A striking new place of worship has opened its doors in Singapore after international design engineer Web Structures helped turned the church’s vision into reality.
The impressive four-storey Christ Methodist Church on East Coast Road was designed by Singapore-based architects K2LD.
Web Structures’ Singapore team of structural and design engineers worked closely with the architects on the development, which cost S$20 million.
The result is a stunning modern church for a congregation that can trace its roots back to the 1930s.
Church leaders decided they needed a new building on the site to cater for a growing congregation.
A K2LD-led consortium, which included Web Structures, was chosen to deliver the ambitious project by the church after winning a design competition in 2009.
The new Christ Methodist Church includes a large worship sanctuary, a multi-purpose hall and basement car parking.
There is also a baptism pool, classrooms, band room, recording and dance studio, and green wall at both sides of the church wall, among its many other new amenities.
Soil investigations carried out in 2010 revealed the full extent of a marine clay layer in the ground, which is quite challenging during piling work.
The additional of fourth storey to the building followed after obtaining the authority’s approval and happened in the middle of construction stage in 2013. The checking and design of existing foundation and structures had to be turned around quickly to cater for this additional floor. The construction work was completed earlier this year.
Dr Hossein Rezai, group director of Web Structures, said: “Christ Methodist Church is a truly stunning building and is already a local landmark.
“The architects have not only designed a striking place of worship, the facilities the new building offers are playing an important role in the local community.
“We worked closely with the architecture team to ensure their vision could become reality.”
He added: “The design processes we have developed over the years leads to structural systems that are tailor-made for each and every project and are totally cost-efficient.
“That was very much the approach we took with this project.”
Web Structures engineers based in its Singapore office played a key role in the creation of the basement and the addition of the fourth storey to the originally planned structure which will “future proof” the building for any further expansion.