design et al are delighted to announce that Mercurio Design Lab has been shortlisted for Residential Architectural Property Award in The International Design & Architecture Awards 2019.
Masterfully crafted to resemble the sea’s infinite waves, Amber Skye, the 22-storey multi-residential development is stunning in a timeless sense.
Amber Skye, a multi-residential development is located on the east coast of Singapore, not far from the sea and the green recreational corridor that flanks the highway to Singapore Changi International Airport. The close vicinity to the seashore provided the best of all possible sources of inspiration: the sea and its endless waves in motion. The idea is to create an “urban resort” which is the major objective of Mercurio Design Lab brief.
The design moved forward on two core premises: the movement of the waves and the atmosphere of the seashore resort, offering the owners a feeling of being sheltered in an oasis within the urban chaos. The dynamic force of the oceanic water and all the exciting activities that revolve around it is a very intriguing theme to render into an architectural expression. With Amber Skye’s unique fluid structure, it is an inspiring icon that stands out from the rest, differentiating itself with a classic Italian architectural design that never goes out of style.
The design of Amber Skye is more than just a building. It embodies a total integration design philosophy. Conceiving a space is never just about one design discipline but all of them together. The architecture, interior design, landscape and artworks work together to render the experience of a resort kind of feeling rather than that of just another urban condo.
Each apartment is basically orthogonal, but the corners are all rounded, a curvilinear character which is fully expressed on the facade of the building where the balconies form a wave pattern to pick up on the seaside location. The zig-zagged balconies amplify the dynamic form of the building’s outer form and the waved form of the facade generates additional natural light and ventilation.
The materials selected for the architectural facade also play a very important role in delivering the design intent. The front facing apartments are made up of a full-height window wall system that has a slight pearl-tinted glass, which reflects the colours of the sky, thus conferring an ever-changing blue-greyish hue to the apartment block, mimicking the picturesque sea. The balconies are made from concrete, with a slightly grooved vertical pattern – an ambitious choice that intentionally places the very basic material of architecture in a role that is very antagonistic to its essence: the dynamism of water waves.