The Overseas Union Enterprise (OUE) Bayfront project is a redevelopment of the former Overseas Union House into an 18-storey office block. The height of the 18-storey office block moderates between the small-scale structures at the waterfront and the high-rise buildings of Singapore’s downtown. The design reflects its dialectic position between the height of these towers and the sea-level flatness of the bay waters lapping at the front of the project.

Designed to augment urban connectivity and to encourage public use, the site maximises pedestrian circulation between the streets and the waterfront promenade. The project included the conservation of the historic Change Alley Aerial Plaza comprising the viewing tower and overhead bridge, as well as the development of a stretch of a waterfront promenade to complete a continuous ring of civic use around Marina Bay.

The markedly diminutive stature of OUE Bayfront that marks it apart from the conventional skyscrapers of the Central Business District is a consequence of imposed site limitations due to its proximity to the Marina Bay waters. The architectural intuition to adapt this supposed limitation and forge it into a uniquely distinctive characteristic testifies to DPA’s creativity and non-linear design strategies that produce projects that elevate the human experience, resulting in a cohesive and unitary experience.