Golden Mile Complex () is a 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 resi ...

building on Beach Road in

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 ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

, within walking distance to

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 building was formerly known as Woh Hup Complex. The complex contains 411 shops and 500 parking spaces. The building is largely an ethnic enclave for the Thai population in Singapore.

History

In 1966, the Urban Renewal Department of the

Housing and Development Board The Housing & Development Board (HDB) (; ms, Lembaga Perumahan dan Pembangunan; ta, வீடமைப்பு வளர்ச்சிக் கழகம்) or often referred to as the Housing Board, is a statutory board under the M ...

was formed to facilitate greater flexibility and autonomy in comprehensive

redevelopment Redevelopment is any new construction on a site that has pre-existing uses. It represents a process of land development uses to revitalize the physical, economic and social fabric of urban space. Description Variations on redevelopment include: ...

of Singapore's Central Area. The Golden Mile Complex development was the result of the department's first Sales of Sites programme in 1967.Norman Edwards, Peter Keys (1996), ''Singapore – A Guide to Buildings, Streets, Places'', Times BooksInternational, The "Golden Mile" refers to the strip of land between Nicoll Highway 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 ...

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 pres ...

.Wong Yunn Chii (2005), ''Singapore 1:1 City: A Gallery of Architecture & Urban Design'',

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 April ...

, 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. Built at a cost of S$18 million and completed in 1973, the 16-storey Golden Mile Complex is one of the early pioneers of integrating multiple operations into a single

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 ...

in Singapore. Today, the complex's

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that ...

houses numerous Thai clubs, shops and eateries, as well as tourist and ticketing agencies for travellers going to

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

by bus or coach. A minor upgrading was carried out on the Golden Mile Complex building in 1983, when

tinted glass Window film (tint) is a thin laminate film that can be installed to the interior or exterior of glass surfaces in automobiles and boats and also to the interior or exterior of glass in homes and buildings. It is usually made from polyethylene ter ...

was added to the Beach Road

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loan word from the French (), which means ' frontage' or ' face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important aspect ...

to achieve the desired overall thermal transfer value rating. In 1986, the whole building was redecorated. In March 2006, the Golden Mile Complex was described as a "vertical

slum A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily ...

", "terrible eyesore" and "national disgrace" by Singapore Nominated Member of Parliament

Ivan Png Dr. Ivan Png Paak Liang () is a Singaporean economist and academic. He is a Distinguished Professor in the School of Business and Department of Economics at the National University of Singapore. Png was previously a faculty member at the UCLA ...

: "Each individual owner acts selfishly, adding extensions, zinc sheets, patched floors, glass, all without any regard for other owners and without any regard for the national welfare." The residents have also done over their balconies to create an extra room. The Golden Mile Complex, which is located on a 99-year

leasehold A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord. Although a tenant does hold rights to real property, a l ...

site starting from 1969, has been planned to be put up for an ''

en bloc ''En Bloc'' is a Singaporean drama produced by Mediacorp, a local TV station. Plot The drama follows the Lim family and some residents of an old Tampines Grove condominium of the consequences of having their estate up for an en bloc sale for ...

'' sale. On 11 August 2018, 80% of the owners signed an agreement agreeing to sell the complex in an en-block sale. On 22 October 2021, the Minister for National Development Desmond Lee announced the gazetting of the Golden Mile Complex as a conserved building. The

announced incentives for potential buyers, such as allowing them to build a new tower block next to the conserved building. In May 2022, the complex was sold to a consortium (Perennial Holdings Private Limited, Sino Land and Far East Organization) for $700 million. 14

Architecture

The Golden Mile Complex is a commercial and residential development, providing offices, shopping, entertainment services and

apartment An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ma ...

living within its

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 use ...

and stepped

terrace Terrace may refer to: Landforms and construction * Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river * Terrace, a street suffix * Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk an ...

structure, resulting in a

modern Modern may refer to: History *Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Philosophy ...

architectural style known as

Brutalism Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the b ...

. It houses 411 shops, 226 offices and 68 residential units. The building was designed by Gan Eng Oon, William Lim and Tay Kheng Soon of the Singapore

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

firm Design Partnership, now known as

DP Architects DP Architects Pvt. Ltd. is a Singaporean multinational architectural industrial design firm. It started as Design Partnership in 1967 and was incorporated as a private limited company in 1993. It is a multi-disciplinary design consultancy. It i ...

. Sited on 1.3

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre i ...

s and built to a height of 69 metres, the Golden Mile Complex is an exemplary type of "

megastructure A megastructure is a very large artificial object, although the limits of precisely how large vary considerably. Some apply the term to any especially large or tall building. Some sources define a megastructure as an enormous self-supporting a ...

" described by architectural historian,

Reyner Banham Peter Reyner Banham Hon. FRIBA (2 March 1922 – 19 March 1988) was an English architectural critic and writer best known for his theoretical treatise ''Theory and Design in the First Machine Age'' (1960) and for his 1971 book ''Los Angeles: Th ...

. It is one of the few that have been actually realised in the world.

Pritzker Architecture Prize The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international architecture award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produ ...

laureate Fumihiko Maki had called the Golden Mile Complex a "collective form". It successfully propagates high-density usage and diversity under a broad range of ideas advanced by the Japanese

Metabolist Movement was a post-war Japanese architectural movement that fused ideas about architectural megastructures with those of organic biological growth. It had its first international exposure during CIAM's 1959 meeting and its ideas were tentatively teste ...

of the 1960s. The complex was designed as a "vertical city", which stands in contrast to homogenised cities where functional

zoning Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...

restrains all signs of the latter's vitality. Conceived as a prototype for a lively environment, the design of the Golden Mile Complex was intended to catalyse

urban development Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of peop ...

along Beach Road by employing an extruded section that would stretch along the East Coast facing the sea. In terms of

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typi ...

and

accessibility Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

, the building is serviced from the rear on Beach Road, instead of its frontage with Nicoll Highway, with a continuous pedestrian spine linking all buildings in the Golden Mile of Beach Road. The design was influenced by the

linear city Linear city may refer to: * Linear settlement * Linear city (Soria design), an 1882 concept of city planning * Linear city (Graves and Eisenman design), a 1965 proposal for a settlement in New Jersey * The linear city model of Hotelling's law See ...

concepts of

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...

and

Arturo Soria y Mata Arturo Soria y Mata (1844-1920) was an internationally important Spanish urban planner whose work remains highly inspirational today. He is most well known for his concept of the Linear City (exemplified in Madrid's Ciudad Lineal). He studied ...

.Robert Powell (2004), ''Singapore Architecture'', Periplus Editions, The stepped profile of the Golden Mile Complex offers the occupants of the apartments on the upper floors a panoramic view of the sea and sky. All the apartments have balconies, and two-storey

maisonette An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ma ...

penthouses A penthouse is an apartment or unit on the highest floor of an apartment building, condominium, hotel or tower. Penthouses are typically differentiated from other apartments by luxury features. The term 'penthouse' originally referred, and som ...

crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

off the building. The narrowness of this sloping

slab Slab or SLAB may refer to: Physical materials * Concrete slab, a flat concrete plate used in construction * Stone slab, a flat stone used in construction * Slab (casting), a length of metal * Slab (geology), that portion of a tectonic plate tha ...

form enhances

natural ventilation Passive ventilation is the process of supplying air to and removing air from an indoor space without using mechanical systems. It refers to the flow of external air to an indoor space as a result of pressure differences arising from natural force ...

and shades a lofty communal

concourse A concourse is a place where pathways or roads meet, such as in a hotel, a convention center, a railway station, an airport terminal, a hall, or other space. The term is not limited to places where there are literally pathways or roadways or t ...

above the podium along Beach Road. The stepped design also reduces the impact of noise from the road traffic. The Golden Mile Complex preceded by several years

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretica ...

stepped-section buildings which were built in the United Kingdom and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. The lower floors contain offices and a retail

mall Mall commonly refers to a: * Shopping mall * Strip mall * Pedestrian street * Esplanade Mall or MALL may also refer to: Places Shopping complexes * The Mall (Sofia) (Tsarigradsko Mall), Sofia, Bulgaria * The Mall, Patna, Patna, Bihar, India ...

, located within staggered atria to allow

natural light Natural Light, sometimes Natty Light, is an American reduced-calorie light lager brewed by Anheuser-Busch since its introduction on July 31, 1977. Its ingredients are listed as water, barley malt, cereal grains, yeast, and hops. One serving con ...

into the heart of the building. In April 2021, part of the ceiling near an entrance fell off, with no reported injuries.

References

{{Singapore malls Ethnic enclaves in Singapore Skyscraper office buildings in Singapore Shopping malls in Singapore Landmarks in Singapore Residential buildings completed in 1973 Kallang 1973 establishments in Singapore Residential skyscrapers in Singapore Brutalist architecture in Singapore Modernist architecture Thai diaspora in Asia Thai Towns

History

Architecture

See also

References