Source : Business Times - 23 Jul 2008
ADDING more sparkle to the Orchard Road shopping belt - literally - Palais Renaissance is undergoing a $16 million facelift and will soon showcase the world’s first double-skin glass facade with musical dancing lights.
The front facade will be ready by November. The dancing lights are the brainchild of award-winning architectural lighting designer Hiroyasu Shoji, whose work includes the iconic Mikimoto Ginza Headquarters in Tokyo.
For his debut project in Singapore, Mr Shoji will programme the three-dimensional colour-changing LED lights according to his ‘Music of Light’ concept where the lights will dance across the glass to the rhythm of music.
Palais Renaissance was last upgraded in 1995, said a spokesperson from the mall’s owner, City Developments Limited. The latest makeover ‘will help to keep Palais competitive and attractive compared to the new malls and old malls which are undergoing or have undergone revamp’, she said.
There will be other changes under the upgrading exercise, which is Palais Renaissance’s most major to date.
Renovation has widened the back entrance and given it a stylish, modern appearance. The interiors, including the glass dome, balustrades and toilets, will also be spruced up in phases and work will complete in late 2009.
Palais Renaissance has welcomed three new brands - Croco Mondalli by Kwanpen, Giuseppe Zanotti and PS Cafe - and the makeover will create more retail space for the mall, which had 44,786 square feet of net lettable area before upgrading.
Work has added some 3,778 sq ft so far and PS Cafe is leasing the space. Another 700 sq ft will be created in the last quarter of 2009 to form a new shop fronting Orchard Road. All shops will remain open throughout the renovation period.
Together with the revamp, Palais Renaissance will refresh its logo for a modern clean look, with emphasis given to the word ‘Palais’.
‘We are confident that Palais will lead the way in revitalising Orchard Road, and its new look will excite and attract shoppers to the mall,’ said a Club21 spokesman for DKNY, an existing brand in the mall.
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