OCBC Centre

OCBC Centre
华侨银行大厦
General information
Type	Commercial offices
Location	65 Chulia Street Downtown Core, Singapore
Coordinates	1°17′06″N 103°50′57″E / 1.285°N 103.8491°E / 1.285; 103.8491Coordinates: 1°17′06″N 103°50′57″E / 1.285°N 103.8491°E / 1.285; 103.8491
Completed	1976
Height
Roof	197.7 m (649 ft)
Technical details
Floor count	52
Floor area	74,900 sq ft (6,960 m2)
Design and construction
Owner	OCBC Bank
Management	OCBC Bank
Main contractor	Morrison-Knudsen Low Keng Huat
Architect	I. M. Pei BEP Akitek
Developer	OCBC Bank
Structural engineer	Ove Arup & Partners
References
[1][2][3]

OCBC Centre is a 197.7 m (649 ft), 52-storey skyscraper in Singapore. serving as the current headquarters of OCBC Bank, the building was completed in 1976 and was the tallest building in the country, and South East Asia, at that time.^[4] There are two extensions, OCBC Centre South and OCBC Centre East. There is an Executive Club on one of the higher floors of the building. OCBC Centre East has food and beverage outlets.

History

OCBC Centre was the result of the second Sale of Sites of the Urban Renewal Department of the Housing and Development Board in 1968. The building was designed by I. M. Pei & Partners (now Pei Cobb Freed & Partners) together with now defunct BEP Akitek (Pte) Singapore and started construction in 1975. Its construction period was only two years due to a three-tier system. The building was completed on 26 November 1976 and was Southeast Asia's tallest building at the time. A bronze sculpture designed by Tan Teng Kee sat at the building until 1983 when it was moved to the now defunct Bras Basah Park. A reclining figure sculpture by Henry Moore has replaced it and a new plaza and reflecting pool were built outside the front entrance of the building. The building has undergone several modernisations and OCBC Centre East and South was constructed at a later date.

Architecture

It is designed to be a symbol of strength and permanence, and its structure consists of two semi-circular reinforced concrete cores as well as three lateral girders which helped made construction faster. The building is divided into three sections due to the steel trusses being constructed off-site and were put into position. Each section consists of floors that are cantilevered 6 metres from each column, with load transfer girdrs spanning at each end taking up boxed sections of the pre-stressed concrete. Lattice steel models strengthened by steel and concrete compression was installed on the 20 and 35 floors of the building. The building has been nicknamed the calculator due to its flat shape and windows which look like button pads.

See also

• Tall buildings in Singapore

References

1. ^ OCBC Centre at Emporis
2. ^ OCBC Centre at SkyscraperPage
3. ^ OCBC Centre at Structurae
4. ^ "Singapore's evolving skyline". Urban Redevelopment Authority. http://www.ura.gov.sg/skyline/skyline02/skyline02-04/text/evolvingskyline1.html. Retrieved 2008-02-02. 

Further reading

• Singapore 1:1 City, ISBN 981-05-4467-7, Wong Yunn Chi, Urban Redevlopment Authority. 
• Singapore: A Guide To Buildings, Streets, Places, ISBN 981-204-781-6, Norman Edwards and Peter Keys, Times Books International. 

External links

• Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation