FACILITIES PLANNING AND DESIGN OF PODIUM ROOF

Abstract

Space management is important in Singapore. The roof of a building is one area that should be looked into, by introducing the concept of podium roof. Podium roof allows higher utilization of the roof space, where one could strategically planned and designed facilities to be placed on the roof that optimize the space usage.

Vivo City, level three Sky Park is a typical podium roof built on a shopping centre in Singapore. Facilities on the podium roof are planned to serve the users’ requirements and they are designed with intended objectives. A case study is done to identify the initial design objectives of the existing facilities on the Sky Park. Factors that lead to these objectives in the facilities planning and design on a typical podium roof are then evaluated. Since facilities planning and design determines the performance of facilities, a survey is conducted to find out whether the intended objectives of the facilities do serve current users’ requirements. Hence, the analysis includes a comparison between the previous objectives of facilities and the actual performance of the facilities. By evaluating reasons for poor performance facilities, it will help to determine additional factors that should be considered in the initial planning and design of facilities. Although human element is involved in the design objectives of facilities, users’ requirements vary over time. In order to maximize the usage of space, flexibility is the key to achieving quality facilities planning and design.