Golden Mile Complex
Encyclopedia
Golden Mile Complex is a high-rise commercial
and residential building on Beach Road in Kallang
, Singapore
. The building was formerly known as Woh Hup Complex. The complex has 411 shops and 500 parking places.
of Singapore's Central Area. The Golden Mile Complex development was the result of the department's first Sales of Sites programme in 1967.
The "Golden Mile" refers to the strip of land between Nicoll Highway
and Beach Road. It was planned by the Singapore Government as a high-rise spine fronting Kallang Basin. The area used to be occupied by squatters and small marine industries.
Built at a cost of S$18 million and completed in 1973, the 16-storey Golden Mile Complex is one of the early pioneers of integrating multiple operations into a single mixed-use development in Singapore. Today, the complex's shopping mall
houses numerous Thai
clubs, shops and eateries, as well as tourist and ticketing agencies for travellers going to Malaysia by bus or coach.
A minor upgrading was carried out on the Golden Mile Complex building in 1983, when tinted glass was added to the Beach Road façade
to achieve the desired overall thermal transfer value rating. In 1986, the whole building was redecorated.
In March 2006, the Golden Mile Complex was described as a "vertical slum
", "terrible eyesore" and "national disgrace" by Singapore Nominated Member of Parliament
Ivan Png: "Each individual owner acts selfishly, adding extensions, zinc sheets, patched floors, glass, all without any regard for other owners and without any regard for the national welfare." The residents have also done over their balconies to create an extra room.
The Golden Mile Complex, which is located on a 99-year leasehold site starting from 1969, has been planned to be put up for an en bloc sale. If the sale for the strata-titled mixed development is successful, the building would be redeveloped.
The Golden Mile Complex is a commercial and residential development, providing offices, shopping, entertainment services and apartment
living within its podium
and stepped terrace
structure. It houses 411 shops, 226 offices and 68 residential units. The building was designed by Gan Eng Oon, William Lim
and Tay Kheng Soon of the Singapore architect
firm Design Partnership, now known as DP Architects
.
Sited on 1.3 hectare
s and built to a height of 89 metres (292 feet), the Golden Mile Complex is an exemplary type of "megastructure
" described by architectural historian, Reyner Banham
. It is one of the few that have been actually realised in the world. Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate Fumihiko Maki
had called the Golden Mile Complex a "collective form". It successfully propagates high-density usage and diversity under a broad range of ideas advanced by the Japan
ese Metabolist Movement
of the 1960s. The complex was designed as a "vertical city", which stands in contrast to homogenised cities where functional zoning
restrains all signs of the latter's vitality.
Conceived as a prototype for a lively environment, the design of the Golden Mile Complex was intended to catalyse urban development along Beach Road by employing an extruded section that would stretch along the East Coast facing the sea. In terms of public transport
and accessibility
, the building is serviced from the rear on Beach Road, instead of its frontage with Nicoll Highway, with a continuous pedestrian spine linking all buildings in the Golden Mile of Beach Road. The design was influenced by the linear city
concepts of Le Corbusier
and Arturo Soria y Mata
.
The stepped profile of the Golden Mile Complex offers the occupants of the apartments on the upper floors a panoramic view of the sea and sky. All the apartments have balconies, and two-storey maisonette penthouse
s crown off the building. The narrowness of this sloping slab
form enhances natural ventilation
and shades a lofty communal concourse
above the podium along Beach Road. The stepped design also reduces the impact of noise from the road traffic. The Golden Mile Complex preceded by several years avant-garde
stepped-section buildings which were built in the United Kingdom
and Europe
.
The lower floors contain offices and a retail mall
, located within staggered atria
to allow natural light
into the heart of the building.
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
and residential building on Beach Road in Kallang
Kallang
Kallang is an urban planning area and a subdivision located in the southeastern part of Singapore.It is probably best known for being the location of the Singapore Indoor Stadium & the old National Stadium, as well as the new Singapore Sports Hub...
, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. The building was formerly known as Woh Hup Complex. The complex has 411 shops and 500 parking places.
History
In 1966, the Urban Renewal Department of the Housing and Development Board was formed to facilitate greater flexibility and autonomy in comprehensive redevelopmentRedevelopment
Redevelopment is any new construction on a site that has pre-existing uses.-Description:Variations on redevelopment include:* Urban infill on vacant parcels that have no existing activity but were previously developed, especially on Brownfield land, such as the redevelopment of an industrial site...
of Singapore's Central Area. The Golden Mile Complex development was the result of the department's first Sales of Sites programme in 1967.
The "Golden Mile" refers to the strip of land between Nicoll Highway
Nicoll Highway
Nicoll Highway is a major arterial road in Singapore which links Kallang to the city. En route, it passes through the areas of Kallang, Kampong Glam and Marina Centre....
and Beach Road. It was planned by the Singapore Government as a high-rise spine fronting Kallang Basin. The area used to be occupied by squatters and small marine industries.
Built at a cost of S$18 million and completed in 1973, the 16-storey Golden Mile Complex is one of the early pioneers of integrating multiple operations into a single mixed-use development in Singapore. Today, the complex's shopping mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
houses numerous Thai
Thai people
The Thai people, or Siamese, are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of...
clubs, shops and eateries, as well as tourist and ticketing agencies for travellers going to Malaysia by bus or coach.
A minor upgrading was carried out on the Golden Mile Complex building in 1983, when tinted glass was added to the Beach Road façade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
to achieve the desired overall thermal transfer value rating. In 1986, the whole building was redecorated.
In March 2006, the Golden Mile Complex was described as a "vertical slum
Slum
A slum, as defined by United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the percentage of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the...
", "terrible eyesore" and "national disgrace" by Singapore Nominated Member of Parliament
Nominated Member of Parliament
A Nominated Member of Parliament is a Member of the Parliament of Singapore who is appointed instead of being elected into office by the people, and who does not belong to any political party or represent any constituency. There are currently nine NMPs in Parliament...
Ivan Png: "Each individual owner acts selfishly, adding extensions, zinc sheets, patched floors, glass, all without any regard for other owners and without any regard for the national welfare." The residents have also done over their balconies to create an extra room.
The Golden Mile Complex, which is located on a 99-year leasehold site starting from 1969, has been planned to be put up for an en bloc sale. If the sale for the strata-titled mixed development is successful, the building would be redeveloped.
Architecture
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
living within its podium
Podium
A podium is a platform that is used to raise something to a short distance above its surroundings. It derives from the Greek πόδι In architecture a building can rest on a large podium. Podia can also be used to raise people, for instance the conductor of an orchestra stands on a podium as do many...
and stepped terrace
Terrace (agriculture)
Terraces are used in farming to cultivate sloped land. Graduated terrace steps are commonly used to farm on hilly or mountainous terrain. Terraced fields decrease erosion and surface runoff, and are effective for growing crops requiring much water, such as rice...
structure. It houses 411 shops, 226 offices and 68 residential units. The building was designed by Gan Eng Oon, William Lim
William S.W. Lim
William S.W. Lim, born in Hong Kong in 1932, is an architect. He graduated from the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London and continued his graduate studies at Harvard University. Lim was a Fulbright Fellow in the Department of City and Regional Planning at Harvard University....
and Tay Kheng Soon of the Singapore architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
firm Design Partnership, now known as DP Architects
DP Architects
DP Architects Pte Ltd is one of the largest architectural practices in Singapore.-Corporate Profile:DP Architects started as Design Partnership in 1967, incorporated as a private limited company in 1993, and evolved to the present as the heart of the DP group of companies – a multi-disciplinary...
.
Sited on 1.3 hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
s and built to a height of 89 metres (292 feet), the Golden Mile Complex is an exemplary type of "megastructure
Megastructure
A megastructure is a very large manmade object, though the limits of precisely how large this is vary considerably. Some apply the term to any especially large or tall building....
" described by architectural historian, Reyner Banham
Reyner Banham
Peter Reyner Banham was a prolific architectural critic and writer best known for his 1960 theoretical treatise Theory and Design in the First Machine Age and for his 1971 book Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies...
. It is one of the few that have been actually realised in the world. Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate Fumihiko Maki
Fumihiko Maki
is a Japanese architect and currently teaching at Keio University SFC.- Biography :After studying at the University of Tokyo he moved to the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and then to Harvard Graduate School of Design. In 1956, he took a post as assistant professor of...
had called the Golden Mile Complex a "collective form". It successfully propagates high-density usage and diversity under a broad range of ideas advanced by the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese Metabolist Movement
Metabolist Movement
In the late 1950s a small group of young Japanese architects and designers joined forces under the title of "Metabolism". Their visions for cities of the future inhabited by a mass society were characterized by large scale, flexible, and expandable structures that evoked the processes of organic...
of the 1960s. The complex was designed as a "vertical city", which stands in contrast to homogenised cities where functional zoning
Zoning
Zoning is a device of land use planning used by local governments in most developed countries. The word is derived from the practice of designating permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another...
restrains all signs of the latter's vitality.
Conceived as a prototype for a lively environment, the design of the Golden Mile Complex was intended to catalyse urban development along Beach Road by employing an extruded section that would stretch along the East Coast facing the sea. In terms of public transport
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
and accessibility
Accessibility
Accessibility is a general term used to describe the degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is available to as many people as possible. Accessibility can be viewed as the "ability to access" and benefit from some system or entity...
, the building is serviced from the rear on Beach Road, instead of its frontage with Nicoll Highway, with a continuous pedestrian spine linking all buildings in the Golden Mile of Beach Road. The design was influenced by the linear city
Linear city
The linear city was an urban plan for an elongated urban formation. The city would consist of a series of functionally specialized parallel sectors. Generally, the city would run parallel to a river and be built so that the dominant wind would blow from the residential areas to the industrial strip...
concepts of Le Corbusier
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-born French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and painter, famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930...
and Arturo Soria y Mata
Arturo Soria y Mata
Arturo Soria y Mata was an internationally important Spanish urban planner whose work remains highly inspirational today. He is most well known for his concept of the Linear City for application to Madrid and elsewhere....
.
The stepped profile of the Golden Mile Complex offers the occupants of the apartments on the upper floors a panoramic view of the sea and sky. All the apartments have balconies, and two-storey maisonette penthouse
Penthouse apartment
A penthouse apartment or penthouse is an apartment that is on one of the highest floors of an apartment building. Penthouses are typically differentiated from other apartments by luxury features.-History:...
s crown off the building. The narrowness of this sloping slab
Concrete slab
A concrete slab is a common structural element of modern buildings. Horizontal slabs of steel reinforced concrete, typically between 10 and 50 centimeters thick, are most often used to construct floors and ceilings, while thinner slabs are also used for exterior paving.In many domestic and...
form enhances natural ventilation
Natural ventilation
Natural ventilation is the process of supplying and removing air through an indoor space without using mechanical systems. It refers to the flow of external air to an indoor space as a result of pressure or temperatures differences. There are two types of natural ventilation occurring in...
and shades a lofty communal concourse
Concourse
A concourse is a place where pathways or roads meet, such as in a hotel, a convention center, a railway station, an airport terminal, a hall, or other space.-Examples:Examples of concourses include:* Meeting halls* Universities* Railway stations...
above the podium along Beach Road. The stepped design also reduces the impact of noise from the road traffic. The Golden Mile Complex preceded by several years avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
stepped-section buildings which were built in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
The lower floors contain offices and a retail mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
, located within staggered atria
Atrium (architecture)
In modern architecture, an atrium is a large open space, often several stories high and having a glazed roof and/or large windows, often situated within a larger multistory building and often located immediately beyond the main entrance doors...
to allow natural light
Natural light
Natural light can mean:*Sunlight*Moonlight*Natural Light Beer a product made by Anheuser-Busch....
into the heart of the building.