They designed and built the largest public housing project in Singapore thus far. But that’s just the beginning. Architect couple Khoo Peng Beng and Belinda Huang share their vision of living in the future.

If Khoo Peng Beng and Belinda Huang had their way, everyone would live in high-density, high-rise cluster “towns” that are self-sufficient in every way.

 “If you can imagine every city modelled after Singapore,” Khoo says, “with the kind of density and the kind of greenery, you just need a thousand Singapores. This shows that our world is functioning on a lot of redundancy.”

Their vision may sound far-fetched, but then again, who would have thought that a small architectural practice like theirs could have beaten the likes of Zaha Hadid and Kenzo Tange to clinch the deal to build HDB’s most ambitious project to date?

That was in 2001, when their company, Arc Studio Architecture + Urbanism — an eight-man outfit then — trumped 200 international and local architects in the Duxton Plain design competition. This year, their larger-than-life project, eventually named The Pinnacle@Duxton, was finally completed.

Given the calibre of their competitors, did they expect to win?
“That’s the nature of competition,” says Huang. “Look at American Idol. You have to join to win. Having said that, when we heard the news, it was still an ‘OMG’ moment.”

And that was when the real work started. Some of the original ideas had to be tweaked. The proposed skybridges, for example, remained but were stripped of their boulevards of trees for the fear of falling branches.

Others were thrown out, like the express elevators that would have separated public access to the sky gardens from the private corridors of the residents.

“It took seven years, you know,” says Khoo empathetically. “You’ve got to have stamina as well to really hang in there.”

But the duo weren’t hassled by the constant to-ing and fro-ing with the HDB and other stakeholders. 

Instead, working with them was a valuable learning experience.

“If we wore their shoes, we might also be frustrated at us!” he jokes about the HDB, whom he also thought to be very supportive of his more radical ideas.

He explains: “It was a fantastic demonstration of risk-taking by an establishment like HDB, to go out on an international competition, and pick this eight-man team that is four years old.”

While ball-fitting is not a new phenomenon, Titleist has embarked on a new initiative to show golfers that picking the right ball will have a big impact on your scorecard.

Because the ball is the only equipment used on all your shots, it only makes sense to pick the best one for where it matters most — the final shots on the green. The biggest misconception is to fit off the tee, but any true golfer will tell you that distances or ball speeds are neither game- nor scorecard-changing. 

“The tee shot is just a small part of the game. Your iron-, wedge- and short-game shots and putting are far more important,” says PGA professional Michael Breed.

With an approach that fits your ball from green to tee, Titleist lets you describe your typical swing through an interactive ball-fitting programme. It determines which ball is best for your game, based on the fact that golfers shoot lower scores with a ball that provides them the best optimal scoring spin. Fitting sessions have already been successfully received at several country clubs in Singapore and the region.

Focus on the areas that require the majority of your strokes and you might find the greatest opportunity to lower your score. 

The Titleist Golf Ball Fitting is now live on the SEA website at www.titleist.com.sg

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