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Sydney’s Chatswood Transport Interchange (CTI) has fallen just short of a win at The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) 2015 Urban Habitat Awards, which was won by a Singapore hotel with integrated landscaping and pedestrian links.
The CTI was designed by COX Richardson and DesignInc Joint Venture (COXDesignInc) and was announced among four finalists which included projects from the likes of Zaha Hadid Architects, Robert A.M. Stern Architects and Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates.
But it was Singapore’s Parkroyal on Pickering by WOHA Architects that owned the 2015 Urban Habitat Awards, taking the top prize ahead of the other finalists. The CTBUH emphasised WOHA’s “hotel-in-a-garden” concept for the Parkroyal as a highlight of the project alongside its porous, pedestrian-oriented integration with the ground plane.
The CoxDesignInc project, which also received a commendation at the 2015 NSW Architecture Awards, was praised by the CTBUH for the way it reinstates connections between the streets and station that were severed by the previous station and railway line.
“The project demonstrates how transportation infrastructure project schemes can be integrated into the structure of the city to enhance the activity and quality of urban spaces,” says the CTBUH.
See more info on the winner and finalists below, courtesy of the CTBUH:
WINNER
Parkroyal on Pickering by WOHA Architects
Photography by Patrick Bingham-Hall.
Parkroyal on Pickering is located in the midst of Singapore’s high-density city center, and achieves its “hotel-in-a-garden” concept through extensive amounts of landscaping carefully integrated into the building’s design. The project incorporates extensive greenery and landscaping throughout.
A contoured podium responds to the street scale, drawing inspiration from terraced landscapes, such as rice paddies. These contours create dramatic outdoor plazas and gardens, which flow seamlessly into the interiors. The building appears to hover above the ground, resting on a series of columns that resemble the trunks of trees. This structural solution opens up the footprint underneath the building, making way for an expansive vegetated buffer between the street and a covered walkway that encircles the perimeter. This “urban verandah” establishes a cool, protected thoroughfare along the entirety of the block.
FINALISTS
The Chatswood Transport Interchange by COXDesignInc (COX Richardson and DesignInc Joint Venture)
Photography by John Gollings.
The Chatswood Transport Interchange (CTI) is a mixed-use Transit Oriented Development project underpinned by an urban design strategy that establishes new streets and reinstates connections that were once severed by the previous station and railway line. The project demonstrates how transportation infrastructure project schemes can be integrated into the structure of the city to enhance the activity and quality of urban spaces. Representing the largest project of its kind in the state of New South Wales, CTI includes: an upgraded rail station linking the North Shore and Chatswood to Epping lines; an open, landscaped bus interchange; 10,000 square meters of retail spaces at podium level; and public pedestrian linkages reconnecting the center of Chatswood. Above this sit three towers accommodating 550 apartments.
D’Leedon Masterplan by Zaha Hadid Architects
Photography by Hufton + Crowe.
D’Leedon’s concentration of residential units in towers with small footprints creates abundant public space for residents and visitors to enjoy at ground level. The surrounding landscape is one of the strongest features of the project, and offers benefits to all residents. Various elements included to enhance residents’ quality of life are water features, lush vegetation, plazas, athletic facilities, and green fields. The project’s site has been arranged to align with the existing streets beside it. The primary axis of Farrer Road and the surrounding residential buildings have all informed a series of lines within the D’Leedon site to integrate the development with its neighborhood. These lines flow through the site and are organized in bands which define the location of each tower for optimal orientation.
Jing An Kerry Centre by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates
Image source: mipimworld.com
Jing An Kerry Centre occupies a prominent location in the Jing An district that, along with Shanghai overall, has developed swiftly over the past several years. The project’s design intends to create an accessible space, incorporating flexibility in its functions, which can serve to accommodate the area’s growing population, and meet the needs of residents and users. The building thus serves multiple functions, housing retail, transit, and offices all in one complex designed to accommodate the city’s growing population, but built to human scale. In contrast with the monolithic buildings nearby, this scheme is divided into distinct blocks that correspond to their different functions, with a large plaza to tie it together.
Tour Carpe Diem by Robert A.M. Stern Architects
Photography by Peter Aaron / OTTO
Located in the heart of La Défense, just outside of Paris, Tour Carpe Diem is the first building in the area to reconnect the raised esplanade – known as the dalle – that continues the axis of the Champs-Elysées to the historic urban fabric of the surrounding city of Courbevoie. Tour Carpe Diem addresses the need for La Défense to evolve toward greater integration with its surroundings, through a more intimate pedestrian scale as well as more compelling architecture. This is primarily achieved through the addition of a monumental exterior staircase that links the dalle to an adjacent neighborhood within Courbevoie. The building is an important step forward in the evolution of La Défense toward pedestrian-friendly urbanism and environmentally responsible architecture
