Water as a Theme

Water as a design theme or a focal entity in a concept has been lingering in my head ever since I saw a design by WOHA for a underground train station in Singapore which they exhibit and won at the World Architecture Festival 2009, Barcelona. This theme was shortly forgotten due to my busy schedule for my thesis, but my interest has been triggered again after uploading my previous post, swimming 55 stories up.

Water seems to provide a certain tranquility that reflects and beautify a space with a very simplistic manner. The Infinity Pool at Alila Ubud (above) is an award winning pool, similar to the pool in Skypark, it also stretches towards the virgin jungle, sinking your senses with the surrounding.

This is a recent project design by WOHA, Alila Villas Uluwatu in Bali. It is an exquisite eco-resort design and this beautifully designed complex straddles a striking white limestone cliff and an arid savanna on the tropical island’s arid Bukit Pennisula. The Alilas Villas resort is the first of its kind to achieve the highest level of certification for Environmentally Sustainable Development (ESD) and is designed for the Green Globes GG21 standard. The take-your-breath-away beauty of the resort and its sensitive placement on the delicate landscape is enough to set one’s mind at ease.

I will be designing a garden for my parents so this would be a very inspirational precedent. Water theme design does not have to be limited to just resorts. It can be used as an interface between two spaces. WOHA and Steven Holl had similar approach on different type of spaces.

This is the Bras Basah MRT Station which help WOHA scooped building of the year in Barcelona and also a RIBA award. The water acts as a layering between the outside and underground, an interface yet the transparency creates a connection between spaces. It sits quietly like a public pond from ground level, but the water glass roof is a huge skylight for the underground.

Steven Holl carpark design is similar in concept, different in material and context. The concrete roof is holding up a much deeper pond situated in front of the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art.

Now, time to think of something more innovative, if only I could. <_<>