is an
Office Building located in the
Downtown Core Planning Area,
Central Region ,
Singapore . It is situated along
North Bridge Road , and is near the major commercial hub at
Marina Centre . It is next to
Bugis MRT Station ,
Bugis Junction , and The Gateway, and straddles the Rochor Road and Ophir Road corridor.
Parkview Square is one of the more expensive office buildings in Singapore. The occupancy rate for this building was rather low when it first opened. However, as the
Economy improved, the occupancy rate for this building grew higher steadily''
The Straits Times '', July 14 2004 (article by Joyce Teo). Besides
Commercial office space, Parkview Square also houses the embassy of
Austria and the
United Arab Emirates .
Parkview Square was designed by American Consultant
James Adams , together with DP Architects of Singapore. It was built at a cost of
SGD $87.93 million.
It was built as the last major project enterprised by the late Mr.
C. S. Hwang , a Taiwanese tycoon chairman of
Chyau Fwu Group . As his last project, he wanted it "imposing and monumental, yet stylish and elegant"''
The Straits Times '', March 3 2007 (article by Calvin Low).
The office space on each floor is columnless so it can be reconfigured according to the tenant's wish. Although it is a modern building, having been completed in
2002 , it is specially designed in the classic
Art Deco style, following
New York City 1929 Chanin Building as an inspiration. The exterior surface of the building is cladded in brown
Granite ,
Bronze ,
Lacquer , and
Glass .
The lobby is also designed mainly in the Art Deco style and features a 15m-high ceiling with handcrafted details. The bar in the
Lobby of the building has a unique 3-storey high wine chiller. The open plaza of Parkview Square is reminiscent of
Piazza San Marco in
Venice , with sculptures and statues surrounding the open plaza. There are many bronze effigies of some of the most famous figures in world history, including
Sun Yat-sen ,
Abraham Lincoln ,
Salvador Dal%C3%AD ,
Mozart ,
Chopin ,
Isaac Newton ,
Pablo Picasso ,
Rembrandt ,
Shakespeare ,
Plato ,
Dante ,
Winston Churchill and
Albert Einstein .
The building also has widespread use of motifs, sculptures, and ornamentation. The building is "guarded" by eight gigantic fiberglass statues of men holding a light ball in their hands, four of them standing on each broad side of the building's crown. Another example is the
Gargoyles decorating the building’s exterior, which are said to be hand-crafted. In the center of the plaza is a statue of a golden bird. On the pedestal is written a chinese poem:
黄鹤楼
崔颢
昔人已乘黄鹤去，此地空余黄鹤楼。
黄鹤一去不复返，白云千载空悠悠。
晴川历历汉阳树，芳草萋萋鹦鹉洲。
日暮乡关何处是，烟波江上使人愁。
The poem refers to a mythical bird returning to its temple (a place of workship in
Hubei ,
China ). It is supposed to bring wealth to the building.
