Cubes’ very first issue of the year is out and we have much in store to whet your appetite for what looks to be yet another design-packed year. One of our personal favourite stories in this issue is the profile on Formwerkz Architects. The firm is quickly coming into its own and our story on it unveils why it easily counts as one of Singapore’s very best even at its (relatively) young age.

We also get an exclusive on W Architects’ delightful contribution to Singapore’s Sentosa Cove. A party house with a diaphanous veil of a facade, it gives the term ’building fabric’ a whole new meaning. Like its neighbours within the gated community, it is undoubtedly an architectural feat in its own right. And yet, unlike its neighbours, it conveys a drama that is much more subtle and considered.

Just as thoughtful a project is Kay Ngee Tan’s The Sultan Hotel. Occupying a cluster of conserved shophouses, the hotel is devoid of the architect’s signature in that Tan’s aim was to simply restore, and indeed enhance, the spatial qualities typical of shophouses in a way that is relevant to both the times and function.

Taking a short trip abroad, Plystudio’s design of a production facility for Infinite Frameworks Batam is an exercise in the vernacular. Referencing ideas of villages and streets, Plystudio has exploited the availability of space to mimic the idea of wandering through lanes and plazas as one moves through the building.

In this issue, we took a quick break from interviewing and left it up to two President’s Design Award 2012 winners to do the work. Designers of the Year Voon Wong and Hanson Ho engage in conversation about change, efficiency and sentimentality.

Note from Rachel Lee-Leong, editor of Cubes.

Get a copy of the latest Cubes (Issue #60), out now at Singapore newsstands.