Despite being a stone’s throw away from Singapore’s busy Orchard Road, Lynn Tan reports that Helios is an oasis of tranquility.
April 10th, 2012
The luxury property market in Singapore has been picking up momentum in recent years. This is driven both by domestic demand and by foreigners living and investing in Singapore.
Within and around the city centre and other prime locations, condominiums are sprouting up like mushrooms.
As with any up-market apartment, a desirable postal code is a given; so are premium fittings and top-notch finishes.
With so many developments all vying for buyers who are able and willing to pay top-dollar for their real estate, developers and designers have to come up with offerings that distinguish them from the rest of the pack.
In fact, they are not just selling apartments; they are marketing a lifestyle and Helios Residences was conceptualised as an urban oasis that offers residents their own private sanctuary within a densely built-up neighbourhood.
Guida Moseley Brown Architects (GMBA) achieved this through a macro-strategy of elevating many of the common areas and swimming pool to a Treetop Recreation Deck on the fourth storey.
“By maximising the gross floor area from the fifth storey upwards, the ground level is freed up for a sprawling tapestry of interesting gardens terracing down the 12-metre topographical drop, while negating the need to build into the slope. This creates two levels of landscape and also frees up the circulation,” explains Design Partner, Hal Guida.
While landscaping is nothing new to condominiums in Singapore, where almost every development boasts verdant greenery and water features aplenty, many bear the overly manicured, tell-tale man-made signs that are familiar across the Garden City.
At Helios Residences, however, you genuinely feel as if you have stumbled upon a Garden of Eden within the city.
Photography: John Gollings
Read the full story on Helios Residences in Indesign #48, available now.
Guida Moseley Brown Architects
gmbarchitects.com
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
Living Edge definitely has the edge when it comes to supplying furniture for the education sector. With a plethora of brands and collections at their fingertips, Living Edge provides the perfect solution for any learning environment.
In the bid to balance the desire to live amongst nature with the modest footprint of today’s homes, designer Victoria Azadinho Bocconi looks for inspiration in the depths of the Amazon jungle.
The Hotel Hospitality and Design is a hospitality technology solutions event for Australia’s hotel, motel and resort market, aimed at providing insights into how technology can give a competitive edge to the hospitality industry.
de poortere launched their 2tec2 range of seamless woven vinyl tiles on Tuesday 9 March in Sydney. It was a beautiful evening, with incredible food as well as French wine and champagne.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
Bosch partners with The Multi-Residential Building category at the 2023 INDE.Awards and there is synergy and understanding of the forward-thinking design required to make a stand out project.
In our own backyard, the Western Parkland City Authority is tasked with creating Sydney’s third city, the parklands city. We speak with its CEO, Sarah Hill, about what it takes to shape a city.
NUDO is the latest furniture and accessories collection from Kelly Wearstler and it’s everything we’ve come to expect and love from the California-based designer.
From innovative architectural material solutions, to colourful works seeking solutions for the future, and playful metaphors for the issues of today. We deep dive into the creatives starting new conversations around sustainability.