAL SALABLE AREA // 200,000 SQUARE METRES
TOTAL UNITS // 1070
TOTAL FLOOR // 51 FLOORS
TOTAL PARKING // 2400 CAR
The River
THE RIVER
The River, involving 200,000 square metres of GFA, pushed HB Design to a new level, requiring more than a doubling of staff numbers. The proposal from the client was highly ambitious in so far as it involved two towers with a total of almost 1000 units on the ‘wrong side’ of the Chao Praya River. But the vision was to change that mindset with a landmark building. For HB Design it represented a special challenge because it signalled another shift in scale.
After initially considering three towers, it was decided to construct two towers (72 and 44 storeys), providing the same amount of sellable space with floorplates of 1400 square metres. This also presented the opportunity to ensure that all apartments had good views. Then, orienting the towers on a north-south axis framed the river to show its meandering course either to the sea or up-country, while also providing the best solar orientation.
The architectural expression is driven by a yin-yang principle whose first iteration is to off-set the two towers and break down the mass. This is enhanced by a highly sculptural gesture giving a different articulation to the two principal sides of each tower. One side is an elegant curved curtain wall, the other has a more textured expression, a series of ‘pigeon holes’ which acknowledge the units themselves.
A new water cooled air-conditioning system enabled floor to floor heights to come down from 3.4 to 3.2 metres, adding an extra three floors to the buildings. This innovation also enabled the CDU to be brought in off the balcony, removing it as both a heat and noise source and giving the development an added marketing edge.
Innovative vertical planning enabled a variety of different unit types. This involved clustering all the serviced areas (kitchens and bathrooms) adjacent to the corridor, enabling the risers to be easily transferred to the main core, thus liberating the plan for different lay-outs. The main façades reflected this diversity and so avoided the usual monotonous repetition of typical floors.
The condominium has a large parking podium on top of which there is an ‘eco deck’, an extensive landscaped area with pools, pavilions and other supporting amenities. It also offers a unique amenity in the form of a private boat service linking the condominium with the ‘right’ side of the river.
In a gesture to urban placemaking, the river frontage was conceived as part of a civic design, hosting publicly accessible restaurants and retail amenities.
CNN Interview
Walk Through
Elevation
Podium Level Plan
AWARDS
South East Asia Property Awards 2012
Best Condo Development
Thailand Property Awards 2012
Best Condo Development Bangkok
Thailand Property Awards 2012
Best Condo Development Thailand
Whizdom Sales Office
WHIZDOM SALES OFFICE
This project is for local Thai developer, Magnolia, and responds to changing market conditions in Thailand. It is not in central Bangkok, but well-located near a railway station and appeals to local or commuter buyers, hence the units are predominantly highly compact studio and 1-2 bedrooms. The overall masterplan includes three residential towers, a retail mall, an office component and an experimental house. HB Design is responsible for the master plan for the three residential towers and is designing two of them. Once again the aim has been to contribute to a dynamic skyline and avoid the repetitive ‘cookie-cutter’ model. The towers are all different heights, not parallel to one another, but fanning out, slightly off-set, and centred around a circular radial pattern. Each tower is broken up into two volumes with the lift lobby as the fulcrum. In this way, what could have been a bulky tower become more elegantly vertical. Inside, the corridor lengths are shortened, being split into two sections by the central lift lobby, and open at each end to generate natural light and ventilation.
One of the challenges has been to design extremely compact apartments, which still feel spacious. Another challenge was how to integrate the external CDU units while maintaining the integrity of what is a very elaborate façade.
There is a strong green theme to the project, which is part of a strategy to provide residents with generous amenities to balance the relatively small units. There are landscaped sky terraces at the very top and suspended facilities at mid-building. Landscaped decks and extensive gardens form the base of the development. Which will, once all three towers are completed, become a consolidated landscape zone providing generous open space.
Elevation
Ground Floor Plan
UNIXX Sales Office
UNIXX SALES OFFICE
Located on a hillside with a panoramic view of Jomtien and Pattaya Bays, this condominium offers urban resort lifestyle with small extremely efficient unit plans. The main axis of the building aligns the best views to most units, while the highly efficient L-shape floor plan keeps construction costs to a minimum.
The total development consists of over 1100 units with extensive landscape and amenity areas and is targeted at mid level buyers who are seeking an affordable holiday home.