by Bernadette Low and Andrew Fassam

Winning architects Ms Belinda Huang and Mr Khoo Peng Beng of ARC Studio explaining their design to Minister Mah Bow Tan. Looking on (from left to right) are: CEO, URA BG(NS) Tan Yong Soon; Senior Parliamentary Secretary (MND) Assoc Prof Koo Tsai Kee; Chairman, URA Mr Bobby Chin; and Chief Planner & Dy CEO (PP & CUD), URA Mrs Koh-Lim Wen Gin, who is also the Chairperson of the competition's Jury.

Public housing designs in Singapore reached a new milestone with the much anticipated award ceremony for the Duxton Plain Public Housing International Architectural Design Competition at the URA Centre on 30 April 2002.

That evening, the Minister for National Development, Mr Mah Bow Tan, also launched the exhibition showcasing the winning design and other submissions from the competition.

The eight-month long competition, organised by the URA on behalf of Ministry of National Development, attracted a total of 202 submissions from 32 countries around the world at Stage One of the competition. 46% of the submissions received are from local firms and the rest are from overseas, including the UK, the US, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Australia.

Five entries were shortlisted to proceed to Stage Two of the competition. The six-member international Jury, headed by Mrs Koh-Lim Wen Gin, Chief Planner & Dy CEO (Physical Planning, Conservation & Urban Design), URA chose the design scheme submitted by ARC Studio Architecture + Urbanism (Singapore) as the winner. The other members of the Jury are:

• Professor Fumihiko Maki, Principal, Maki & Associates, Japan;
• Dr Moshe Safdie, Principal, Moshe Safdie & Associates, USA;
• Dr Teo Ho Pin, Mayor of Northwest Community Development Council, Singapore, and Member of Parliament, Holland-Bukit Panjang GRC, Singapore;
• Mr Edward H Y Wong, President, Singapore Institute of Architects, Singapore; and
• Mr Raymond Woo, Principal, Raymond Woo & Associates Architects, Singapore.

The other four shortlisted entries at Stage Two of the competition were:

• BBBSA (Argentina) which partnered RSP Architects, Planners and Engineers Private Limited (Singapore);
• WOHA Architects (Singapore);
• Chao Tse Ann & Partners (Singapore) which teamed up with Rocco Design Limited (Hong Kong); and
• the Housing Development Board (Singapore) which collaborated with Wong & Tung International (Hong Kong).

by Wong Mei-Hwen