‘Hybrid’ condo

Something old, something new - come 2009, a ‘hybrid’ apartment block will emerge at 23, Amber Road.

The original 95-year-old Neo-Renaissance-style bungalow was the subject of a petition last December calling for its conservation.

Designed by the architect of the iconic Raffles Hotel, the unusual crescent-shaped two-

storey bungalow had stood out in the Katong area.

The developer has now come up with a hybrid design as a compromise, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said yesterday.

Developer AG Capital bought the 1,095 sqm site for $8.9 million last year with plans to tear down the bungalow and build a high-rise condominium.

Now, the ‘old’ part - about 125 sqm in total and gazetted to be conserved - will be the entrance porch and facade facing the main road.

The rest of the house - designed in 1912 by Regent Alfred John Bidwell, who also designed the Victoria Memorial Hall and Goodwood Park Hotel - will be torn down.

The ‘new’ part will be an 18-storey building with 54 apartment units.

URA deputy director of conservation and development services Teh Lai Yip called the new plan a ‘great solution’ that ‘preserves the history’ for the heritage petitioners but also ‘offers diversity’ for the developer.

Referring to maximising land use, she said: ‘It is impossible to keep the original…We have to look not just at falling in love with the building but also what is the planning intention for the area.’

Other old buildings like the Tan Chin Tuan Mansion in the Cairnhill area were also given a new lease of life by the addition of newly built wings.

Media officer Terence Hong, 26, one of the petitioners last year, had mixed feelings. He was pleased that part of it will be preserved.

But he added: ‘This bungalow is special because of its crescent-shaped structure. That will be taken away.’

He was among a group that went by the name Historic Architecture Rescue Plan (Harp). It started a public drive, through online means and fliers, to urge conserving the building after members got wind of the developer’s plans.

URA’s Mrs Teh said it has been working with the developer over the last few months on how to save the building. A compromise was reached - to save the porch and facade.

As part of the agreement, the developer was given concessions on new entry and exit points and a reduction of the green buffer around the property.

But not everyone sees its as a good compromise.

Architect Alan Tay, who has worked on conservation of shophouses, when approached for comments, said: ‘It looks silly now, like the new was just stuck on the old.’

TWO-IN-ONE SOLUTION

‘It is impossible to keep the original…We have to look not just at falling in love with the building but also what is the planning intention for the area.’MRS TEH LAI YIP, URA deputy director of conservation and development services, saying the new plan preserves the history for the heritage petitioners but also ‘offers diversity’ for the developer

NO NATURALITY

‘It looks silly now, like the new was just stuck on the old.’ARCHITECT ALAN TAY, who has worked on conservation of shophouses

Source: The Straits Times, 19 June 2007