British design firm Benoy celebrates the tenth anniversary of its Singapore studio today. We asked Terence Seah, Head of Benoy Singapore Studio, to share more about the studio’s expansion and some of its exciting projects in the Asia Pacific region.

 

 

 

We started with one project – ION Orchard. We had three or four people stationed here from Hong Kong because that was quite an intense project. Then after ION, we did Plaza Singapura, and then Westgate and J-Cube. Then other projects followed and we grew. Now we have 20 people – mostly architects and interior designers –  working on six projects including Jewel Changi Airport.

 

 

What’s a work week in the studio like?

At the start of the week, we have this session we call Design Caffeine, usually on Monday or Tuesday. It’s an informal discussion we have in our bar area where we gather and pick a topic to discuss.

Sometimes it’s a topic related to a project, sometimes it’s a general update like “What’s the latest in retail?”, “Have you seen the shortlist for this competition?” or a more general purview of the world like “What is beauty?” in which we looked at what makes someone or something beautiful – is beauty cultural? Is it objective? Sometimes we print a few images, sometimes we use Instagram – the format is pretty informal.

We look to other fields as well and pick up lessons here and there that can inform us and make us look at the problems we have in architecture and design world in a different way. It’s a very important routine that serves a pick-me-up and a catch-up session at the start of the week. 

 

How does the SG studio work with other Benoy studios?  What’s the Singapore studio’s strategic role in Benoy’s international roster?

We have the one Benoy approach, so for us, it’s more about finding the right skill set for the project. We don’t necessarily use the Shanghai studio to work on projects in China, for example. We collaborate a lot, we fly people from other studios with relevant experience for specific projects. We work across localities. In fact, since we have a smaller team here, we do more collaborations. Terminal 4, for example, was done in collaboration with the Hong Kong studio.

 

The first of firsts is ION Orchard and Orchard Residences. That’s the first luxury residential development on top of a very busy shopping mall, on top of probably one of the most, if not the, busiest, MRT stations in Singapore.

At the time the mixed typology was very new and Orchard Road means different things to different people. So how do you cater for these different groups of people?

We have to make sure that it is for everyone and that can also cater to people who want a premium experience. It’s like combining many different sounds to create a symphony that appeals to different types of audience. I think we managed to do it.

 

We are known for retail projects, so Changi’s Terminal 4 – an airport terminal – would be another first. Changi was trying to focus more on non-aviation revenue. So that’s why they got us in – to design the whole passenger experience.

We’ve created well-thought through touch points from the moment you arrive and check in to the moment you board the plane.

Changi is a client that is really interested in design thinking and managing a process where design drives a product or an experience or a service. They are redefining a brand proposition under the term of the Changi experience. It is the experience that made passengers choose Changi as the port of transit over other airports. 

The brief for T4 was very simple. They have a small footprint about the size of T1, so how do we make it feel spacious? We used transparency, we brought in the light and greenery and we kept everything visible to the passengers as they make their journey so they can be more at ease at finding their way.

 Of course, technology also played a big part in the experience of self-check-in and security screenings. We don’t usually encounter this in retail and we were quite happy to be tackling another first.   

The next project to showcase this Changi experience will be the Jewel Changi Airport, which will be completed next year. 

The next first would be the David Jones flagship in Elizabeth Street, Sydney. Our design won the design competition for this project. The existing building was built in 1927 and they wanted to add three more retail floors.

The first of the twelve floors to open is the Designer Shoe destination on the seventh floor – this was originally a ballroom and the ceiling is seven metres high. This is also a first for the Singapore studio to work on a conservation project of this scale in Australia. 

 

Will we have Benoy Australia at some point?

I hope so. Australia is a very interesting market. 

 

We’re working on our pilot project in Vietnam, a new-build residential project called the Han Jardin, comprising a pair of 40-storey towers and a retail podium. 

We’re also working on another residential project in Alam Sutera, Jakarta called the Lloyd Residential. This is another example of how diverse this region is. In Singapore, we think that condominium living is fantastic. You have a swimming pool, barbecue pit, you don’t need to repaint the exterior. 

People don’t think so in Indonesia, where almost everybody prefers to have a landed property where they don’t have to share with other people. This was the insight shared by the client.

So we are building a five-storey high apartment complex inspired by Manhattan’s brownstone with a communal swimming pool with the parking lot underneath. It’s a condo living with a landed property experience. 

To save on cost we didn’t dig a basement but we decided to build the parking floor on the ground level and hide it from view with a raised landscape. So you will have this nice communal green area and you won’t see the cars.