6 extraordinary buildings that don’t look like buildings
Let imagination take you beyond these 4 walls and find out how static is the new dynamic
We often take buildings for granted. Many associate them with static constructs - frozen, and stuck in time. But buildings impact us more than just that. They help shelter us, provide spaces for us to live, work, play, while create lasting memories. They can definitely look the part too. The following examples don't settle for normal. They're extraordinary.
1. Donut be a square
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Credit: @rexzou
Newly spotted in Downtown Shanghai is a sweet snack of gigantic proportions. Paying homage to the Luwan district that it’s located in, CapitaMall LuOne is shopping mall directly connected by subway and has an immediate catchment of 1 million middle-to-high income consumers. Captivating shoppers will be its indoor waterfall, also Shanghai’s largest, which striking glass and steel structure forms the roof and resembles a crystalline donut. A yummy treat for the eyes, that’s for sugar.
2. Home is where the hive is
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Just by looking at the Escher-esque design of The Interlace residences, you can tell that there’s more to life than living in 3D. There’s no housing project quite like it in Singapore, which was crowned the coveted “The World Building of the Year” title at the World Architecture Festival. One of the largest and most ambitious residential developments in Singapore, The Interlace’s 31 apartment blocks, each 6 storeys tall, are stacked in a hexagonal formation to create 8 large-scale courtyards.
The interlocking blocks resemble a "vertical village" with cascading sky gardens and both private and public roof terraces. Like a scene out of a fairytale, the lush greenery surrounding The Interlace creates a picturesque setting where clear skies, cool winds accompanied with sounds of birds chirping and flowers blossoming greet residents, who look forward to unwinding after a day of being busy like a bee.
3. Charting a smooth course ahead
Located at the confluence of the emerald waters of the Jialing river and the muddy waters of the Yangtze river, Raffles City Chongqing is a sight to behold. Inspired by the region’s thousand years of waterway transportation culture, its award-winning design takes the shape of powerful sails upon the river to symbolise the city’s surging growth.
By integrating with a transport hub, Raffles City Chongqing functions as an essential thoroughfare in the city centre, seamlessly connecting visitors to the different modes of transport including subway, bus and ferry. Well-prepared to meet visitor demand, Raffles City Chongqing brings together a shopping mall, Grade A office space, residential apartments, Ascott Raffles City Chongqing serviced residence and a luxury hotel. Is this ship set to weather the roughest of seas? Aye aye Captain!
4. From Hangzhou wave love
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Credit: w.n__t
Saying that Raffles City Hangzhou is well-located is an understatement. Not just at the heart of the Central Business District (CBD), it is close to the Civic Centre, the Hangzhou Grand Theatre, the Hangzhou International Conference Center, The Cultural Plaza, as well as direct connectivity to the subway that links to the scenic West Lake hotspot, wildly popular with locals and tourists alike. The 250-metre tall twisting twin towers are designed after the flow and motion of the tides of the nearby Qiantang River, the largest in Zhejiang Province, and offer those on the higher floors 360 degrees view of the river and CBD.
The architecture is sustainable as it is striking. Recognised as the first mall in China to use natural ventilation, Raffles City Hangzhou achieved the LEED Gold pre-certification even before its opening. The all-rounded integrated development comprises a shopping mall, Grade A office tower, Ascott Raffles City Hangzhou serviced residence, hotel and apartments. If you’re visiting Hangzhou, do hang around, snap a self/wefie or 2 and take a piece of the city home with you.
5. The ha-Star la Vista countdown
In what can only be described as the first “spaceship” sighting in Singapore, The Star Vista is impressive on the outside as it does inside. Awarded the prestigious Green Mark Gold certification for sustainability, The Star Vista is Singapore’s first naturally cooled open-air shopping mall. With 3 storeys of delectable lifestyle offerings, The Star Vista tops it off – literally – with a large-scale 5,000-seater performing arts centre at its roof. You no longer have to dream of meeting your favourite artistes when you can head on down to The Star Vista and capture a vista of them.
6. Rising from the ashes and landing into a mall
It’s a bird, not quite a plane – it’s Suzhou Center Mall! Found right smack in the middle of Suzhou Industrial Park and just beside the renowned Jinji Lake, Suzhou Center Mall holds the honour of being the city’s largest shopping mall of 300,000 square metres (3x ION Orchard’s size) and home to over 600 brands (2x the offerings in Singapore’s largest shopping mall).
It's the city's shiniest landmark crowned with a gently undulating roof that is also the world’s largest of its kind. Shaped to mimic a pair of phoenix’s wings to symbolise Suzhou’s growth continually achieving newer heights, the breath-taking multi-coloured roof is made up of almost 7,000 pieces of uniquely-shaped curved glass. Whoever said retail is dying hasn't met this legend.