Architect shares vision for livable tropical cities
Wong Mun Summ, the architect behind BRAC University’s award-winning new campus, has called for a new approach to urban development that puts people, nature and climate resilience at the heart of rapidly growing tropical cities.
Summ, founding director of Singapore-based architectural firm WOHA, made the remarks at a public lecture at BRAC University’s Merul Badda campus on Wednesday, according to the press release.
Titled “Form Intelligence: Towards a New and Regenerative Tropical Urbanism,” the lecture was part of the university’s Silver Jubilee Public Lecture Series, organised to mark its 25th anniversary.
Drawing on WOHA’s ideas presented in its 2016 publication and Venice Biennale presentation “Garden City Mega City,” Summ explained how architecture can help transform dense tropical cities into places that are greener, more resilient and better connected to their communities.
He described “form intelligence” as the ability of architectural design to respond to and strengthen the wider systems surrounding a building, making the built form an active part of a city’s environmental and social performance.
WOHA’s projects reflect this approach through layered structures, greenery, open breezeways and spaces designed for civic and community use.
Summ cited Singapore’s PARKROYAL COLLECTION Pickering as an example. The five-star “hotel-in-a-garden” features cascading sky gardens and greenery equivalent to more than twice the site area.
He also highlighted Oasia Hotel Downtown, a 27-storey tropical tower covered with vegetation.
According to the project’s data, its green façade contributes to a 43 percent reduction in cooling energy consumption and a 21 percent reduction in maximum façade temperature.
Another example, Pan Pacific Orchard, consists of four six-storey open-air strata stacked vertically. Its extensive greenery, Summ said, provides more than 30 percent improvement in functions including filtration, pollutant removal and temperature regulation compared with a pristine forest occupying the same site area.
WOHA has also developed a masterplan for a self-sufficient new town in northern Jakarta designed to accommodate around 210,000 people. The concept includes a rooftop canopy, residential and workplace areas, a rainforest-like layer and underground transport and service infrastructure.
Summ said such approaches form part of WOHA’s broader vision for a Singapore in 2100 where people and nature can coexist through regenerative and circular urban systems.
Speaking about BRAC University’s campus, Summ referred to a social survey in which 88 percent of respondents said the campus made them proud to be part of the BRAC community.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Syed Ferhat Anwar praised the campus for its relationship with nature.
“The country itself is extremely proud of…this extension of nature, giving to nature and becoming a part of nature,” he said.
Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Arshad Mahmud Chowdhury, Treasurer Ariful Islam, Registrar David Dowland and Professor Fuad Hassan Mallick, dean of the School of Architecture and Design, attended the lecture.
Khairul Basher, director of the Office of Communications, moderated the event.
