If there’s a country’s urban planning to be fascinated about in SEA region, here’s my take, Singapore, Again. Oh well perhaps i am very near to Singapore, well soon enough i will study more about the northern neighbour, Bangkok. I spotted information about Common Service Tunnel CST 2 years ago when i was visiting URA center. It was briefly said in the City Exhibition Center that CST will help facilities in the long run, but this is some deeper elaboration i would like to make.

SOMETHING FRESH

CST, however is not found throughout Singapore, nevertheless it’s expensive to be built throughout the island too. It is a development of the Marina Bay area in Singapore. As the name suggested, the tunnel houses telecom cables, power lines, water pipes as well as provision for pneumatic refuse collection pipes. The 1.4-kilometre phase one of the tunnel has cost about S$81 million (about US$51 million) while the 1.6-kilometre phase two cost S$137 million (about US$86 million).

The true mega scale implementation that comes together with CST is actually the District Cooling Plant, which will supply chilled water for the air conditioning of buildings in the area through pipes within the tunnel.  The District Cooling Plant, located within the One Raffles Quay development, will supply chilled water through a network of pipes housed within the CST for the air-conditioning of buildings in the area.  I am quite certain this is a long term capable project, as the CST itself is able to extend its length to supply the demands to the new development area. The concept of CST helps a lot in high density area with heavy M&E Demand especially in the CBD of Singapore, who knows there will be a new “CBD” popping up in the new reclaimed land on the South ( even though the Gardens By the Bay do not suggest otherwise).

THE DAWN OF THE NEW HOT SPOT

The CST comes in the right time to support the growth of Marina Bay. Personally i’ve been to that area for more than 3 times and i anticipated that something better and greater development will come over the next 20 years in that area. Marina Bay is set to be a 24/7 destination with endless opportunities for people to “explore new living and lifestyle options, exchange new ideas and information for business, and be entertained by rich leisure and cultural experiences” .Marina District is the new Area of development The government is pumping in close to S$2 billion to build the infrastructural base for MarinaBay, including the CST, the MarinaBarrage, a Rapid Transit System and a new waterfront promenade and bridge.

All kinds of National Level Events have taken place here!By 2020, the 360 hectares Marina Bay will boast a comprehensive transport network as Singapore’s most rail-connected district. The first three new MRT lines will open between 2012 and 2014. By 2018, the Marina Bay district will have six or more MRT stations, all no more than five minutes of each other. A comprehensive pedestrian network including shady sidewalks, covered walkways, underground and second-storey links will ensure all-weather protection and seamless connectivity between developments and mass rapid transit stations. Within Greater Marina Bay, water taxis will even double up as an alternative mode of transportation.

SO WHY COMMON SERVICE TUNNEL?

While it cost several folds to build the CST throughout a new district instead of the conventional pipes and cables running beneath the road, or hanging on to the poles, there are a lot of benefits for a first world country government to go on with this idea. The purpose-built CST tunnels house electrical and telecommunication cables, as well as district cooling, NEWater and potable water pipes.  The tunnels also provide for the future installation of a pneumatic refuse conveyance system, which is being planned for MarinaBay.

The government first announced its intention to build a comprehensive CST network for MarinaBay in March 1998, in line with its vision to position MarinaBay as a world-class business and financial hub integrating state-of-the-art infrastructure with a beautiful urban environment.  The benefits that the CST would bring include:

A) Minimal traffic disruption
In the long term, Laying, repairs and maintenance of service pipes and cables are carried out within the tunnel without the need to dig up roads and hold up traffic. Conventionally, public ammenities are paved along beneath the road on the assumptions that road grids follow to buildings eventually.

B) More reliable services
In some cases where soil erosion happens or private works drilling may be over depth, hence causing damage to utilities set beneath the road. With utility services protected within a concrete tunnel, utility supplies will no longer be threatened by disruption due to accidental hacking of existing cables and pipes. Reliability of services is also improved as pipes and cables can be inspected and maintained regularly within the tunnel.

C) Faster laying of services
Having able to decrease the time to dig and repatching roads in order to lay new utilities, laying of new service pipes and cables within the tunnel is easier and can be done in a shorter time compared to the conventional method of laying them under the road.

D) Increased flexibility
Future changes in the demand for utility services by developments can be easily accommodated.

E) A better urban environment
Developments at MarinaBay will not be subject to noise and dust pollution caused by road excavation for the laying of new services for new buildings.

F) More land for development
With the CST, part of the road verges previously set aside for laying of underground utility services can now be released for development. Normally utilities dig beneath or beside the road will take up buffer space for safety reason. Highly populated countries like Singapore could not afford such.

Related posts:

Singapore – One of The Three Sovereign City States in the World. URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority) Singapore – A Study About Singapore’s Town Planning CITY THEMES via GoogleEarth, Where is our Branding?

Anyways Singapore as we know is a small island with high demand of lands for any usage (blog about it before at HERE) , here about is residential. Talking about Urban Fabrics of residential design, one could realize the differences of Malaysian and Singaporean Residential houses. What i really love about Singapore is that because that land is limited, thus designs really push spaces to the maximum, unlike bungalows in Bangsar or SS3, or some mansions in Penang where land size can be 8 times bigger than the house itself. Thus things like roof top gardens or balconies is no stranger to the Singapore context. And also we see a lot of mid density lots, or town houses, with 10-15 households bind together to an enclosed security area. ( well i will look more into documenting those places).

But i would like to visit Sentosa Cove next time, where high end Semi Ds will be. Basically in Singapore you don’t see any land public housing development anymore, things like the houses you find in Petaling Jaya, Subang Jaya.. simply because the solution is HDB. Housing Development Board where flats are built with a particular guideline too (more at HERE) But the price of HDB is nevertheless doesn’t mean it’s cheaper compared to private properties.. some area or districts of the island can be so expensive. But i believe the picture below will illustrate better.

Well true! Imagine the price of their HDB is able to invest into a condo within KL center as well. The condos in singapore actually attracts me in a way that i think it’s a great testimony that the building and construction industry of singapore has to work well in terms of finance, particularly the developer. In condominium design , architects are always encouraged to provide varieties.. one of the piece that admire is Duxton, or the Pinnacle. I visited it last year, able to accomodate 2000 households with 20+ varieties of design. And floating gardens.. i think it’s one of the great example to Singapore city scape in times to come.

And also i hit around Newton area, where famously known to have Newton Suites with it’s distinctive floating garden too at 5 floors gap each. But Newton isn’t just about that single building, it’s an upcoming area of good high end condominiums with a lot similar to what i see at Newton Suites. What i mean is that the language of Floating garden, or common spaces in condominiums, or varieties in the design or construction industry here is well understood. In Malaysia i still see pretty much lego blocks, condominiums with repetitive designs stacking up against each other. Nope, no one is to be blamed, as perhaps our Architects are good enough but developers are playing safe with their money, they have nothing to lose so far because the benchmark of design in Malaysia is still yet to be like Singapore.

So really it does not come easy to improve the construction or building industry.

Architect may not be the key driver as most people assume that they are always the leader in projects, but the people should be the key of these answers

the awareness, the economics behind this, or consumer behavior particularly.. just like the latest green trends.. well i am never fascinated with the carbon saving methods or whatever in the building but how it has made the branding so far.

For more Pictures of random Condominium shots in singapore, i am more than Glad to share with you at HERE.  There are certainly more interesting comparison to be made in analyzing HDB flats design guidelines and our Malaysia conventional terrace houses guidelines and the effect of security and social, i shall find time for that.

Related posts:

Participatory Design – The Malay House Concept, Social Sustainable Housing URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority) Singapore – A Study About Singapore’s Town Planning Singapore – One of The Three Sovereign City States in the World.

I could really blog a lot of posts to what i have read this morning, the demographic and functional space of their island (country), the waste management system with Pulau Semakau for being the world’s first offshore landfill, their airports and airbases, the surrounding small islands of singapore and their vital usages, or even their underground development. But here’s a simple post today what makes Singapore unique in a general node. Urban Planners have recognized that singapore has been a City State all the while. 　They are the only island city state in the world. Within this small island of 710 square km, they have to squeeze everything they need into that single piece of land.

Though there are a lot of state like cities in the world, there are only 3 similar sovereign city states in the world. A city-state is an independent or autonomous entity whose territory consists of a city which is not administered as a part of another local government. A city-state can also be defined as a central city and its surrounding villages, which together follow the same law, have one form of government, and share languages, religious beliefs, and ways of life. The list of Country by Areas is HERE. A sovereign state (or simply state) is classically defined as a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states (More info HERE) Singapore is one of the 3 sovereign cities besides Monaco and Vatican City. However in terms of Industry singapore dominates a lot in economic terms, vatican is the holy place, while monaco relates to gambling a lot, 3 of these places functions totally different.

A city state means a lot of difference compared to other cities from other countries who has vast space to accomodate their function. For example i will be take Kuala Lumpur in comparison with Singapore. KL has a space of 272 sq miles (704 km²), while Singapore has  243 km2 (94 sq mi). KL has a population of close to 2 million while Singapore has 5.18 million people, of whom 3.25 million (63%) are citizens while the rest (37%) are permanent residents or foreign workers.  Speaking about Commercial and Industrial, Singapore does it’s Industrial area by the Southern West of its island, the jurong area, it deals with mostly assembling and packaging manufacturing i believe. While for Kuala Lumpur, it locates its industrial area outside of Kuala Lumpur, namely Shah Alam or SS13. Which is considerable far in comparison with Singapore’s CBD distance with Jurong area.

For Public amenities, the city state definitely has to squeeze in these areas again to the island, notice that lands for military purpose, cemeteries, reservoirs, these lands must be planned intelligently to preserve property real estate values. Undeveloped lands must be well plotted for future development too in Singapore unlike Malaysia has a vast area to develop in it’s satellite cities such as Petaling Jaya and Subang Jaya which accomodates the work force residential area. The Reservoirs or Water Management of Kuala Lumpur has a lot of dependency with outside such as the Selangor Dam, same goes to power grid.

And most of the land in KL has much to do with commercial but not housing, same goes to Singapore CBD area, however KL has the option to locate its residential area out of KL, Selangor namely, Singapore has to do it all within its island. It’s interesting to see how a city state like singapore manages its community, sports and recreation and also green areas all into the same plot. Their urban planning sure has to do with a lot of double function plotting and vertical development management. It’s a sustainable city prototype to encourage vertical development with lesser distraction to the environment and hence making people and utilities centralized for easier management and lesser carbon footprints of travelling.

All in all, the city planning of a city state of an island such as singapore is reflected at the masterplan below. In general, the southerrn tip is the Central Business District, the Southern West Jurong Area is for industrial purpose land, Northern West is their water catchment area, Eastern side will be their airport and few islands for Military purpose and Pulau Ubin that preserves the “old singapore”, while the rest in central and northern pretty much residential with a lot of commercial nodes respectively.

Stay Tune for more Singapore Urban management related Post.

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1st World of Singapore, not by its uniqueness but Globalization. URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority) Singapore – A Study About Singapore’s Town Planning Common Service Tunnels & District Cooling- Singapore Marina Bay City

You may come up wit surprise but as being a Malaysian who goes to Singapore often and see how social media works there, Singapore doesn’t favor me, also following up with the latest election makes me feel like being a singaporean doesn’t give you an identity. Seriously, Malaysia, Truly Asia, we have it all. The current thought is to have my masters education at NUS. Reason being is that there are more specification and choices to focus on at NUS by having 3 masters offer. The initial path i thought during college was to continue my 4th and 5th or 2nd part of Architecture education at USM, but life isn’t a routine for me, i love to travel. And furthermore it’s true that singapore offers more competitions BUT….

Just when i often ask singaporeans about why some MNCs would prefer Malaysians as well, example would be my seniors QS firm in Singapore where you have more than half Malaysians. I think it’s because Malaysia is always Grey at some points, this gives Malaysians a twist of thoughts, and also always thinking and generating their alternatives, or to say, Street Smart. And with that i believe we are. Perhaps life’s generally, often a struggle over here, while at Singapore, life is black and white, rules and laws dominate, they are good and performing and efficient, but life’s never always at the provocative point and taken for granted.

So why does this concern me? Because doing Masters in NUS indirectly also means of staying there for a quite of period of time or, for lifetime. Because Job of course you would want to choose there for having some of the Top100 Archi Firms there. Including the Internship Company i am right now, DP Architects. Having studied masters there also means you are going to work there, if not people would say you are wasting your opportunity there.

I know Singapore somehow as much as i know about Penang by now. By blogging quite a few post and studying their Master Plan via URA, and also knowing the MRT line well enough and the district areas, also their latest election…. blablabla also having my own ezlink card and singapore number.

This Pathway is merely just a concept now. People often ask me, what’s after 3rd year. I would reply i would think of it only when i enter 3rd year to know more. But surprisingly i am already on the track of discovering new paths. The best would still if JPA extend my scholarship to Singapore. Then that would be much decided then.

And neither really i would want to go far, because i am attached to Malaysia, don’t call me patriotic, it’s just because i think i am meant to do things in Malaysia and fight for what i believe in.

That’s me. We shall see. And i would see this post back after 5 years then =P

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1st World of Singapore, not by its uniqueness but Globalization. Picture Story #3 – SINGAPORE Trip Residential Design around Singapore.. Compared to Malaysia?

We are all in the talking of Singapore slowly becoming a westernized city and it already has happened. Even before the first time i came to Singapore, during 1970s, there is strong evidence that the island really depends on Globalization to survive. That’s the main inconvenient truth Lee Kuan Yew highlighted in his book, They improve their country based on globalization and the opportunities from outside.

A few examples such as The China sets up Singapore to be their manufacturing and assemble plant site before exporting stuffs to the west. Singapore has and must have good ties with China, and even better than Malaysia has. Besides, Singapore imports water since long time ago until when Dr Mahathir raise the price per meter cubic then LKY push the research on NewWater Technology to solve the problem on water dependency. It’s really black and white to see that Singapore needs to survive on Globalization, having its Jurong Port as the top 3 busiese port in the world and also their changi airport as hub. 

Personally i don’t even see Singapore as a country, i see it as a super good international facilities island with a lot of come and go business purpose event. They are good, perfect in everything, yes they do protect their heritage building better than penang. But if you would want to ask one about the unique point of Singapore? I don’t know what’s really nice to quote about. There was once upon when 10 years ago when Singapore used to promote their tourism by “Uniquely Singapore”

Seriously unique singapore? Don’t get me wrong, i never want to offend singapore and it’s always my respect on their efficiency on anything. I know there are few who is still living to the preservation of their culture. but the truth is that these scenes are hardly seen anymore today.

Today you don’t see anymore local. Be it even Local food Courts but the food is seriously not any nicer than malaysia. You can have Clarke Quay but everywhere is with bars with international standard and people know names by the origin of the countries but never about Singapore even though its on her Land. During the 1970s you can have awesome hawker stalls in orchard Road, just like Malaysia SS2 when you have all the tables coming up at night. But the Orchard Road today is a shopping mall city. During then, people will call you by your chinese name, but now young children will have fancy english names which hardly makes difference anymore to distinguish with the western.

The young ones never realize. But for the generation who have witnessed how singapore has changed. They know it very well that the youths of Singapore would be hving hard time to read the rapid changes over the years. Be it cultures, traditions, people in the island would be thrilled to learn about other country’s culture as it’s already an international city. That’s the point that i felt as Malaysians even though we have a lot of flaws in many issues but i’m always glad of us for the multiracial scene, and its not like the scene of many races staying together in a country which singapore perhaps have thats all. Much more to it.

All these while it has been happening. And most of them wouldn’t realize it until perhaps the recent elections. This thing is not new but observed by people nearly 10 years ago. For example about Traditional Names Goes West Amid of Fear Losing Identity. This article written in 2004, by a narrative point of view of coming to singapore 40 years ago.

Singapore has much more things to worry compared to Malaysia actually. The overcrowded of foreign experts coming in is but a threat to their economy now. You could save life is good and stable but in the next 30 years, things will change. Many agreed.

Related posts:

Singapore – One of The Three Sovereign City States in the World. Globalization Towards the Destruction of Culture. Where’s our Identity? Who are you? Residential Design around Singapore.. Compared to Malaysia?