Architecture should heal our souls: Yip Yuen Hong, President’s Design Award winner

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Architecture should heal our souls: Yip Yuen Hong, President's Design Award winner

Attending-seeking, self-indulgent design is out. Soul-lifting architecture that helps humanity make sense of life is in, believes veteran architect Yip Yuen Hong, designer of the new Jervois Prive in Tanglin.

08 Aug 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 04 Jul 2022 11:11PM)

"Architecture," said Yip Yuen Hong, "is a balance canvass betwixt art and science."

Speaking at the showflat of his latest project, Jervois Prive in Tanglin, the four-time President'south Design Award-winning architect waxed philosophical with CNA Luxury on the difference between the artist and the builder.

"An artist may carve something and people either like it or hate it, and and then they walk away. Only with architecture, people need to inhabit the space. So, we have to strike a balance."

If a blueprint is too grounded in scientific discipline, that simply won't practise for Yip. Neither is being "totally artistic" in approach, which the main architect and founder of Singapore-based ipli Architects deems "not responsible".

In Yip's estimation, an architect's job is to therefore satisfy the scientific discipline while injecting a sense of artistry that will "stir your spirit and create a little bit of magic… hopefully."

Ah, yep. In the Singapore context, ane could indeed suppose an oasis in the centre of the urban jungle to carry a certain kind of magic. At the very to the lowest degree, it makes for an enchanting premise.

The sanctuary that is Jervois Prive sits on a quondam nutmeg plantation where, back in the twenty-four hours, rich merchants built large bungalows on sprawling estates. Yip was tasked with creating a luxurious living environment ensconced by lush greenery, while being just minutes abroad from the bustle of Orchard Route and the CBD.

Prive, after all, means private in French. And for its maiden residential development, Midas Land was intent on retaining the sense of privacy and prestige of the exclusive Tanglin neighbourhood surrounded by Skilful Form Bungalows, high-cease residences and foreign embassies in the prime Commune 10 location.

The 5-storey, 45-unit freehold condominium houses one-bedders (from 549 sq. ft. starting at S$1.62 one thousand thousand), two-bedroom apartments (from 689 sq. ft. starting at South$2.01 one thousand thousand) and three-bedroom units (from i,109 sq. ft. starting at S$3.eighteen million). It is expected to exist completed by the offset half of 2022, with the first residents scheduled to motility in in early 2023.

LUXURY & LIVEABILITY

"I of the principal challenges of designing housing is that it needs to be subtle, equally information technology'south for people to build their lives effectually. That's where information technology differs from designing, say, an art gallery where yous tin exist a scrap more funky, a bit more than acrobatic. So you tin can't be stylish. Architecture should exist timeless; unproblematic simply beautifully-executed buildings," Yip explained.

The veteran builder was handpicked past Midas' co-founders Dawn Lim and Mike Ho to imbue the 27,109 sq. ft. site with his signature minimalist and timeless mode. The former, a trained architect whose family owns construction and belongings conglomerate Bit Eng Seng Corporation, and the latter, a quondam customer of Yip'due south whose Practiced Grade Bungalow in the same district he had incidentally designed several years ago. The stellar team backside Jervois Prive besides includes celebrity interior designer Peter Tay and mural builder Salad Dressing.

Shaded in a monochromatic palette of greys and black, the luxury development is modelled later the old black-and-white colonial-styled estates that course part of the heritage of the Tanglin precinct.

Its eco-modern blueprint and concept call to mind the recent rising of residential developments that are taking a page out of The Jungle Book and further greening our Garden Urban center.

There'south EDEN at Draycott Park, conceptualised by British architect Thomas Heatherwick as a private garden in the sky, besides as Yip'due south own earlier project, Martin Modern at Robertson Quay, where 80 per cent of the land area is dedicated to a botanical symphony of 15 manicured gardens, plus a three-storey gardenscape crowning the rooftop of each of the 2 towers, altogether home to 200 species of plants and 50 species of trees.

Is this eco-appropriation a bid to be on-tendency?

"Architecture should never follow whatever trend," he dismissed. "Everybody is going green merely we've actually been doing green for the longest fourth dimension. It's really not then much about looking good simply about creating an environment conducive for the people living there," he reiterated.

Alfresco dining. (Rendering: Midas State) "One of the main challenges of designing housing is that information technology needs to be subtle, as information technology's for people to build their lives around. So you tin can't be fashionable. Architecture should be timeless; simple simply beautifully-executed buildings." – Yip Yuen Hong SOULFUL SPACES

The notion of soul is 1 that Yip invites into the conversation fairly oft. First, he decides it is neither his identify nor his duty to create information technology.

"I can't create soul; it'southward the people who alive in the infinite that create it. I tin can create the backdrop for people to build their lives upon," he said.

"Magical" is some other intangible that the philosophical 60-yr-quondam with a gentle demeanour and scholarly guise often speaks of. He finds himself nigh susceptible to the charm of books, referring to them as his "salvation".

"They tell you that life is not always blackness and white. Sometimes, it'due south a bit grey. Architecture is the same; it's really not so clear-cutting. Information technology's also a scrap grey sometimes. I recall all artistic processes are similar this," he surmised.

And if he weren't an architect, Yip might accept channelled his creativity to prose. "Novels, mayhap," mused the fan of authors Haruki Murakami and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Likening the fantastical nature of their literary works to architecture, he added: "It's like in a sense; you need to be grounded in reality merely sometimes y'all demand to be more magical and dreamy so that information technology lifts the soul."

LESS IS MORE

As a veteran technically more senior than Singapore herself, Yip has literally witnessed Singapore'south cityscape evolve through the decades. He holds but a few gripes concerning the architectural industry today.

"Life in Singapore is so expensive so when we create annihilation, it's for the single purpose of making coin. While we can't deny that nosotros need to make coin, we need some kind of architecture to heal our souls," he said.

And despite his cord of accolades, awards hold petty interest for Yip, autonomously from the fact that they are a necessary pursuit for the purpose of securing business in this meritocratic society.

"I actually never set out to win awards whenever I do something," he maintained. "I don't have any earth-shattering idea to salvage the world through compages. I feel like I'thou just a fiddling sculptor hacking abroad at a piece of stone trying to find my way… Then, hopefully, whatsoever is created gives people some joy."

Ane of the showflat's bedrooms. (Photo: Midas Land) "I actually never prepare out to win awards whenever I do something. I don't have any globe-shattering thought to save the globe through architecture. I feel like I'm just a little sculptor hacking away at a piece of stone trying to find my way… And then, hopefully, whatever is created gives people some joy." – Yip Yuen Hong Yip'due south modest, unassuming nature is both refreshing and endearing; his lack of pretence providing added testimony of his life's work existence more about being in service to h

"You just solve whatever information technology is you demand to solve and in the process, something interesting will be created. That's our principal chore; nothing more, nothing less," he shared.

He does, nevertheless, regret the current state of the industry.

"Unfortunately, I feel that architecture is more about aesthetics and coin these days, and a lot of information technology is near craving for attention, which is sad," he observed.

Yip'southward advice for young architects, therefore, is to refrain from cocky-indulgence.

"Architecture involves a lot of money, outset and foremost, so design based on what is needed. Don't design more than than is necessary. It'south non morally right to just add together on to arrive exciting and interesting," he brash.

Revisiting a notion omnipresent throughout the conversation, he added: "Our job is to solve problems and create a better environment for people. It's not about thinking, 'I wanna create an iconic edifice' or 'I wanna win a super fantastic honor'. Ultimately, compages is a backdrop; a vehicle for united states to make sense of our very difficult and sometimes nonsensical life."

"Ultimately, architecture is a backdrop; a vehicle for us to make sense of our very difficult and sometimes nonsensical life." – Yip Yuen Hong

Architecture should heal our souls: Yip Yuen Hong, President’s Design Award winner

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