Parkview Square

Infobox Skyscraper
building_name = Parkview Square


location = North Bridge Road, Downtown Core, Singapore
type = High-rise
use = Office
roof = 144m, 472 ft
floor_count = 24 and 2 basements
status =
architect = DP Architects
developer = Chyau Fwu Development
management= Chyau Fwu Development
owner = Chyau Fwu Development
website = [http://www.parkviewsquare.com/ Parkview Square]

Parkview Square is an office building located in the Downtown Core Planning Area, Central Region, Singapore. It is situated along North Bridge Road, and is near the major commercial hub at Marina Centre. It is next to Bugis MRT Station, Bugis Junction, and The Gateway, and straddles the Rochor Road and Ophir Road corridor.

Parkview Square is one of the more expensive office buildings in Singapore. The occupancy rate for this building was rather low when it first opened. However, as the economy improved, the occupancy rate for this building grew higher steadily ["The Straits Times", July 14 2004 (article by Joyce Teo)] . Besides commercial office space, Parkview Square also houses the embassies of Austria, Mongolia and the United Arab Emirates.

Design and architecture

Parkview Square was designed by American Consultant James Adams, together with DP Architects of Singapore. It was built at a cost of SGD$87.93 million.

It was built as the last major project enterprised by the late Mr. C. S. Hwang, a Taiwanese tycoon chairman of Chyau Fwu Group. As his last project, he wanted it "imposing and monumental, yet stylish and elegant" ["The Straits Times", March 3 2007 (article by Calvin Low)] .

The office space on each floor is columnless so it can be reconfigured according to the tenant's wish. Although it is a modern building, having been completed in 2002, it is specially designed in the classic Art Deco style, following New York City 1929 Chanin Building as an inspiration. The exterior surface of the building is clad in brown Granite, bronze, lacquer, and glass.

The lobby is also designed mainly in the Art Deco style and features a 15m-high ceiling with handcrafted details. The bar in the lobby of the building has a unique 3-storey high wine chiller. The open plaza of Parkview Square is reminiscent of Piazza San Marco in Venice, with sculptures and statues surrounding the open plaza. There are many bronze effigies of some of the most famous figures in world history, including Sun Yat-sen, Abraham Lincoln, Salvador Dalí, Mozart, Chopin, Isaac Newton, Pablo Picasso, Rembrandt, Shakespeare, Plato, Dante, Winston Churchill and Albert Einstein.

The building also has widespread use of motifs, sculptures, and ornamentation. The building is "guarded" by eight gigantic fiberglass statues of men holding a light ball in their hands, four of them standing on each broad side of the building's crown. Another example is the gargoyles decorating the building’s exterior, which are said to be hand-craftedFact|date=March 2007. In the center of the plaza is a statue of a golden bird. On the pedestal is written a Chinese poem:

黄鹤楼

故国旧有黄鹤楼北望神州几千秋黄鹤展翅飞万里伟哉狮城见鹤楼

The poem refers to a mythical bird returning to its temple (a place of worship in Hubei, China). It is supposed to bring wealth to the building.

References