5-Village with a heritage silk road merging the glorious aviation industry of the Paya Lebar Area to form a new unique township.

The future relocation of Paya Lebar Air Base presents exciting possibilities for the creation of an attractive and sustainable township. Paya Lebar Air Base is an airbase with a long history through decades of changes since the 1820s where it got its name - Paya Lebar. Over the years, the place has gone through drastic changes - from a rural settlement, to an airport serving the community in the 70s, until today where it is now serving as a military airbase for Ministry of Defence.

The concept of the proposal is a fusion between the heritage memory and the glorious aviation industry to form a unique township for the future Paya Lebar. The Runway is the key element of the design criteria which forms the axis where the township planning grow from.

Paya Lebar Air Base Design Competition (URA/SIA)

A Fusion of Heritage and Glory for the new Future –

Axle though the Annular

On the macro scale – the 2 main axes are: the runway and the old laterite road which cut through the airbase back in the early days. The 5 rural settlements (Villages) are used as the 5 nodes where the township grow in the future Paya Lebar area. Thus, the combination of 2 main axes and the 5 nodes of town is extended to current urban morphology of the site. A sub-axis is used to connect the main runway to the core of each township. Each township is given their own identity of living lifestyle based on their geographical location / history and also existing urban morphology. The 5 themes for the township are:–

1. Town of Aviation Industry

2. Town of Light Industrial / Craftsmanship

3. Town of Urban Farming

4. Town of Water / Reservoir Park

5. Town of Recreation

ANNULAR PARALLEL street pattern is used in the township planning where the township will grow in a strong grid radial form and slowly fuse to the existing urban morphology and connects to the adjacent townships. This generate a unique pattern of the mixture between strong linear lines (runway axis) that cut through the entire future Paya Lebar area and 5 circular urban pattern (the towns).

On the micro scale – the concept of a 15-min city is applied in the planning concept where the time / distance to daily need / destination is located within 15min of walking and cycling travel distance for the citizen. The major annular grid is based on the 5min-10min-15min radial distance at approximately 500m between each annular ring. The township is self-sufficient to serve the people without travelling to the downtown area. This is the main sustainable feature of the planning. Other sustainable features include district cooling, district power generation, district pneumatic refuse collection and disposal etc to maximise the effect of the towns and scale.

The theme of each township relates to the preference of the residents and creates a unique community where residents share common interests. The township will also attract people to visit for different purposes based on their identities. This is another sustainable feature in terms of social and economic sustainability.

The 15-min Town

Rings of up to 1.5km radius and radial road is used to zone the towns. Connecting the residents to their daily needs or daily destination within 15min of walking/cycling distance. The central consists a central park and it is where the administrative and offices are located. The residential area and pocket park are distributed across the middle and outer rings. Parking podium are provided at the entry (outer ring) to the town where people can leave their motorized vehicle and enjoy the walk/cycle into the town.

Conclusion

In summary, the concept of “axle through the annular” for Paya Lebar will create a unique yet sustainable urban township landmark for Singapore where there is also a potential for it to be an attraction for both citizens and tourists.