Expertise
Master Plan
Over decades, DP has been actively involved in a multitude of projects at various scales – from large, hundreds of hectare master plans right down to a single building in the same project. Being one of the largest architecture firms in the world, our actual built experience in a wide variety of building types has provided us with rich database of research and functional criteria which inform our planning work from multiple perspectives. In addition, our diversified clientele, that have included government bodies, real estate developers and institutions, has allowed us to develop familiar insights into the diverse requirements and priorities of different stake holders. Our experience means we’ve developed a principled methodology that is a multi-disciplinary one, to help realise our vision of what urbanism and public spaces should be. Through the belief that the built environment has the power to uplift the human spirit and experience over several epochs – which begins at the inception of a master plan – our planners are interested in creating long-term vibrancy for the area being designed.
Place-making is a top priority for us – extending beyond form to include programming components, balanced with sensitive consideration of the people, their cultural norms, their practices, climate and weather. At the same time, we also ensure our plans are economically transformative, open and flexible, so that the design can adapt as that particular culture or locale evolves. Issues of social inclusiveness, “imageability”, identity, sustainability, memorability, liveability and economic viability are all key principles that we keep in mind in starting our projects. We also focus on environmental factors such as improving air quality, reducing carbon footprint or making the city more walkable, so that the environment we design helps cities become the attractive destinations they need to be for future living, vibrant and healthy community-building and economic investment.
Place-making is a top priority for us – extending beyond form to include programming components, balanced with sensitive consideration of the people, their cultural norms, their practices, climate and weather. At the same time, we also ensure our plans are economically transformative, open and flexible, so that the design can adapt as that particular culture or locale evolves. Issues of social inclusiveness, “imageability”, identity, sustainability, memorability, liveability and economic viability are all key principles that we keep in mind in starting our projects. We also focus on environmental factors such as improving air quality, reducing carbon footprint or making the city more walkable, so that the environment we design helps cities become the attractive destinations they need to be for future living, vibrant and healthy community-building and economic investment.
Projects Involved:
Industrial
The industrial building typology represents a unique set of conditions that challenge designers to think about utilitarian buildings that could transform the environment. Starting from our first factory building project, the Yeo Hiap Seng factory at Dunearn Road, to the recent President’s Design Award-winning Sunray Woodcraft Construction headquarters, DP has eschewed the typical enclosed factory building type with monotonous appearance and severe massing to create refreshing and dynamic alternatives.
DP has helped to redefine the industrial building typology with design solutions that not only optimise the operating processes, but are at the same time attractive, promote the well-being of the occupants, and instil pride and purpose in the owners and employees. Besides addressing the functional and efficiency requirements of the client, users, context and climate, DP’s factory building designs consider ventilation, landscaping, circulation and plan layouts for greater efficiency and collaboration, colour palette and material choices, and scale to ensure a human-centred experience within an industrial environment.
DP has helped to redefine the industrial building typology with design solutions that not only optimise the operating processes, but are at the same time attractive, promote the well-being of the occupants, and instil pride and purpose in the owners and employees. Besides addressing the functional and efficiency requirements of the client, users, context and climate, DP’s factory building designs consider ventilation, landscaping, circulation and plan layouts for greater efficiency and collaboration, colour palette and material choices, and scale to ensure a human-centred experience within an industrial environment.
Projects Involved:
Office
The modern workplace is changing rapidly and is transforming to become more flexible, agile, mobile, and even playful. Offices now need to be designed for an innovation-led economy, where a diversity of spaces within the development can be created to foster social interaction, inspiration, creativity, collaboration and improve overall efficiency. This is to cater to an agile and collaborative workforce on its way to greater innovation.
Commercial buildings and office spaces need to evolve for the future in line with changing user requirements and lifestyle needs, such as the need for common areas like cafes, staff cafeterias, cosy meeting rooms and conference rooms, places to relax and hang out, places to interact with colleagues and friends, collaborative spaces where people can work on-the-go, and access to nature and outdoor spaces.
On top of creative working environments, there are new business models and concepts to consider that take advantage of the rise in entrepreneurship and breakdown of the traditional office model, to appeal to how younger employees and entrepreneurs wish to work. These include co-working spaces with shared facilities that allow start-ups with complementary services and offerings to rent a space together and benefit, or co-working spaces equipped with technology to allow flexibility in where you work. Our track record includes the planning and building design of high-rise office towers, mixed-use complexes with offices, and industrial and technology parks. With 50 years of experience as one of the largest architectural practices in the world, we have expertise in designing many business and industrial developments which are highly sensitive and responsive to its context.
Commercial buildings and office spaces need to evolve for the future in line with changing user requirements and lifestyle needs, such as the need for common areas like cafes, staff cafeterias, cosy meeting rooms and conference rooms, places to relax and hang out, places to interact with colleagues and friends, collaborative spaces where people can work on-the-go, and access to nature and outdoor spaces.
On top of creative working environments, there are new business models and concepts to consider that take advantage of the rise in entrepreneurship and breakdown of the traditional office model, to appeal to how younger employees and entrepreneurs wish to work. These include co-working spaces with shared facilities that allow start-ups with complementary services and offerings to rent a space together and benefit, or co-working spaces equipped with technology to allow flexibility in where you work. Our track record includes the planning and building design of high-rise office towers, mixed-use complexes with offices, and industrial and technology parks. With 50 years of experience as one of the largest architectural practices in the world, we have expertise in designing many business and industrial developments which are highly sensitive and responsive to its context.
Projects Involved:
Healthcare
From new technology, medical advances, changing demographics to reimbursement, healthcare is changing at an incredible pace, making the planning of healthcare environments and delivery systems more complex than ever before. A sustainable approach to healthcare is required, which calls for designing solutions that anticipate future needs and support strong long-term development for healthcare providers.
DP has carefully handpicked a group of healthcare industry professionals devoted to helping you understand and define your future. Combined with one of the largest and most respected architectural practices in the world, the advantage of working with us is an unparalleled experience and knowledge of best practices, benchmarks and trends, allowing our clients to objectively and accurately assess their institution's current and future needs.
Our expertise can be found in large and small community hospitals, urban medical centres, teaching hospitals, long-term care facilities, educational institutions, rehabilitation centres, children’s hospitals, multi-speciality group practice clinics, government hospitals, medical and academic office buildings, and free standing ambulatory care centres.
DP has carefully handpicked a group of healthcare industry professionals devoted to helping you understand and define your future. Combined with one of the largest and most respected architectural practices in the world, the advantage of working with us is an unparalleled experience and knowledge of best practices, benchmarks and trends, allowing our clients to objectively and accurately assess their institution's current and future needs.
Our expertise can be found in large and small community hospitals, urban medical centres, teaching hospitals, long-term care facilities, educational institutions, rehabilitation centres, children’s hospitals, multi-speciality group practice clinics, government hospitals, medical and academic office buildings, and free standing ambulatory care centres.
Projects Involved:
Hospitality
Hotels are designed to establish a unique personal identity, interwoven with the surroundings to celebrate a powerful sense of local character, while encouraging visitors to feel at home in a new place. Design processes for these projects are equally concerned with being immersed in local culture as they are with fostering a level of autonomy – creating a buffer between the room and the city to harbour comfort and privacy. DP pursues a holistic approach in its hospitality building design, one synthesising the technical and the functional to correspond with the highest standards of service to deliver an unforgettable experience.
Each project is designed dynamically to capture the unique energy of its site, with connections to the city that are contextual and specialised. Restoration and adaptive re-use projects reconfigure existing heritage buildings and present guests with both the historical and the contemporary. Addition and alteration projects reposition existing structures within the city’s denser fabric to create new urban relationships. For resorts situated within the urban fringe, built spaces are distributed across the landscape to bind guests intimately with nature. These urban hotels are programmed to blend a range of spaces – indoor and outdoor, private and public, small and large in scale – to facilitate social engagement and civic vibrancy.
Each project is designed dynamically to capture the unique energy of its site, with connections to the city that are contextual and specialised. Restoration and adaptive re-use projects reconfigure existing heritage buildings and present guests with both the historical and the contemporary. Addition and alteration projects reposition existing structures within the city’s denser fabric to create new urban relationships. For resorts situated within the urban fringe, built spaces are distributed across the landscape to bind guests intimately with nature. These urban hotels are programmed to blend a range of spaces – indoor and outdoor, private and public, small and large in scale – to facilitate social engagement and civic vibrancy.
Projects Involved:
Religious
Every religion has its own time-steeped traditions, symbols and signifiers, resulting in exacting guidelines when it comes to the design and construction of their places of worship.
Whether it is a church, mosque, temple or a synagogue, DP understands that its design solutions have to serve as a dialogue between a deep respect for the religion's historical and architectural traditions while attempting to incorporate modern elements to elevate the sense of spirituality within a space.
Whether it is a church, mosque, temple or a synagogue, DP understands that its design solutions have to serve as a dialogue between a deep respect for the religion's historical and architectural traditions while attempting to incorporate modern elements to elevate the sense of spirituality within a space.
Projects Involved:
Institutional
Serving a wide range of government clients and project types, DP has effectively manage every institutional project type from large-scale academic mixed-use campuses, government headquarters and learning facilities design to small-scale feasibility studies. Educational doctrines and pedagogies are evolving to accommodate changing technologies, the way information is broadcast and received, and the emphasis on critical thinking in a creative and knowledge-based economy. New architectural solutions are emerging from these shifting pedagogies, and DP has built institutional campuses that respond to these factors. DP has helped to shape new campus architecture to support holistic learning environments and offer open-source platforms to encourage discourse, inter-activity and collaboration amongst students and faculty.
Campus design is a combination of urban planning and architecture at a scale that focuses on the pedestrian. As large urban elements, these campuses establish strong relationships with neighbouring public spaces. When designing urban campuses, a particularly strong concern emerges for the association between indoor and outdoor spaces, the way people move between buildings, cityscape integration, and aspects of environmental design that influence energy costs. Institutional buildings has to be able to adapt to constantly changing educational demands, and flexible models that can be adaptable and elastic in how it provides a usable learning environment is key. A number of modular facilities are designed into these campuses as a means for the educational institutions to be receptive to future variation.
Campus design is a combination of urban planning and architecture at a scale that focuses on the pedestrian. As large urban elements, these campuses establish strong relationships with neighbouring public spaces. When designing urban campuses, a particularly strong concern emerges for the association between indoor and outdoor spaces, the way people move between buildings, cityscape integration, and aspects of environmental design that influence energy costs. Institutional buildings has to be able to adapt to constantly changing educational demands, and flexible models that can be adaptable and elastic in how it provides a usable learning environment is key. A number of modular facilities are designed into these campuses as a means for the educational institutions to be receptive to future variation.
Projects Involved:
Residential
DP has been involved in residential design since the firm’s first condominium project, also one of the first condominiums in Singapore, Ridgewood Condominium, in 1981. Since then, our projects celebrate the benefits of city dwelling, yet also offer spaces that break from the city – offering both community and a harbour for the comforts of private life. Each project is designed to capture the energy of its site, with connections to the city that are contextual and specialised.
Adaptability and creativity is critical when dealing with the challenges over the years, be it site constraints, urban and building guidelines, or changing societal trends. More importantly, woven throughout our projects is the common, constant thread of our commitment to enrich the human experience and spirit through our planning and architectural works. Our aim has always been to improve the quality of life of the people in our buildings – our design philosophy as a people-centric, homegrown architectural firm.
We understand that residential designs are about creating quality environments to nurture communities, beyond the inclusion of functionality and the fulfilment of pragmatic, commercial requirements. Innovative residential design involves more personal customisation, the promotion of a life amid nature and the re-cultivation of a sense of community. We look at the creation of “green homes”, which go beyond environmental sustainability and looks at how people’s lifestyles can seamlessly integrate with nature. Our landscapes within residential developments are designed purposefully and also act as a social space for people to enjoy rather than a decorative feature. Today, we think out of the box to offer the best of functionality, design features and aesthetics, as residents are not only looking for an apartment unit, but something that fits their changing lifestyles and design tastes.
Our design strategies and responses have evolved over the years in catering to the needs of private homeowners and providing them with a quality life, genuine value for property developers and sustainable approaches for everyone’s benefit. All our projects are grounded in the characteristics of the local community, resulting in authentic settings that share a relationship to their surroundings and engender feelings of belonging.
Adaptability and creativity is critical when dealing with the challenges over the years, be it site constraints, urban and building guidelines, or changing societal trends. More importantly, woven throughout our projects is the common, constant thread of our commitment to enrich the human experience and spirit through our planning and architectural works. Our aim has always been to improve the quality of life of the people in our buildings – our design philosophy as a people-centric, homegrown architectural firm.
We understand that residential designs are about creating quality environments to nurture communities, beyond the inclusion of functionality and the fulfilment of pragmatic, commercial requirements. Innovative residential design involves more personal customisation, the promotion of a life amid nature and the re-cultivation of a sense of community. We look at the creation of “green homes”, which go beyond environmental sustainability and looks at how people’s lifestyles can seamlessly integrate with nature. Our landscapes within residential developments are designed purposefully and also act as a social space for people to enjoy rather than a decorative feature. Today, we think out of the box to offer the best of functionality, design features and aesthetics, as residents are not only looking for an apartment unit, but something that fits their changing lifestyles and design tastes.
Our design strategies and responses have evolved over the years in catering to the needs of private homeowners and providing them with a quality life, genuine value for property developers and sustainable approaches for everyone’s benefit. All our projects are grounded in the characteristics of the local community, resulting in authentic settings that share a relationship to their surroundings and engender feelings of belonging.
Projects Involved:
Mixed Use
With greater emphasis on the quality of civic life, designers are tasked with redefining urban spaces in more dynamic, inhabitable and sustainable ways. DP's work in the mixed-use typology exemplifies the firm’s commitment towards enhancing cityscapes, by creating destinations that serve as strong social centres with opportunities for human interaction within the urban fabric. Whether a single mixed-use block or a zoned network of buildings and spaces that cater to various aspects of urban life, DP places a strong emphasis on understanding local conditions and addressing the different requirements and overlapping needs of various groups to reinvent urban spaces as vibrant destinations sensitive to the landscape and context.
A pioneer in this typology, DP is the firm behind the first mixed-use development in Singapore, People’s Park Complex. Since then, DP has continued to lead in this evolving and complex typology, successfully bringing together distinct programmes in a single destination, consistent to the motto of ‘Live, Work, Play’, to satisfy the needs of modern lifestyles. Programmes are planned to generate synergetic relationships, engaging users and vitalising the development. In large-scale developments, intersections, connecting spaces and circulation paths function as streetscapes to support the key programmes, infused with greenery and choreographed to invite exploration and allow various groups to flow between the various zones with great ease and opportunity within the integrated development.
A pioneer in this typology, DP is the firm behind the first mixed-use development in Singapore, People’s Park Complex. Since then, DP has continued to lead in this evolving and complex typology, successfully bringing together distinct programmes in a single destination, consistent to the motto of ‘Live, Work, Play’, to satisfy the needs of modern lifestyles. Programmes are planned to generate synergetic relationships, engaging users and vitalising the development. In large-scale developments, intersections, connecting spaces and circulation paths function as streetscapes to support the key programmes, infused with greenery and choreographed to invite exploration and allow various groups to flow between the various zones with great ease and opportunity within the integrated development.