d+a | Issue 119

/ OFFICE / 44 “Of course, our first instinct is to be explorative (in design). At the same time, we’re factoring in client expectations, and the surroundings,” says Shah Iskandar Siow, partner at GDP, on balancing architectural expression and appropriateness. “So our collective thinking was that we could have this exploration internally, while creating on the outside a sense of formality and order that befits a banking institution.” The scheme’s morphology, a hierarchy of 13-storey tower, seven-storey podium and 240-person auditorium, conveys that sensibility on the 3.16-acre site. Its resolute colonnade, soaring columns, natural stone cladding and sheer double- glazed curtain walls all comport to this syntax, if only as elements to a bigger assemblage. In fact, it is this elemental approach to building that has allowed the architects to inflect specific areas to great effect, without compromising the established decorum. INFLECTIVE/REFLECTIVE The building’s auditorium façade is one such modulation; bristling with composite aluminium polygons, the open-jointed cladding intuits a shifting movement through skews and overlaps. “We wanted something that reflected the immediate built environment, like the Kementerian Kerja Raya (Ministry of Works) Tower nearby and the Asia School 03. Above a gardened podium, faceted floor-to-floor glazing lends prismatic texture to the tower’s north face. / 04. Anchoring the southern end of the site, the auditorium component’s striking polygonal cladding becomes a point of interest for office workers and commuters in the area. 03 03 04