Few bright spots in Bras Basah-Bugis area
The Bras Basah-Bugis district seems to have stayed out of the limelight so far, compared with areas like Marina Bay and Orchard Road.
URA's 2006 lighting masterplan had conceptualised the area as brimming with youthful energy for the arts, culture, learning and entertainment.
Schools there, like the Lasalle College of the Arts and the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Nafa), provide the critical mass.
The planners had marked out several gateways along Selegie Road, Victoria Street and Bencoolen Street for illumination, and suggested putting up signage and 'luminous street elements'.
Last week, The Sunday Times did not find any such prominent gateway. The facade of a number of buildings marked out in the masterplan appeared to be lit not by design but by the yellowish glare of street lamps.
These included: Elias Building, Stansfield College and the Tamil Methodist Church along Short Street; and Nafa's campus along Bencoolen Street.
But some bright lights did beckon, like the Iluma shopping mall at Bugis Junction and the Wilkie Edge offices and residences along Selegie Road. Both facades lit up with moving and changing colours.
Also aglow is the Maghain Aboth Synagogue along Waterloo Street, the earliest Jewish synagogue here and the oldest in Southeast Asia.
The URA, meanwhile, issued a circular to professional institutes on Aug 2, marking out buildings under its masterplan that are required to provide night lighting for their facades, crowns and spires, based on its guidelines.
It said classic-style buildings such as national monuments and conservation buildings should use lights of a warmer colour temperature; contemporary-style buildings should go for cooler colours.
Building owners must also turn on the night lights on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, from 7pm to 11pm, as well as for national events and district-wide festivals.
The facade of Wilkie Edge all lit up with bright LED lights. -- PHOTO: PATRICK BINGHAM HALL
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