Art housed incorporated into upcoming Scotts Road Building
Developer gets 2 per cent more building space for incorporating $6.3m worth of art in the redeveloped former Scotts Shopping Centre
MORE than $6.3 million worth of artworks by Salvador Dali and Henry Moore, among others, will be incorporated into an upcoming Scotts Road building.
Wheelock Properties, which is redeveloping Scotts Shopping Centre and the service residences above it, will be bringing in four sculptures under a government incentive scheme to make art more accessible.
It is the first developer to join the programme, which rewards builders with more building space when they integrate artworks into their projects.
Wheelock, which is building a luxury apartment block with a retail podium at the Scotts Road site, intends to display a $1.8 million sculpture called ‘V&A Chandelier 1999′ by American artist Dale Chihuly in the podium when the building is completed by 2010.
It will also display three sculptures - ‘Alice in Wonderland’ by Dali, ‘Working Model for Sheep Piece’ by English artist Henry Moore and ‘Three Indeterminate Lines 1994′ by French artist Bernear Venet outside the building.
Singapore’s public spaces are currently adorned by artworks like Dali’s ‘Homage to Newton’ and Fernando Botero’s ‘Bird’, both at the UOB Plaza. The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), which is behind the incentive scheme, hopes to make the scene even livelier by giving developers up to 2 per cent more building space if they incorporate permanent installations within a publicly accessible area of a development in the city centre.
The chief executive of Wheelock, Mr David Lawrence, said: ‘These pieces by world-renowned artists will redefine Scotts Road and give our development its unique character.’
Wheelock will be allowed to build 2 per cent more space - or about 8,600 sq ft - than what is allowed.
According to the head of valuation and advisory services at property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle, Mr Tan Keng Chiam, freehold retail space in the area is worth between $1,100 and $1,200 per sq ft. This means that the additional building space granted is likely to be worth more than $9 million.
Several developers have expressed interest in joining the scheme, said the URA. Its director of urban planning and design, Madam Fun Siew Leng, said: ‘We hope to see more artworks of such standard soon, so as to inject a signature imagery for our city centre.’
Commenting on the artworks, the president of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Mr Choo Thiam Siew, told The Straits Times: ‘These are done by the masters, so it’s good that the public can have access to their work. But I will certainly like to see more local work displayed.
‘We do have local sculptors that can do big public artworks. It’s high time we honoured, recognised and are proud of our own artists.’
Source : Straits Times - 4 Aug 2006
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