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Art Touring: Parkview Square

Parkview Square, Singapore

Parkview Square, Singapore is located at the heart of Singapore's downtown area along North Bridge Road. It is next to Bugis Mrt Station, Bugis Junction and The Gateway and straddles the Rochor road and Ophir Road corridor.

Constructed in 2002 and designed by American Consultant James Adams Design together with DP Architects of Singapore enterprised by the late Taiwanese tycoon chairman of Chyau Fwu Group. 

Chanin Building, 1929. New York City

Chanin Building, a source of inspiration

Although construction was completed in 2002, Parkview Square building's design was heavily ascended towards classical Art Deco style with reference to New York City, 1929 Chanin Building as an inspiration source. The materials used in constructing Parkview Square consists of granite, bronze, lacquer and glass contributing to a cost of $87.93 million.

Other than serves as an office building, Parkview Square also serves other house embassies such as Austrian, Mongolia and the United Arab Emirates embassies.

Panorama view of Parkview Square, exterior

Exterior

The exterior extends the atmosphere with a sense of "sinister" ambience compounded by classical decorations like gargoyles and statuettes of men carrying globes that adorn the facade. This prompt the building to be nicknamed, "Gotham City, Batman Building."

Interior view of Parkview Square

Interior

The interior view of Parkview Square is heavily adorned with classic Art Deco statues and decorations, which makes the overall surrounding atmosphere feels "heavy". The flooring gives off a strong indication of an Art Deco architecture. Terrazzo floorings are commonly found in Art Deco architectures.






Several of similar statues like the Atlas Shoved fresco were installed in the interior contributing to the "heavy" decorated look. The form of architecture altogether with the heavy decorations creates a visually integrated and heavily emphasized textured art forms which can be quite dense to look at, as such the term "too much details for the visual".
                                                                          
                                                                                       
      Details to look out for:

• Compare and analyse the building's structure and forms. What do you think creates the similarities and ideas of Parkview Square in contrast to New York City, using Chanin Building as a source of inspiration.

New York City, Chanin building's exterior detailed

Chanin Building exterior detailed

- Windows and doors were installed in a repetitive pattern example, the rigid straight lines of the windows and door built together showcasing a formalistic approach.

- Exterior surface are adorned with fanciful, organic crafts that counters the rigid, formalistic alignment of the windows and doors.

- Windows have metal casements attached to it. This is due to its Art Deco influenced.

• Do you think by combining the organic shapes and patterns of the surface area together with the repetitive geometrical pattern of the window enhance the overall building aesthetics?

Parkview Square, exterior detailed

Parkview Square exterior detailed

Parkview Square adopts several similarities with Chanin Building. The similarities are the geometrical shapes of the windows and doors that are placed in a repetitive and formalistic alignment on the building. They are also heavily decorated with geometrical yet showcasing an oriental feel to the overall facade.

The only difference are:

1. The building has a hint of oriental mixture onto the formalistic pattern of the surface exterior.

2.The window grilles are equipped with another sheet of geometrical coverings which produce an even more heavily textured look. Geometric forms are one of the characteristics of an Art Deco architecture.

3.When compared to the Chanin Building, Parkview Square offers the visual sense with details and overloads the senses.