d+a - Issue 118

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Do you wish we could just cancel out 2020? We know many architects would, no thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, there are also those who managed to make lemonade out of lemons. Since this is our last issue of the year, it is befitting we fill our pages with some optimism through a feature story where four architects reflect on the past 11 months, while sharing their aspirations for 2021. Another heartening piece of news that broke in October was how the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has proposed for Golden Mile Complex (GMC) to be gazetted for conservation. Since June this year, we have been championing the issue of saving Singapore’s modern built heritage and this move by the URA is truly ground-breaking. A second feature story this issue has nine other projects designed in the same style, which we hope will be accorded the same status as GMC. On the cover is the stunning Otemon Gakuin University Academic-Ark by Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei, located in Osaka, Japan. With the massing of an inverted triangular pyramid, the new campus was inspired by Japan’s shrines and temples and how they double up as lively gathering places for their local communities. Do also read about Aemulus at the Runway, an electronics facility by Kuala Lumpur-based Design Unit Architects, set beside the Penang International Airport. Its distinctive red brick-on-pilotis aesthetic jazzes up the neighbourhood and offers an ingenious spin on industrial architecture.