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1 Moulmein Rise
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1 Moulmein Rise
This building is the result of asking two questions. First: “how can contemporary apartments learn
from the past and be more environmentally sensitive?” and Second: “Can
repetitive housing express the diversity of its inhabitants?”
An Environmentally Sensitive Tropical Highrise:
High above ground in the tropics, the climate is more
congenial – less humid, more breezy, less dusty and noisy. However, typical
designs do not take advantage of this, using only unprotected windows and
providing comfort through airconditioning. The idea behind this apartment
building is to take successful strategies from the vernacular and traditional
housing and apply them in a contemporary manner to allow a lower energy
lifestyle.
Tropical houses, before the days of cheap energy, used
several strategies to achieve comfort – orientation, internal planning, overhangs,
cross ventilation, shading and perforation. All these strategies were used here:
This apartment is oriented due north-south, with narrow
blank walls facing east and west. Internal plans ensure all rooms face either
north or south, with no habitable rooms relying on east or west windows for
light or air. Overhangs are provided by projecting ledges, shielding the
interior from direct sun penetration. There are only two apartments per floor,
allowing each apartment windows on 3 sides and allowing cross ventilation with full
privacy – there are no common walls or overlooking windows. Shading is provided
both by the overhangs and by a perforated metal cladding, which also serves to
conceal airconditioning equipment and drying areas.
The most innovative element is the monsoon window.
Interviews with high-rise dwellers confirmed the fact that many enjoy the fresh
air, but do not open their windows while sleeping or when the building is
unoccupied due to the sudden, unpredictable rain that can occur at any time in
Singapore. This suggested that if a practical façade design could allow fresh
air without rain, high-rise dwellers would use less airconditioning,
particularly because the air is most cool and pleasant during the monsoon, but
this is the time when rain is most common and often accompanied by strong winds
The monsoon window is based on a traditional device used in
the longhouses of Indonesia and Malaysia; this is a horizontal opening that
allows air to pass through without rain being able to come in. The concept was developed to take
advantage of Singapore’s regulatory controls which exclude projecting bay
windows from floor area calculations. The projecting bay was developed to
incorporate a sliding aluminium shelf that can be open or closed by turning a
winder. A perforated metal shelf prevents objects from falling through; this
can be opened for maintenance. During maintenance, fixed metal bars prevent any
possibility of accidents. The device is well used by the inhabitants, with many
choosing to sleep in the cool night air.
An Expression of Diversity
Repetitive housing can be oppressive in that it treats all
inhabitants as identical consumers. This project sought to express difference
through recombining simple elements, much as DNA can encode diversity through
the infinite number of ways the proteins can be arranged.
The solution was to build up a complex pattern through
non-regular arrangement of standard elements. This principle of building up
visual complexity was based on Dutch artist M.C. Escher’s tessellations, which
were themselves inspired by the Islamic tiling of the Alhambra in Spain.
These elements were all environmental filters – planters,
overhangs, screens and monsoon windows. 3 different arrangements for the
typical floor were developed, and then these were stacked up in a random
order. The three floorplate
variations were easy to administer, but give a striking variety to the façade.
The variation also allows different interiors, curtains and lighting to be used
without “spoiling” the façade, instead, people’s personal choices add to the
richness. The façade is both high-technology and human, contemporary and
domestic.
The project successfully achieved both aims, and has been
well received by the end-users. It is an important project, because
developer-driven, speculative housing is the largest sector of development in
the Asian, tropical region yet has the least innovation in architectural expression
or environmental devices. No 1 Moulmein Rise shows this is possible within the
normal market constraints with a committed client and consultants.
from the past and be more environmentally sensitive?” and Second: “Can
repetitive housing express the diversity of its inhabitants?”
An Environmentally Sensitive Tropical Highrise:
High above ground in the tropics, the climate is more
congenial – less humid, more breezy, less dusty and noisy. However, typical
designs do not take advantage of this, using only unprotected windows and
providing comfort through airconditioning. The idea behind this apartment
building is to take successful strategies from the vernacular and traditional
housing and apply them in a contemporary manner to allow a lower energy
lifestyle.
Tropical houses, before the days of cheap energy, used
several strategies to achieve comfort – orientation, internal planning, overhangs,
cross ventilation, shading and perforation. All these strategies were used here:
This apartment is oriented due north-south, with narrow
blank walls facing east and west. Internal plans ensure all rooms face either
north or south, with no habitable rooms relying on east or west windows for
light or air. Overhangs are provided by projecting ledges, shielding the
interior from direct sun penetration. There are only two apartments per floor,
allowing each apartment windows on 3 sides and allowing cross ventilation with full
privacy – there are no common walls or overlooking windows. Shading is provided
both by the overhangs and by a perforated metal cladding, which also serves to
conceal airconditioning equipment and drying areas.
The most innovative element is the monsoon window.
Interviews with high-rise dwellers confirmed the fact that many enjoy the fresh
air, but do not open their windows while sleeping or when the building is
unoccupied due to the sudden, unpredictable rain that can occur at any time in
Singapore. This suggested that if a practical façade design could allow fresh
air without rain, high-rise dwellers would use less airconditioning,
particularly because the air is most cool and pleasant during the monsoon, but
this is the time when rain is most common and often accompanied by strong winds
The monsoon window is based on a traditional device used in
the longhouses of Indonesia and Malaysia; this is a horizontal opening that
allows air to pass through without rain being able to come in. The concept was developed to take
advantage of Singapore’s regulatory controls which exclude projecting bay
windows from floor area calculations. The projecting bay was developed to
incorporate a sliding aluminium shelf that can be open or closed by turning a
winder. A perforated metal shelf prevents objects from falling through; this
can be opened for maintenance. During maintenance, fixed metal bars prevent any
possibility of accidents. The device is well used by the inhabitants, with many
choosing to sleep in the cool night air.
An Expression of Diversity
Repetitive housing can be oppressive in that it treats all
inhabitants as identical consumers. This project sought to express difference
through recombining simple elements, much as DNA can encode diversity through
the infinite number of ways the proteins can be arranged.
The solution was to build up a complex pattern through
non-regular arrangement of standard elements. This principle of building up
visual complexity was based on Dutch artist M.C. Escher’s tessellations, which
were themselves inspired by the Islamic tiling of the Alhambra in Spain.
These elements were all environmental filters – planters,
overhangs, screens and monsoon windows. 3 different arrangements for the
typical floor were developed, and then these were stacked up in a random
order. The three floorplate
variations were easy to administer, but give a striking variety to the façade.
The variation also allows different interiors, curtains and lighting to be used
without “spoiling” the façade, instead, people’s personal choices add to the
richness. The façade is both high-technology and human, contemporary and
domestic.
The project successfully achieved both aims, and has been
well received by the end-users. It is an important project, because
developer-driven, speculative housing is the largest sector of development in
the Asian, tropical region yet has the least innovation in architectural expression
or environmental devices. No 1 Moulmein Rise shows this is possible within the
normal market constraints with a committed client and consultants.
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