What are the qualities that make up a good building?

According to the Roman architect, Vitruvius, a good building should satisfy the three principles of: –Durability: it should stand up robustly and remain in good condition. –Utility: it should be useful and function well for the people using it. –Beauty: it should delight people and raise their spirits.

“If you can't take criticism, this is not the kind of job to work on.” Vikas Gore

The Esplanade: Two rounded envelopes over the primary performance venues provide the dominating legible form. These are lightweight, curved space frames fitted with triangulated glass and a system of champagne-coloured sunshades that offer an optimised tradeoff between solar shading and panoramic outward views. The result provides filtered natural light and a dramatic transformation of shadow and texture throughout the day; at night the forms glow back onto the city as lanterns by the bay. The project’s Y-shaped composition addresses adjacent civic spaces at the heart of downtown Singapore — the Padang green, old City Hall and High Court on the main axis, as well as the Marina Square development and the public waterfront promenade encircling Marina Bay. Source:

What prompted the spiky "durian" look? Mr Gore explained that the triangular sunshades came about because he wanted to protect the building from the sun, yet allow lot of views outside. Source: html html

To design the exterior sunshade screen, we drew inspiration from things the properties of the structural geometry itself as well as elements from nature such as sunflowers, fish scales, the patterns of a bird's feathers etc. Such elements in nature also feature geometry that appears repetitive but changes slowly over the subject. Traditional Asian buildings also inspired us, ranging from "jali" screens in medieval South Asian architecture to the woven mat walls in Southeast Asian buildings. Source:

Jali screens in Indian architecture House with woven mat walls

How has the design of the Esplanade evolved since it was shown in 1994? The structure and the form of the design we showed in 1994 were more geometric and angular. The main structure of the cladding was supposed to run vertically up and down. Over the months however we intentionally shaped the structure into its present softer form, presenting a more organic looking building. The curves of each of the shells offset the rich texture of the external aluminium sunshade layer. On the other hand, I feel that the shapes help lend the project a sense of tranquility and is typical of some traditional Asian architecture. Source:

How do you incorporate Asian elements in your design? We tried to design a building that is Asian, without being traditional. One doesn't need to have a Chinese roof or a Minangkabau roof to be Asian. It is possible to be modern, yet still very Asian. Besides the exterior sunshade screens, the inspirations for which I mentioned before, the whole design concept of the building is philosophically close to traditional Asian architectures. If you look at the a lot of traditional architecture in Asia, with some exceptions, one sees a strong base or floor with a roof design that aspires to be light and is made of fairly light materials and is almost decorative in form. The achieving of a balance between solid and delicate elements is a common thread in much of Asian architecture. Source:

"An architect can play a major role in serving society and community. The spaces that an architect creates for his client within and between buildings can inspire one's spirit. Nearly every architect has the ambition to create well-designed buildings.”