Clubhouse in the Forest

Project Design Competition of Temasek Club for Military officers, Singapore
Client Minstry of Defence, Singapore
Date 2012

Design Brief

This invited competition is the concept architectural proposal for a recreational clubhouse for military officers and their families in a steep forested site at Rifle Range Road, Bukit Timah. Known as the Temasek Clubhouse, the project includes a multi-purpose sports hall, a banquet hall, 2 restaurants and a wine bar, a 40-lane bowling alley, childcare centre, entertainment rooms, seminar rooms, swimming pool, spa, tennis courts, adventure camp ground and parking for 240 cars.

Design Concept

Inspired by natural bedrock and man-made padi fields, the architecture of the Temasek Clubhouse is a meandering formation that embeds into the earth by gently sweeping across the contours.

“The architecture we have devised is a fusion between a tropical resort and a soaring institution to harmonise yet contrast with the surrounding forest.”

The project brief required us to place a massive building, with all the appropriate facilities of a clubhouse, on a site with existing dense vegetation. Due to the site’s location, the architecture we have devised is a fusion between a tropical resort and a soaring institution to harmonise yet contrast with the surrounding forest.  We sought to create an icon that is at once contemporary yet rustic, meandering yet linear, irregular yet ordered.

“The tall undulating white roof brings to the viewer’s mind the clouds in the sky above while its curved building profile anchors the meandering walls firmly into the ground.”

Our primary concern was to conserve as much of the forest as the challenging brief would allow for. In order not to cut too deeply into the terrain, we decided that this building should not have straight lines unless necessary. We also studied the brief carefully to decide how we should balance the twin demands of responding sensitively to the site yet fulfilling the complex structural requirements of the competition brief.

The landscaping of the project blends in seamlessly with the natural vegetation. In response to the sweeping profile of the building, we created an infinity pool that surrounds the entire perimeter edge of the second floor that eventually cascades down as waterfall to animate the open space. The tall undulating white roof brings to the viewer’s mind the clouds in the sky above while its curved building profile anchors the meandering walls firmly into the ground.

Taken holistically, the project unites several disparate themes of land, sea, and air, to create a clubhouse truly suited to its context of an artifice in a remote part of Singapore.

Clubhouse in the Forest

Project Design Competition of Temasek Club for Military officers, Singapore
Client Minstry of Defence, Singapore
Date 2012

Design Brief

This invited competition is the concept architectural proposal for a recreational clubhouse for military officers and their families in a steep forested site at Rifle Range Road, Bukit Timah. Known as the Temasek Clubhouse, the project includes a multi-purpose sports hall, a banquet hall, 2 restaurants and a wine bar, a 40-lane bowling alley, childcare centre, entertainment rooms, seminar rooms, swimming pool, spa, tennis courts, adventure camp ground and parking for 240 cars.

Design Concept

Inspired by natural bedrock and man-made padi fields, the architecture of the Temasek Clubhouse is a meandering formation that embeds into the earth by gently sweeping across the contours.

The project brief required us to place a massive building, with all the appropriate facilities of a clubhouse, on a site with existing dense vegetation. Due to the site’s location, the architecture we have devised is a fusion between a tropical resort and a soaring institution to harmonise yet contrast with the surrounding forest.  We sought to create an icon that is at once contemporary yet rustic, meandering yet linear, irregular yet ordered.

Our primary concern was to conserve as much of the forest as the challenging brief would allow for. In order not to cut too deeply into the terrain, we decided that this building should not have straight lines unless necessary. We also studied the brief carefully to decide how we should balance the twin demands of responding sensitively to the site yet fulfilling the complex structural requirements of the competition brief.

The landscaping of the project blends in seamlessly with the natural vegetation. In response to the sweeping profile of the building, we created an infinity pool that surrounds the entire perimeter edge of the second floor that eventually cascades down as waterfall to animate the open space. The tall undulating white roof brings to the viewer’s mind the clouds in the sky above while its curved building profile anchors the meandering walls firmly into the ground.

Taken holistically, the project unites several disparate themes of land, sea, and air, to create a clubhouse truly suited to its context of an artifice in a remote part of Singapore.