Yishun Innovation District, a small but strategically located precinct at Singapore’s Northern Gateway, is being reimagined into a mixed-use, vibrant community. 

We participated in JTC Corporation’s Reimagining Singapore’s Industrial Landscape Request for Proposal (RFP), which sought blue-sky ideas to rejuvenate this mature industrial estate. Through this RFP, we collaborated with JTC to develop a concept masterplan and urban design proposals transforming the 72Ha brownfield site into ‘The Intersection’, where innovation, industry, academia, community, and nature are integrated. The masterplan brings together industry, schools and religious precincts, food courts, green spaces and sustainable transport.  

We designed the new precinct to support job growth, build strategic skills, and attract skilled professionals. To create a holistic and integrated masterplan, we brought together a diverse, multidisciplinary team of urban designers, architects, digital specialists and civil engineers. Four goals guided our design; industrial expansion, integrated living, greening and sustainable transport; to cater for economic, social and environmental value creation.  

Our work is helping strengthen Yishun as a high-tech industrial precinct, where people can work, live, access high quality open spaces, and connect with their community. The new precinct is envisaged to provide Singapore with over 1.4 million square metres of industrial space and 1,000 new homes. Over 400,000 square metres of urban greening will enhance the area’s appeal while creating a comfortable microclimate. 

Masterplanning 

Our integrated masterplanning approach carefully weighed the numerous spatial and infrastructure factors, including transport and logistics, green and blue spaces, land-use, utilities, and community and social considerations. The concept masterplan addresses the significant challenges of diverse tenancies, height restrictions and adaptive building reuse, and seeks to create synergies among these elements. Designed as a future-ready development, ‘The Intersection’ prioritises sustainability, with green spaces that promote biodiversity and roof tops that contribute to nature regeneration.  

We undertook rigorous research to understand the key social, ecological, and economic trends, including an aging population, climate change and sea-level rise and rapid technological changes. These trends presented opportunities to embed resilience at every level of design. We then identified Yishun’s strategic positioning, in line with Singapore’s long-term economic strategy, the positioning of other industrial sites and Yishun’s unique legacy as an industrial site.  

Once established, we defined which industries Yishun should focus on and how these industries could provide the right jobs to attract the right people to the area. Through global benchmarking, we assessed the pre-requisites for success, including overlapping land uses, connectivity and high-quality public spaces. 

Render of the Yishun district masterplan
The masterplan positions Yishun as a high-tech industrial precinct.

Transport consulting 

Surrounded by flourishing residential neighbourhoods and nature reserves to the east, we recognised that to make The Intersection successful, it must be open and accessible to everyone. Our concept masterplan enables the estate to seamlessly connect with the surrounding developments, but to also create new, shorter pedestrian links to Mass Rapid Transit stations.  

While the site is designed to work effortlessly for an Industrial 4.0 logistics network, the people mobility concepts adhere to car-lite strategies, with people-first street designs.  

Render of the Yishun district masterplan
People-first design for the precinct.

Architecture  

Our concept masterplan focuses on five desired outcomes: a mixed-use vibrant community, protect and nurture the natural environment, connect innovation and manufacturing, and embed circular economy principles.  

Examples of this include urban greening, blue infrastructure, shared spaces for community academia and industry, repurposing buildings, modular construction for all components, including energy and transport and logistics infrastructure.