OCBC Centre

OCBC Centre
General information
Type Commercial offices
Architectural style Brutalist architecture
Location Downtown Core, Singapore
Address 65 Chulia Street, Singapore 049513
Coordinates 1°17′06″N 103°50′57″E / 1.285°N 103.8491°E / 1.285; 103.8491Coordinates: 1°17′06″N 103°50′57″E / 1.285°N 103.8491°E / 1.285; 103.8491
Construction started 1975
Completed 1976
Owner OCBC Bank
Management OCBC Bank
Height
Roof 197.7 m (649 ft)
Technical details
Floor count 52
Floor area 74,900 sq ft (6,960 m2)
Design and construction
Architect I. M. Pei 贝聿铭
BEP Akitek
Developer OCBC Bank
Structural engineer Ove Arup & Partners
Main contractor Morrison-Knudsen
Low Keng Huat
References
[1][2][3]

OCBC Centre is a 197.7 m (649 ft), 52-storey skyscraper in Singapore. serving as the current headquarters of OCBC Bank, the building was completed in 1976 and was the tallest building in the country, and South East Asia, at that time.[4] There are two extensions, OCBC Centre South and OCBC Centre East. There is an Executive Club on one of the higher floors of the building. OCBC Centre East has food and beverage outlets.

History

OCBC Centre was the result of the second Sale of Sites of the Urban Renewal Department of the Housing and Development Board in 1968. The building was designed by I. M. Pei & Partners (now Pei Cobb Freed & Partners) together with now defunct BEP Akitek (Pte) Singapore and started construction in 1975. Its construction period was only two years due to a three-tier system. The building was completed on 26 November 1976 and was Southeast Asia's tallest building at the time. A bronze sculpture designed by Tan Teng Kee sat at the building until 1983 when it was moved to the now defunct Bras Basah Park. Large Reclining Figure, a large bronze sculpture by Henry Moore, replaced it in 1984, and a new plaza and reflecting pool were built outside the front entrance of the building. The building has undergone several modernisations and OCBC Centre East and South was constructed at a later date.

Architecture

The building is an example of Brutalist architecture, a popular architectural style in the 1970s.[5]

It is designed to be a symbol of strength and permanence, and its structure consists of two semi-circular reinforced concrete cores as well as three lateral girders which helped make construction faster. The building is divided into three sections due to the steel trusses being constructed off-site and were put into position. Each section consists of floors that are cantilevered 6 metres from each column, with load transfer girders spanning at each end taking up boxed sections of the pre-stressed concrete. Lattice steel models strengthened by steel and concrete compression was installed on the 20th and 35th floors of the building. The building has been nicknamed the calculator due to its flat shape and windows which look like button pads.

See also

References

  1. ↑ OCBC Centre at Emporis
  2. ↑ "OCBC Centre". SkyscraperPage.
  3. ↑ OCBC Centre at Structurae
  4. ↑ "Singapore's evolving skyline". Urban Redevelopment Authority. Retrieved 2008-02-02.
  5. ↑ "Brutarch".

Further reading

  • Wong, Yunn (2005). Singapore 1:1 city : a gallery of architecture & urban design. Singapore: Urban Redevelopment Authority Distributor, APD Singapore. ISBN 9810544677.
  • Edwards, Norman (1996). Singapore : a guide to buildings, streets, places. Singapore Kuala Lumpur: Times Books International. ISBN 9812047816.
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