# Space Efficiency of Tall Buildings in Singapore
## 3 Research Method
These include examples such as shear-walled frames (e.g., Altez @ Enggor Street, and Marina Bay Suites) and outrigger frames (e.g., Guoco Tower and Capital Tower), which are commonly used in high-rise construction to maximize spatial efficiency. The buildings in the sample are drawn from different periods of construction, ranging from earlier projects like Capital Tower (completed in 2000) to newer developments like Capita Spring (completed in 2021). This temporal diversity is significant, as it allows the study to account for evolving trends in architectural design, building regulations, and technological advancements that influence space efficiency. The selection process also took into account the prominence of these buildings within Singapore's skyline, ensuring that the study focuses on notable examples that represent cutting-edge practices in high-rise development. Furthermore, Singapore's stringent environmental conditions and regulatory framework play an important role in the selection of cases, which directly influence architectural design and space efficiency. Singapore's tropical climate, characterized by high humidity, heavy rainfall, and consistently warm temperatures, necessitates specific design adaptations to ensure effective ventilation, shading, and thermal comfort while minimizing energy consumption. The selected buildings incorporate these climate-responsive strategies, such as the use of double-skin facades, solar shading, and energy-efficient building materials, all of which impact spatial efficiency by influencing the placement and design of building cores, structural elements, and service areas. Furthermore, Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) building codes [82] and guidelines play a pivotal role in shaping the design and spatial allocation of high-rise buildings, particularly through regulations governing maximum allowable plot ratios, setback requirements, and green building standards under the Green Mark scheme. These regulatory factors were carefully considered in the selection of the 63 buildings, as they affect the spatial efficiency by dictating how much space must be allocated for service cores, mechanical systems, and sustainability features such as green roofs or sky gardens. The data and documentation required for calculating space efficiency were meticulously sourced from the official websites of key project stakeholders, including architects, engineers, contractors, and clients. To ensure accuracy, the research team undertook an exhaustive effort to identify, select, and, where necessary, redraw floor plans for both low-rise and typical upper floors, allowing for a more consistent and precise analysis of spatial efficiency across 63 buildings. This approach focused on standardizing the floor plans as much as possible to yield reliable data, especially since core areas--housing essential services like elevators and mechanical systems--tend to decrease in size as a building ascends, significantly impacting space utilization. By utilizing comparable floor plans, this study accounted for this variation in core size, allowing for a more accurate comparison of spatial efficiency metrics, such as the Net Floor Area (NFA) to Gross Floor Area (GFA) ratio, across different structures. Conversely, any buildings lacking detailed information on their load-bearing systems or comprehensive floor plans were excluded from the analysis, as the absence of such critical data would compromise the study's ability to draw meaningful conclusions about space utilization and the role of architectural design in optimizing efficiency. This rigorous selection process ensured that the dataset was both robust and capable of delivering insights into how design choices and structural systems influence the effective use of space in tall buildings in Singapore. The design and planning of tall buildings in Singapore, much like those in Turkey [83], Asia [84], the Middle East [85], and North America [86], are significantly shaped by a combination of architectural and structural factors.