Books

DP Architects first took root in post-independence Singapore, and prides itself for having strongly contributed to writing the young nation’s architectural language. The firm’s first projects in the 1970s helped introduce Singapore to post-war modernism, and projects in the decades since have transformed the nation’s skyline and civic core, redefined the face of its most celebrated shopping street, conserved some of its most legible historical monuments, planned campuses for many of its growing universities, and developed its new National Stadium.

DP Architects on Orchard Road records a history of Orchard Road, discussed in the context of Singapore’s development as an island-nation. Using this framework as both precedent and point of departure, it presents an in-depth look into a selection of key retail shopping centres completed by DP Architects between the years 2003 and 2012. It addresses the firm’s four decades of work as a continuum of evolving design ideas that have contributed to Orchard Road’s transformation into one of Singapore’s – and Asia’s – great urban spaces.

This book chronicles the history of DP Architects and its involvement in the evolution of Singapore’s Marina Bay over a period spanning 50 years. It discusses the relationship between land reclamation and the conception of architecture and public space in Singapore, through projects on and around the bay representing a diverse range of building types that includes hotel, mall, office, cultural and performance spaces. Each project has a vital public component that contributes to the connectivity of Marina Bay and its success as the nation’s civic core.

From DP Design comes a comprehensive, full colour book packed with inspiration, ideas and details on designing large interior spaces and infusing soul and character into the vastness of these. Exploring schemes beyond typical typologies for interior design, such as hospitality and residential, the interior design practice gives an intimate peek at the interior work behind large scale retail, institutional projects and public spaces, which it has particular expertise and experience in.

For this special trade edition, designed to coincide with the DP50 exhibition at the URA Centre, Singapore, in August, DP Architects: 50 Years Since 1967 offers a holistic insight into the firm’s unique story and technique. It provides readers with a curated selection of some of DPA’s most renowned projects, including The Dubai Mall, Esplanade— Theatres on the Bay, Sunray Headquarters, the Singapore University of Technology and Design with UNStudio, the Singapore Sports Hub and Resorts World Sentosa, as well as current projects, including the Sengkang Hospital. In addition to a generous feature of built projects, DP Architects: 50 Years Since 1967 contains exclusive interviews with DPA’s principals, including founder Koh Seow Chuan.

The Dubai Mall, completed in 2008, is currently the world’s largest mall and one of the largest structures in the world. The Dubai Mall: Sand to Spectacle documents the design process of Singapore-based DP Architects as it realised a building the size of a city in just over four years from sketch to construction. Its authors perform an in-depth analysis of the historical, architectural, culture and physical forces at play in the building’s design, and supplement the text with a unique comparative study of Dubai and Singapore to describe The Dubai Mall as a product of both local and global influences.

Unique and engaging, Designing Change provides a visual discourse into the creative psyche of the interior-architects at DP Design. The book explores and illustrates how designing an interior space goes beyond a direct, strategic response to the intrinsic architectural form of a building to examining and embodying the evolving relationship between man and the built environment.

Recognising that change is the only constant in an ever-progressing world, Designing Change simultaneously rethinks design and inspires a new paradigm in our approach and perspective of space.