“Good Meals, Good Life” is an adaptive reuse undertaking that reevaluates fashionable capitalistic objectives and advocates circularity and inclusivity by way of the “Virtuous Meals Cycle” idea. Designed in alignment with C40’s design priorities for the ten local weather challenges, it re-introduces Nature as an integral Associate within the kindred-friendly leisure node.
Architizer chatted with Yann Follain from WY-TO Group to study extra about this undertaking.
Architizer: What impressed the preliminary idea to your design?
Yann Follain: The adaptive reuse undertaking is conceptualized to handle Singapore’s meals shortage and meet her “30-by-30” unbiased meals manufacturing plan by 2030. The undertaking introduces the thought of reconnection with Folks, Nature and Heritage with Singapore’s Inexperienced Plan efforts for “Metropolis in Nature”, in addition to its website context, the previous Bukit Timah Hearth Station. Sturdy restorative, circularity and sustainability parts are embedded throughout the idea. The gazetted hearth station set the framework’s narrative whereas the quick proximity to the character reserve impressed the “Virtuous Meals Cycle”. This knowledgeable “Communi-trail”, a 4-step ground-up method which connects us to our plates’ agriculture chain. Its key pillars of Provoke, Remodel, Share, Get well, complement the top-down intensification of Agrotechnology whereas working to affect life-style change, for and with Nature.
What do you imagine is essentially the most distinctive or ‘standout’ element of the undertaking?
The act of holding in “As-Is” situation. There isn’t a iconic characteristic development neither is there any main modification. The architectural gesture lies in its Programming. It showcases numerous Companions, Collaborators and Contributors transferring with Circularity in thoughts. The style wherein we’ve curated the tenants, individuals, and many others. work to help and profit from each other. Deliberate programmes stem from zero-waste consumption which assists “Good Meals, Good Life”’s greater advocacy for local weather change. That is elementary in guiding us and enabling our recognition within the Reinventing Cities by the worldwide Local weather Management Group, C40 Cities. The undertaking takes on people-centricity in its technique to realize lasting outcomes of net-zero emission and decarbonization. It empowers the neighborhood to pivot change and addresses the ten Local weather Challenges by C40 Cities. It capabilities for and with Folks.
What was the best design problem you confronted throughout the undertaking, and the way did you navigate it?
The problem is making a historic monument related to present instances whereas holding to the objective of net-zero emissions in an equatorial local weather.
The standard components can be counting on energetic programs like air-conditioning to manage warmth. Due to this fact, we wanted to suppose innovatively concerning the passive and bioclimatic methods to help the prevailing constructed construction in changing into climatically related. Furthering that’s the wealthy and dense nature reserve proper beside it. This entails greater humidity ranges contributing in direction of a construction’s put on and tear. Thus, we wanted to tailor our design interventions to anticipate challenges and lengthen the scope previous preserving architectural qualities. They wanted to be holistic in thought and deed in order that it is ready to maintain within the lengthy haul.
How did the context of your undertaking — environmental, social or cultural — affect your design?
Positioned subsequent to Singapore’s oldest nature reserve, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, the location has naturally built-in itself as a part of the wild fauna ecosystem. The hearth station will reopen as a inexperienced neighborhood node, thus, our methods need to look towards accommodating the monkeys, boars, snakes and bugs to realize harmonious co-existence. We’ve to design forward and program interplay schooling. It’s a delicate stability that we’ve to persistently synchronize with the neighborhood. Thus, our design framework constructions our actions to work in tangent with the pure order of the setting and educates the neighborhood in the identical route.
How essential was sustainability as a design standards as you labored on this undertaking?
It’s a elementary precept for “Good Meals, Good Life”. Being the primary Southeast Asia undertaking that has gained the C40 Reinventing Cities Competitors, this undertaking is developed with its 10 Local weather Challenges in thoughts. This aligned all our design priorities and centered our options to pivot away from mitigating local weather impacts as an afterthought. As a substitute, it positioned our intentions on contextually adapting to optimize the worth of our intervention. Thus the thought of circularity and sustainability intuitively ingrained itself inside our programme.
In what methods did you collaborate with others, and the way did that add worth to the undertaking?
Good Meals, Good Life is an expansive multi-disciplinary and collaborative undertaking. Conservation Specialist, Consultants, Companions, Architect, Engineers, Place-makers, City Farmers and extra, have been introduced in to outline the boundary of design. Every Crew member’s experience is leveraged to help the opposite features. They individually complement each other to form the undertaking’s experiential end result. This trickles to affect the curation of tenants, thereby making Good Meals, Good Life the primary of its sort in Singapore public compound to undertake a holistic approach of method all through its processes.
How do you imagine this undertaking represents you or your agency as an entire?
It demonstrates our local weather combat advocacy, aligned with our 6 Inexperienced Commitments for the constructed setting. Good Meals, Good Life intrinsically represents who WY-TO is as designers, our advocacy in motivating ground-up energetic engagement within the course of, and the dedication we’ve for Folks, the Surroundings and our Collective Heritage. It’s a undertaking that weaves within the WY-TO spirit at each section. A undertaking telling of our frequent ambition in empowering future-forward locations to be equitable, inclusive and resilient.
How do you think about this undertaking influencing your work sooner or later?
“Good Meals, Good Life” is a step in our future constructed setting plans. Whereas it’s smaller in scale as in comparison with tasks at massive, it’s the pioneer of its sort in Singapore. The undertaking is on the forefront of responding to the nation’s pressing local weather calls with the results of world warming by way of torrential rains, flooding, and improve in climate temperatures being extra evident lately. “Good Meals, Good Life” is akin to our official founding step within the holistic deployment of sustainability all through in answering local weather change calls. This undertaking has spearheaded a lot of our present participation in revolutionary tasks, competitions and tenders that stem from the sustainable vein from France, Singapore, South Africa, Dubai, and extra. It’s our inexperienced anchor in motivating our tasks’ instructions.
Is there anything essential you’d prefer to share about this undertaking?
Good Meals, Good Life is the primary third place undertaking in Singapore to undertake a Folks, Planet, Locations integrative method. We hope that by pioneering such a human-centric framework, we can holistically empower the neighborhood to take motion from ground-up and affect top-down insurance policies.
Crew Members
Provolk (Architect)
Consultants
Studio Lapis (Conservation Specialist), Constructing System & Diagnostics (Environmental Engineer), IEM Engineering Consultants (M&E Engineer), BKG Consultants (Amount Surveyor), Land Design One (Panorama Architects), Shophouse & Co (Place-makers)
For extra on Good Meals, Good Life, please go to the in-depth undertaking web page on Architizer.
GOOD FOOD, GOOD LIFE – C40 Reinventing Cities Winner Gallery