The Interlace is a 1,040-unit

apartment building 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 ...

complex located at the boundary between Bukit Merah and Queenstown,

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 ...

. Noteworthy for its break from the typical tower design in cities with high population densities, it resembles

Jenga Jenga is a game of physical skill created by British board game designer and author Leslie Scott and marketed by Hasbro. Players take turns removing one block at a time from a tower constructed of 54 blocks. Each block removed is then placed on ...

blocks irregularly stacked upon each other. Designed by The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), it was awarded the '' World Building of the Year'' title at the 2015

World Architecture Festival The World Architecture Festival (WAF) is an annual festival and awards ceremony, one of the most prestigious events dedicated to the architecture and development industry. The first four events were held in Barcelona, from 2008 to 2011, at which p ...

. The 170,000 square meters Interlace complex sits on 8 hectares of land, at the corner of

Depot Road Depot Road () is a subzone within the planning area of Bukit Merah, Singapore, as defined by the Urban Redevelopment Authority The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is the national urban planning authority of Singapore, and a statutory b ...

and Alexandra Road. It has 31 residential blocks with units ranging in size from 800 square feet to 6,300 square feet for the penthouses at the top of each blocks. Recreational facilities include swimming pools, a gym, and tennis courts.

History

The Interlace's site formerly housed the 607 units Gillman Heights Condominium, which is 50 percent owned by the National University of Singapore (NUS). The property was subsequently sold to

CapitaLand CapitaLand is a Singaporean headquartered company focusing on investment, development and management of real estate. It is one of Asia's largest real estate companies and the owner and manager of a global portfolio comprising integrated develo ...

through a collective sale but the sale was controversial as NUS held a 16 percent stake in Ankerite, a private fund that was a subsidiary of CapitaLand. The Interlace was designed by Ole Scheeren and the architecture firm OMA. The project architects who followed the project through to completion while resolving design and compliance issues were RSP Architects Planners & Engineers. The project was commissioned in 2007 and finished in 2013. The property has a 99 year lease from the Singapore government since 2009. The property is surrounded by several parks that are connected and promote the Singapore Green initiative of 2012.

Architecture

Interlace consists of six storey blocks staggered in a hexagonal arrangements surrounding eight courtyards. The blocks are stacked four high at the center to provide maximum of 24 floors. This provides almost every home with a wide view of the surrounding areas. The courtyards have swimming pools.

Reception

The architecture community have praised the Interlace. ArchDaily said "incorporates sustainability features through careful environmental analysis of sun, wind, and micro-climate conditions on site and the integration of low-impact passive energy strategies." The Interlace won the World Building of the Year for 2015. It has been viewed as a challenge to traditional architecture not just in Singapore, but all over the world by CNBC. Geoffrey Montes, writing for '' Architectural Digest'', described the building as "striking residential complex." Raskin praises Scheeren's design by saying "Architect Ole Scheeren hypothesized that dense urban residential living didn't have to occur in an isolating skyscraper--and he was right". Interlace won the Urban Habitat Award in 2014.

References

External links

The Interlace
at the Büro Ole Scheeren {{DEFAULTSORT:Interlace Residential skyscrapers in Singapore Residential buildings completed in 2015 Apartment buildings in Singapore Ole Scheeren buildings