"I hope that Singapore doesn't have a style" - Kerry Hill on Martin No. 38

World Architecture Festival 2012: architect Kerry Hill won the award in the housing category at the World Architecture Festival with his design for an apartment building in Singapore and in this interview we filmed he discusses how he believes the nation is developing an "emerging approach to design" rather than an architectural style.
Hill, an Australian architect, moved to Singapore in the late 1970s and he describes how "the standard of architecture" and the "sense of architectural community" has significantly improved since then. "More and more the quite important and certainly the more interesting buildings are being done by home-grown Singaporeans," he explains.
Martin No. 38 is the architect's first housing project in Singapore and comprises a series of apartment blocks in a former warehouse area near to the Singapore River. The architect describes how the building was driven by the climate as much as the programme. "The trick with building in the tropics is not to exclude the sun, but to invite it in through a series of filters," he says.
These filters take the form of a louvred facade system that residents can control, allowing them to "mediate climate, noise and privacy". Each apartment also has an open-plan layout for additional flexibility, while terraces are created at the base of each building as "outdoor living spaces".
However, Hill also explains how he thinks the design scene "isn't just about apartments" in Singapore. "I simply think that Singapore is maturing and the design community is emerging as a force," he says. "It is a place today where developers understand that good design sells."