Design Team
Tay
Kheng Soon
Chung Meng Ker
Jeffrey Leong
Design Data
Client:
Hop Sze Enterprises Pte Ltd
Main Contractor: Wong & Wong's Construction Pte Ltd
Structural Engineer: Eugene H. L. Chan Associates
M & E Engineer: Design & Management Services Pte Ltd
Quantity Surveyor: Simon Lim, Oh & Teo Building Cost Consultants
Site
Area: 1,181.35 sq m
Site Coverage: 54.15 %
Plot Ratio: 1 : 4.99
Gross Floor Area: 5,896.35 sq m
This mixed-use building consists of seven floors of residential apartments and three floors of commercial use separated by a service floor. The shifting geometry of the building on a very tight site responds to the physical alignment of Selegie Road and MacKenzie Road.
The first storey plan has a pedestrian route cutting through, thereby
inviting the public to use it as a concourse. The 'rainbow' painted on
the facade was a 'tongue-in-cheek' reference to the multi-coloured saris
of the Indian population who frequent this area. The building was initially
a centre for the sale of Indian textiles. Indian garment shops still occupy
the street-level retail outlets but dental and medical clinics now occupy
the second and third storey.
Even though it is rather dilapidated and in need of maintainance, Selegie
Complex is a striking building. The overall geometry and the steel lattice
frame which provides sun-shading for the apartments contribute to make
it highly visible at the gateway to Little India. It is an early and tentative
attempt at developing an
architectural language of line, edge, mesh and shade.
Text by Robert Powell