Design Anthology - Asia Pacific Edition
Dalvey 7: Houses by 7 Singaporean Architects
Singaporean firm k2ld holds the principle of collaboration close to its heart. When it was commissioned by the family behind Dalvey Estate in 2015 to select and lead a group of architects on a development of seven houses, director Ko Shiou Hee viewed it as an affirmation of this principle.
Inspired by game theory, k2ld set conditions to incentivise cooperation: each firm had to work to the same fees and briefs, and consider one another’s placements and planning to maximise the benefit for all parties as a whole. This led to seven distinct homes that form a quite singular development. The book thoroughly documents the project, with photos, plans and elevations of each home alongside introductory essays by Patrick Bingham-Hall that contextualise modern urban housing as well as the project itself.
Ko notes in his introduction that architects ‘have been educated to work with social, economic and environmental sensitivity’ in a world ‘driven by developers and stakeholders who prioritise maximising their gains through development strategies, leaving architects scant space to be true to our profession.’ For him, then, collaboration is ever more necessary ‘in this increasingly distortive and egocentric world’.