The Concourse () is a

post-modern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...

high-rise

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

and

residential A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family residen ...

building on Beach Road

Kallang Kallang is a planning area and residential town located in the Central Region of Singapore. Development of the town is centered around the Kallang River, the longest river in Singapore. Kallang Planning Area is bounded by Toa Payoh in the no ...

, Singapore opposite

Nicoll Highway MRT station Nicoll Highway MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the Circle Line (CCL) in Singapore. Located in the Downtown Core underneath Republic Avenue near the Kallang River, the station serves commercial and residential ...

. The Concourse is located in Singapore's "Golden Mile", which refers to the strip of land between

Nicoll Highway Nicoll Highway (; ms, Lebuhraya Nicoll; ta, நிகோல் நெடுஞ்சாலை) is a major arterial road in Singapore which links the junctions of Guillemard Road, Sims Way and Mountbatten Road in Kallang to the junctions of Espl ...

and Beach Road. It was planned by the

Singapore Government The Government of Singapore is defined by the Constitution of Singapore to mean the executive branch of the state, which is made up of the president and the Cabinet. Although the president acts in their personal discretion in the exercise o ...

as a high-rise spine fronting

Kallang Basin Kallang Basin (; ms, Lembangan Kallang) is an enclosed bay in Kallang, Singapore. The Kallang River, Rochor River and Geylang River empty into the Kallang Basin. The Marina Channel connects the Kallang Basin with the Singapore Straits. At pr ...

. The area used to be occupied by

squatter Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

s and small marine industries. The Concourse's site was acquired in competition in the

Urban Redevelopment Authority The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is the national urban planning authority of Singapore, and a statutory board under the Ministry of National Development of the Government of Singapore. Mission The authority was established on 1 Apri ...

's 8th Sales of Sites programme in 1979. A project, developed by

Cheong Eak Chong Cheong Eak Chong (; 1888 – 13 February 1984) was a Chinese businessman of She ethnicity. He was born in Anxi County in Fujian in 1888, but left China in 1921 for Singapore. He began his business career there as a goldsmith, later diversifying ...

's Hong Fok Corporation, commenced in 1981 as the Hong Fok Centre but construction stopped when

Singapore's economy The economy of Singapore is a Developed country, highly developed free-market economy with dirigiste characteristics. Singapore's economy has been previously ranked as the most open in the world, the Corruption in Singapore, joint 4th-least co ...

was hit by a

recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...

in the mid-1980s. In 1987, the

architectural firm In the United States, an architectural firm or architecture firm is a business that employs one or more licensed architects and practices the profession of architecture; while in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark and other countri ...

Architects 61 and architect Paul Rudolph re-designed the complex. They retained what was already constructed, and revamped the remainder in order to accommodate new programmatic requirements. Built at a cost of S$248.1 million and to a height of 175 metres (574 ft) for its office

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

, The Concourse was completed on 5 February 1994.

Architecture

The Concourse is a

mixed-use development Mixed-use is a kind of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning type that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions are to some ...

, comprising a 41-story office tower, a three-level retail

podium A podium (plural podiums or podia) is a platform used to raise something to a short distance above its surroundings. It derives from the Greek ''πόδι'' (foot). In architecture a building can rest on a large podium. Podiums can also be used ...

and nine storeys of

serviced apartment Short-term rental describes furnished self-contained apartments that are rented for short periods of time, usually by the month as opposed to annual rentals in the unfurnished apartment rental market. They are seen as an alternative to hotels. "Sh ...

s. The three distinct components, with their different usage, have separate entrances. These overlook the traditional low-rise

shophouse A shophouse is a building type serving both as a residence and a commercial business. It is defined in dictionary as a building type found in Southeast Asia that is "a shop opening on to the pavement and also used as the owner's residence", a ...

s and office blocks in the Beach Road area. Paul Rudolph designed The Concourse as a "Tropical Skyscraper". His use of solar

shading Shading refers to the depiction of depth perception in 3D models (within the field of 3D computer graphics) or illustrations (in visual art) by varying the level of darkness. Shading tries to approximate local behavior of light on the object's ...

, wide overhangs, and communal gardens and external

balconies A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or Corbel, console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Malta, Malte ...

has some similarities with the ideas advanced by

Ken Yeang Ken Yeang (6 October 1948) is an architect, ecologist, planner and author from Malaysia, best known for his ecological architecture and ecomasterplans that have a distinctive green aesthetic. He pioneered an ecology-based architecture (since 1 ...

for the

bioclimatic Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building) refers to both a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from plannin ...

skyscraper. The

correlation In statistics, correlation or dependence is any statistical relationship, whether causal or not, between two random variables or bivariate data. Although in the broadest sense, "correlation" may indicate any type of association, in statistics ...

between

form Form is the shape, visual appearance, or configuration of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens. Form also refers to: *Form (document), a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter data ...

and

function Function or functionality may refer to: Computing * Function key, a type of key on computer keyboards * Function model, a structured representation of processes in a system * Function object or functor or functionoid, a concept of object-oriente ...

arises out of Rudolph's grounding in

modern architecture Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that form ...

, for he was taught by

Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in conne ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Approaching the

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

from

Singapore Changi Airport Singapore Changi Airport, commonly known as Changi Airport , is a major civilian international airport that serves Singapore, and is one of the largest transportation hubs in Asia. As one of the world's busiest airports by international passen ...

, The Concourse's tower stands out as a landmark because of its distinctive

silhouette A silhouette ( , ) is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhou ...

when viewed from across the

. The tower is

octagon In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, whi ...

al in

plan A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with details of timing and resources, used to achieve an objective to do something. It is commonly understood as a temporal set of intended actions through which one expects to achieve a goal. F ...

, as the number " 8" for the octagon is associated with

prosperity Prosperity is the flourishing, thriving, good fortune and successful social status. Prosperity often produces profuse wealth including other factors which can be profusely wealthy in all degrees, such as happiness and health. Competing notion ...

Chinese culture Chinese culture () is one of the world's oldest cultures, originating thousands of years ago. The culture prevails across a large geographical region in East Asia and is extremely diverse and varying, with customs and traditions varying grea ...

, and is typical of Paul Rudolph's buildings. It is also supported by huge

pilotis Pilotis, or piers, are supports such as columns, pillars, or stilts that lift a building above ground or water. They are traditionally found in stilt and pole dwellings such as fishermen's huts in Asia and Scandinavia using wood, and in elev ...

, a feature that is shared with The Colonnade in Singapore. The distinctive soaring effect of the tower is accentuated by these lofty

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

s on the first storey which also effectively elevate the building, but is mitigated by the

facet Facets () are flat faces on geometric shapes. The organization of naturally occurring facets was key to early developments in crystallography, since they reflect the underlying symmetry of the crystal structure. Gemstones commonly have facets cut ...

ed façade of the serviced apartments and retail podium. The Concourse's most prominent architectural feature is the aluminium curtain wall system incorporating inclined

window A window is an opening in a wall, door, roof, or vehicle that allows the exchange of light and may also allow the passage of sound and sometimes air. Modern windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent materia ...

s that form clusters of units. These interlocking clusters are stacked vertically, like dinner plates, one above the other,

rotating Rotation, or spin, is the circular movement of an object around a '' central axis''. A two-dimensional rotating object has only one possible central axis and can rotate in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. A three-dimensional ...

around the building. A five-storey

atrium Atrium may refer to: Anatomy * Atrium (heart), an anatomical structure of the heart * Atrium, the genital structure next to the genital aperture in the reproductive system of gastropods * Atrium of the ventricular system of the brain * Pulmona ...

lobby Lobby may refer to: * Lobby (room), an entranceway or foyer in a building * Lobbying, the action or the group used to influence a viewpoint to politicians :* Lobbying in the United States, specific to the United States * Lobby (food), a thick stew ...

greets visitors to The Concourse, and 14 sky-atria within the tower form

reception Reception is a noun form of ''receiving'', or ''to receive'' something, such as art, experience, information, people, products, or vehicles. It may refer to: Astrology * Reception (astrology), when a planet is located in a sign ruled by another p ...

lobbies for

multinational corporation A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporation or a stateless corporation with subtle but contrasting senses, i ...

s and organisations. The serviced apartment units in the lower block vary in size, and facilities include a swimming pool,

squash court Squash is a racket-and-ball sport played by two or four players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow, rubber ball. The players alternate in striking the ball with their rackets onto the playable surfaces of the four walls of the court. Th ...

s and a

fitness centre A health club (also known as a fitness club, fitness center, health spa, and commonly referred to as a gym) is a place that houses exercise equipment for the purpose of physical exercise. In recent years, the number of fitness and health ser ...

. The apartments overlook Nicoll Highway and the

Kallang River The Kallang River (, ms, Sungei Kallang) is the longest river in Singapore, flowing for 10 kilometers. from the Lower Peirce Reservoir (originally named "Kallang River Reservoir") to the Kallang Basin. It originates in the planning ...

Basin. Shops are arranged around a three-storey sky-lit atrium in the retail podium. Due to its unique and unconventional

building design Building design refers to the broadly based architectural, engineering and technical applications to the design of buildings. All building projects require the services of a building designer, typically a licensed architect. Smaller, less complica ...

, a

scale model A scale model is a physical model which is geometrically similar to an object (known as the prototype). Scale models are generally smaller than large prototypes such as vehicles, buildings, or people; but may be larger than small prototypes ...

of The Concourse once went for an architectural

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibition ...

tour around the world.

Gallery

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Concourse Office buildings completed in 1994 Residential buildings completed in 1994 Skyscraper office buildings in Singapore Shopping malls in Singapore Landmarks in Singapore Kallang Paul Rudolph buildings Residential skyscrapers in Singapore 1994 establishments in Singapore 20th-century architecture in Singapore

Architecture

Gallery

References

Further reading

External links