17 Dec 2009 – Just a week to shop!

Jeff, my son-in-law thinks that SIN is just one big shopping mall and he has a point there! Will be posting mainly night shots for the next few postings. A glitzy 4hrs Wed evening stroll as I do not want to be anywhere near Orchard Rd next week. The afternoon rains stopped before the sunset, making a pleasant evening walk with a manageable crowd!

Akanoya, Japanese Restaurant located at Orchard Parade Hotel gives a nice lighting effect in the evening. Have always been and will always be a fan of the simple non-stained wood designs by the Japanese and the Scandinavians.

ION Orchard/乌节弯 is a new shopping mall with 335 food & retail outlets. The Orchard Residences with 175 units are still under-construction. And built directly on top of the MRT Orchard. Is that convenient or what… especially when you can afford to pay S$3,213 per sq ft and that was the first phase with 98 units sold then. The cheerful aluminum sculptures, Urban People, 2009 is by Kurt Metzler who said that his works tell stories with amused irony, how true!

Orchard Central/乌节中央城, another new shopping mall with 160m frontage along Orchard Rd, giving good visibility to potential tenants. A real nice home-decor store I was admiring is located on the 3rd level. This used to be the location of the Specialist Shopping Centre adjoining to the old Phoenix Hotel. It is strange to remember back when this spot used to be a car-park by day and food-stalls by night. The site of the hotel was once owned by my father & his partners but that was eon ago!

Good design, at least part of the time, includes the criterion of being direct in relation to the problem at hand- not obscure, trendy or stylish. A new language, visual or verbal must be couched in a language that is already understood – Ivan Chermayeff