SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) - Having unveiled its signature residential project in Asia, luxury condo Park Nova in Singapore, London-based architectural firm PLP Architecture is planning to set up a permanent office in the city-state within the next 12 months.
“We have a number of clients based in Singapore that we work with around the world,” says Lee Polisano, president and founder of PLP. “We are very committed to Singapore as a base and an important pillar in the future of our business.”
Park Nova previewed on May 1-2, with sales expected to kick off on May 7. The 54-unit, 21-storey project marks Hong Kong-listed Shun Tak Holdings’ double-feature project launch in Singapore. The other is Les Maison Nassim, where sales have begun in a low-key manner.
The freehold condominium is located at the junction of Orchard Boulevard and Tomlinson Road in prime District 10. PLP turned an otherwise busy corner site into a private sanctuary, through its biophilic design, orientation of the units within the 21-storey tower and the seamless connection between indoor and outdoor spaces.
Park Nova is a prime example of how luxury and sustainability can go hand in hand, says Polisano. “The apartment spaces are strategically oriented in a way that takes advantage of cross-ventilation and breezes, is sheltered and has a connection to the outdoors,” he elaborates. “It gives people a choice in the way they live. They don’t always have to use air-conditioning and can enjoy the integration of the indoor and outdoor spaces.”
When Polisano and Tina Qiu, PLP’s senior associate partner, first visited the site, they climbed to the top of one of the towers at Four Seasons Park condominium located across the road. “When you’re elevated to a certain height above the junction, you’re in this wonderful orchard setting,” says Polisano. “It became obvious to us that we needed to bring this beautiful orchard garden setting up into the building.”
The apartment tower at Park Nova is therefore raised 17m above the street level, such that even the apartments on the lowest level will sit above the canopy of trees along Orchard Boulevard, adds Qiu. “We wanted to have the tree canopy to buffer the sounds from the road too.”
There are 17 floors with three units on each floor: a two-bedroom-plus-study of 1,432 sq ft; three-bedroom-plus-study of 2,207 sq ft; and four-bedroom unit of 2,895 or 2,906 sq ft. All the apartments come with their own private lift lobby. There are also three penthouses on the topmost floors, with sizes ranging from 3,229 sq ft to 5,899 sq ft. These have five bedrooms each.
The development has three central columns for the lifts, and the apartments are arrayed around the columns like “the wings of a butterfly”, according to Qiu. “Each wing has its own distinct view towards the northwest, south or the east,” notes Qiu. “Therefore, the units look away from each other.”
The four-bedroom units look towards the eastern corridor in the direction of Orchard Road shopping district and the tree-lined Orchard Boulevard. The stack of three-bedroom-plus-study apartments have a north-western view towards Nassim Hill and the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The two-bedroom-plus-study units look southward towards the landed private estate of Bishopsgate and Chatsworth Good Class Bungalows.
By deploying the strategy of having “undulating overhanging balconies”, the living spaces and bedrooms within the apartments are shaded from the heat. Residents can enjoy full privacy as even the balconies of their apartments are screened from the neighbouring units above and below.
Besides collaborating with global design firm P&T Consultants, PLP worked closely with award-winning landscape architect ICN Design International to select natural green plants that are ideal for the different units’ orientation. “Every aspect and species of plants for the apartments has been thought through,” says Qiu.
Even though the design for Park Nova was conceived prior to Covid, Polisano believes the project will fare “very well” in the Covid era with its integration of indoor and outdoor spaces.
“From day one, when we saw the site, we understood that urban living brings with it elements of stress from work or other issues,” says Qiu. “And when you come home, it’s always nice to see greenery, especially after looking at your computer screen or being under artificial lighting all day. Greenery and biophilic design was therefore something that we wanted to capture when we started looking at the design of this project.”
While Singapore has so much greenery, its integration with high-rise living is lacking, observes Polisano. Hence, PLP wanted to use vertical greenery and to have bigger terraces for the units. And after pushing the envelope, it has succeeded in achieving that at Park Nova.
In fact, with Park Nova, Shun Tak wants to establish its “Nova” brand as synonymous with the ethos of sustainable living. The “Nova” brand was introduced by Pansy Ho, executive chairman and managing director of Shun Tak, for its Nova residential project 20 years ago.
In London, PLP is the design architect for Singapore-listed property player UOL Group’s One Bishopsgate Plaza, a mixed-use, high-rise tower with luxury residences, as well as the group’s maiden Pan Pacific Hotel in Europe.
Other landmarks designed by PLP include The Edge, a 40,000 sq m (430,556 sq ft) smart office building in Amsterdam designed for its main tenant, professional services firm Deloitte. In Moscow, PLP designed the global headquarters for Russia’s biggest search engine Yandex.
In London, PLP was also the design architect for 22 Bishopsgate, which at 278m tall is second only to The Shard in terms of height. Earlier this year, the new six-storey, 5,500 sq m London headquarters of China’s most popular video-sharing app, TikTok, was completed. Designed by PLP, the building is named Kaleidoscope, as it features terracotta elements with a palette of colours applied to one side of the vertical fins. This enables the building to change colours depending on the time of day and when viewed from different vantage points.
Most recently, PLP, together with its peers Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Carlo Ratti, Arup and Outcomist, won the competition to revive the Porta Romana Railway Area in Milan. “It’s about creating a resilient community,” says Polisano.
In Japan, PLP opened a studio in Tokyo in 2017. PLP has been appointed the masterplan architect for an urban regeneration project within the capital city, which includes prestigious hotels, residences, gardens and other components.
Besides new builds, PLP also focuses on repurposing existing buildings to ensure that they are sustainable. “It becomes very unsustainable if you just knock down and rebuild, and it’s something that Asian countries have to relook at retrospectively,” says Polisano.
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