In a collaboration with the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) at the end of 2005, Far East Organization co-hosted a talk on “Architecture of the Crossroad City” by award-winning architect, Mr Bernardo Fort-Brescia, the founding principal of Miami-based international architectural practice Arquitectonica.

Mr Fort-Brescia’s wide repertoire of residential, commercial and hospitality projects span Asia, Europe and USA, including The Atlantis in Miami, The Westin Times Square in New York, Festival Walk in Hong Kong, Bouygues Telecom Headquarters in Paris and Las Ramblas in Las Vegas.

One of the tenets of design that Mr Fort-Brescia has faithfully applied in all his works is his belief that architecture has an important role to play in the context of the city.

“Architecture has to address the metropolis. It has a role in society. At the same time, we have always been of the position that nothing prevents a building from having an expressive quality,” affirms Mr Fort-Brescia.

Led by this simple belief, his firm has established a reputation for its creative ability to design projects with memorable imagery and regional identity. Mr Fort-Brescia's first high-rise condominium, The Atlantis in Miami, Florida, became the definitive building that catapulted Arquitectonica into the limelight.

“This is a building that really changed the perception of Miami as a place of architecture and as an exciting place, a new kind of urban resort. It is very satisfying when you see a building that has an impact on the city,” recalls Mr Fort-Brescia with pride.

When designing The Atlantis, Mr Fort-Brescia drew inspiration from the model of the archetypal village with a communal main square. “A high-rise apartment is like a small town - people just share hallways instead of streets. So when I was designing The Atlantis, I imagined that I was planning a town. But as it was a high-rise, I just flipped the village on its axis. The grid of streets becomes the façade. There is also always a public space in the centre of any village. So to make a shared space for the condominium residents, I removed a square block - hence the hole in the middle, which is actually an aerial garden,” enthuses Mr Fort-Brescia.

Synonymous with tropical modernism and a symbol of Miami's new architecture, The Atlantis won the American Institute of Architects' Test of Time Award, placing this exceptional development in the league of other modern American architectural masterpieces like The Rockefeller Centre in New York City and Philip Johnson's Residence ("The Glass House") in Connecticut.

When conceptualising the design for Orchard Scotts, Far East Organization's latest Arquitectonica commission, Mr Fort-Brescia surveyed the neighbourhood to get a “feel” for the surrounding environment. He decided to break away from the uniformity and repetition of the buildings around the area, to add spice and “rhumba” to the vicinity.

Sharing his vision for Orchard Scotts, Mr Fort-Brescia says, “It is an amazing opportunity to introduce to Singapore some of the urban resort aspect, that it's a city but also a resort. A fun place. So I designed a building that explored the notion of using coloured glass, almost like paintbrushes. Like strokes in a painting. You will see the different colours as if it's been gone over with a brush. I looked at the buildings around and they looked kind of fuzzy with little balconies, so I decided to do something pure, clean and minimalist. And then like a canvas, paint it and give it some colour.”

“The 'holes' in the buildings frame the views through them. The building is no longer an obstacle or a wall. Instead it takes your eyes deep into the space inside which is in the middle of the background where it has a swimming pool and a landscaped area. It also implies that there is something fun about it. I thought, it's residential, it's not a serious office building, and it's not a work place. It's a place you go to relax after work. You should feel that you've gone to a resort when you go home.”

Architecture is more than just “shelter”, says Mr Fort-Brescia, and at Orchard Scotts, the humanistic aspect that relates to a vibrant lifestyle and cosmopolitan community will contribute to creating the distinctive global city that Singapore aspires to be.

Just as Miami has become a modern crossroad city with a rich diversity, so is Singapore with its different cultures, its position as an important gateway to the East and West and an established trading and financial centre.

Asked what could be the “X-factor” that would make Singapore a distinctive, memorable global city, Mr Fort-Brescia offers, “Although Singapore is a financial centre, it could also be a resort - an amazing place to go for fun and excitement. I think the next generation will take that to the next level to create its own unique identity.”