My Three SOM Projects in Singapore

In my six years at the New York office of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), I worked on a variety of projects in many places including six in Singapore. Of the six, only three were built. While I was at SOM, I never visited Singapore; only the partners and the senior associates made the trips. It wasn’t until recently when we vacationed in Singapore did I finally see my projects in person: Changi MRT Station, One George Street, and the roof of Changi Terminal 3.

Changi MRT Station was the first project that I ever worked on at SOM. The design started in 1997 and the project was completed in 2001. The main task of the design was to connect the planned underground station with Terminal 1 and the yet-to-be-designed Terminal 3. Our solution was to create two large rectangular glass boxes at the two ends of the station to house vertical circulations that connect the airport terminals to the subway terminal. The platform for the subway is at basement level 2, and basement level 1 is for passengers to transfer between Terminals 1 and 3. For this connection we designed an illuminated glass bridge that spans the length of the concourse. 



The walking surface of the bridge is also in translucent glass with illumination from below. Above the two ends of the bridge and the top of the escalators coming from the platform level are large glass skylights, which look good and work well.



The atria are oriented perpendicular to the glass bridge. Inside are two sets of escalators, one to the departure level and the other to the arrival level.



















The exterior walls of the atria consist of a double glazed wall with point fixing glass. In between the glass are sun shadings made with steel mesh that can also be walked on for maintenance.

I was happy to see some of the little things in the project that we designed were realized, such as the glass box for the fire hose reel. In many instances, we didn't have a say in the locations or amount of equipment required. We simply had to do our best to make them look good.

One George Street is a Class A office building located near Raffles Place. The client for the project is Capitaland. Prior to engaging SOM, Capitaland had already asked a local firm to plan the building and develop the core. Before we started design it was already determined that parking will be above grade; the location of the car ramp was also fixed. Capitaland, being an experienced developer, knew very well what they wanted in terms of total floor areas, typical floor efficiency, floor heights, tenant requirements, costs...etc. They even told us that the main part of the building have to be a rectangle with only 90 degree corners. In short, we had a lot of restrictions with the design. Our solution was to make the massing into a sculpted block. Since Sinagpore’s zoning code encouraged sky gardens in buildings, we cut out a few multi-storey volumes. The upper levels are set back to provide a few floors of smaller floor plates for executive offices along with a long sky garden. The facade consists of clear glass with a screen of custom shaped louvers for the offices.

The screen continues on the parking and mechanical levels to produce a unified appearance. The shape of the lobbies took the cue from the circular car ramp. The multiple lobbies on the ground floor allow some of the anchor tenants to have their own lobbies. One George Street was completed in 2005. It was nice to see the building in person and be able to walk around the lobbies. The building looks to be in good shape and well maintained.

With the success of the Changi MRT Station, SOM was engaged to design the exterior envelope of Terminal 3. We worked with Bartenbach LichtLabor to develop the skylights. We nicknamed the design "The Cloud". The idea was to create an atmospheric effect of light inside the departure hall. Instead of employing the curvilinear trusses that are so prevalent in recent airport designs, we used simple rectangular trusses with an industrial feel. This was contrasted by the planar and curved shape louvers that were placed in a seemingly random fashion, all done manually in the pre-Rhino and Grasshopper era.

Terminal 3 was completed in 2007. As I walked in the space, the results seem quite good. Natural light permeated the space and it was comfortable. The only downside is someone, not SOM, decided to paint the columns brown, which I don’t understand at all. The floor pattern, which we did not designed either, seemed too busy and unnecessarily tried to echo the “clouds” at the ceiling. 

Whenever I visit my projects I cannot help but notice the little mistakes and problems and the history associated with them; most of these things are never noticed by lay people unless pointed out to them. One always strive to make things perfect, but of course things are never perfect. Nevertheless, I have to say these three projects turned out quite well. While in my mind I know the buildings very well, it was still extremely satisfying to see them in person.

Restaurant Andre

The first time I heard about chef André Chiang, 江振誠, was from an article in The New York Times in early 2011. Chiang's eponymous restaurant was one of the ten restaurants deemed by the article as "Worth a Plane Ride." Intrigued, I read more about him on the web and found out he was actually born in Taiwan and later spent fourteen years in France training with some of the best chefs: Pierre Gagnaire, Joël Robuchon, Jacques and Laurent Pourcels, Michel Troigros, and Pascal Barbot. He opened his own restaurant in Singapore in late 2010 and quickly garnered many accolades.

The opportunity to go to Restaurant Andre came in 2012. With a week-long Chinese New Year holiday in Taiwan, our family decided to spend a few days in Singapore. Once the plane tickets were purchased three weeks in advance, I emailed Restaurant Andre to ask for a reservation for dinner for two. The restaurant manager Stepan Marhoul responded promptly and asked for a credit card number to secure the reservation. After faxing the required information, my reservation was set and Stepan said he would personally welcome us at the restaurant.

Restaurant Andre is located on 41 Bukit Pasoh Road near the Chinatown. Housed in a refurbished shophouse and setback slightly from the street wall, the restaurant is actually quite small and seats only 30 diners. My wife, Maria, and I were greeted by a hostess outside the door and led to our table in the main room on the second floor. This is an intimate room with only 5 tables that seat around 12 diners. On one side of the room is a wall paper of trees, while the opposite side consisted of dark back-painted glass with white wall trims. The sheep sculptures are actually used for ladies' handbags. On the ceiling are two beautiful white chandeliers by Jason Miller. The carpeted room is quite comfortable and the small scale feels more like a home than a restaurant.

After we sat down, Stepan came to greet us and to explain the concept behind the cuisine. There are no menus to choose from and the S$288 set dinner is based on the chef's Octaphilosophy, which is essentially eight savory dishes based on eight themes: Pure, Salt, Artisan, South, Texture, Unique, Memory, and Terroir. Normally, I don't take pictures when I am at a restaurant, but since the menu didn't contain descriptions of the dishes, I made an exception and snapped away with my iPhone.

The dinner started with a number of amuse-bouches, snackings as Stepan called them, and all of them are somewhat playful: a box of edible "dirt" made from chocolate and garlic, two dimensional mushroom chip, popcorn, tuna tartare wrapped inside paper, and chicken skin with marsala flavor. This was a fun way to start the meal and also a display of the range of techniques.

The first course of the Octaphilosophy was Pure. Stepan explained to us that this dish had no seasoning and cooking. The ingredients - mussels, shrimp and cold pressed zucchini juice - were meant to speak for themselves. The dish was light and with good and clean flavors; a very elegant way to start a meal.

The second course was Salt, an oyster draped with seaweed and paired with an apple foam. The brunoise of apples make for a nice decoration on the plate.

The third dish, Artisan, celebrates the farmers, in this case with a corn grown outside of the City of Taipei. The corn was just simply charcoal grilled which added a slight smoky taste to the natural sweetness. The serving plate was designed and made by the chef.

The next course, South, refers to the time the Chef spent in the southern France. This was probably my favorite dish of the night, which actually came in two parts: a salad on the left and a seafood risotto on the right. The vegetables were fresh and flavorful and the risotto was well executed.

The fifth course, Texture, was the most playful and deceptive dish of the night. Stepan described the dish a "risotto", except the creamy white "rice" at the bottom is actually made of diced squid. The black chip on the top was a charred vegetable and rice cracker that didn't use any squid ink. This was served with a cauliflower puree and some parmesan cheese dusted at the bottom.

Stepan told us the seventh course, Memory, is a dish that chef André has been serving for over fourteen years: a warm foie gras mousse topped with black truffle jelly. After eating the dish I can understand why his regular customers wouldn't let him take it off the menu. The dish was delicious with great texture and flavors.

The last savory course, Terroir, was a lamb which was cooked perfectly and served with squash puree and Chinese artichokes.

Afterwards, three types of cheeses from Bernard Antony were served with jam, crackers and biscuits. All the components were nice and it was a pleasure to be served some cheese after the savory courses.

A pre-dessert followed the cheese course, and then came the dessert, chocolate in many different forms and textures. This was a highly enjoyable dish. The chocolate dome in the front actually contains runny chocolate inside.

After dessert we were served a plate of mignardises: mini-madeleines, pâtes de fruits, marshmallow, and popcorn that echoed the beginning of our dinner. As we finished our meal with a couple of espressos, chef André came by our table to say hello and asked about the meal. We asked him about his work experience, being in Singapore, and some of the techniques involved with the dishes. We found chef André to be a thoughtful and engaging person, and asked him to sign the menus for us.

We thoroughly enjoyed the dinner. While chef André didn't work with Thomas Keller, the dinner reminded us of our meals at Per Se - not just with the number of courses, the emphasis on ingredients, and the precise techniques, but also the playfulness of some of the dishes as well as the references to personal history, places, and memories. The meal at Restaurant Andre was certainly the highlight of our trip to Singapore and worth a special journey.