By SGN | 1 Mar 2022
#Didyouknow that Singapore has been designated a UNESCO creative City of Design since 2015? This is a recognition of how intertwined design is in our fabric of life, influencing how we live, work and play! If you think Singapore is just another clinical, boring urban city ‑ think again.
Check out these exciting places in Singapore that showcases how design plays a part in making our little red dot a liveable, lovable place to be!
The Hive
Spotted: an amalgamation of twelve conical towers, each a stack of rounded tutorial rooms that surround a spacious central atrium!
The Hive was conceived by @officialheatherwickstudio, @cpgconsultants and @ntu_sg to support new learning pedagogies that promote more interactive small group teaching and active learning.
According to an article by @archdaily, the rooms “open onto the shared circulation space around the atrium, interspersed with open spaces and informal garden terraces, allowing students to be visually connected while also leaving space to linger, gather and pause.”
Awarded the Green Mark Platinum status by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) Singapore, the building’s open and permeable atrium is naturally ventilated, maximising air circulation around the towers of tutorial rooms! Each room is cooled using silent convection, which reduces the need for energy‑heavy air conditioning and fans
It’s also a hot spot for avid photographers to take shots of its unique interior and exterior ‑ and we can see why! Thanks for letting us feature your wonderful shots, @kopiiiiii
Oasia Downtown
It’s hard to miss out @stayoasia if you’re at Tanjong Pagar
Set against an urban jungle, Oasia Hotel Downtown stands out with a unique silhouette covered by a lush green façade that is a massive vertical garden , enhanced by alternating 30‑metre tall sky gardens and sleek architectural details to form a tropical skyscraper in the Central Business District.
Designed by noted architecture firm @woha_architects with landscape consultant @stxlandscapearchitects, the 27‑storey 314‑room beauty won the President*s Design Awards ‘Design of the Year’ in 2018, and is a breath of fresh air amidst the greys and blues of its neighbouring buildings!
Parkroyal Pickering
A green oasis in the middle of our little red dot, Parkroyal Collection Pickering isn’t just famous for its luxurious staycation experiences, it’s also one of Singapore’s iconic green structures, with a hotel‑in‑a‑garden design concept! This is made possible by @woha_architects and @tierradesign_sg
With 15,000 square metres of lofty four‑storey tall sky‑gardens, reflecting pools, waterfalls, planter terraces and cascading vertical greenery, Parkroyal Collection Pickering’s lush foliage constitutes more than 200% of the total land area, and features several energy conservation and green innovations too
Thanks for this amazing shot, @alsttr!
Jewel Changi Airport
Ask anyone about Singapore’s most beautiful places ‑ @jewelchangiairport will definitely be on the list. Truly a sight to behold, Jewel Changi is one of Singapore’s crown jewels, and rightfully so!
Bringing together three of @changiairport’s terminals with a stunning dome covered with over 9,300 glass panels, it is also home to over 2,000 trees and 100,000 shrubs
Awarded ‘Design of the Year’ by President*s Design Awards in 2020, this marvel was designed by @safdiearchitects in collaboration with RSP Architects Planners & Engineers, and is famous for its eye‑catching oculus feature – showering water 40m down, creating dramatic visual effects and daily rainbows , and a cooling micro‑climate effect.
Thank you for this awesome reflective shot @guoshengz!
Airmesh Pavillion at Gardens by the Bay
Designed by @airlabsutd and Zhejiang University, the AirMesh Pavilion sits atop a lush hill at Gardens by the Bay and lights up when dark falls
It is one of the world’s first fully functional space frame structures made of 3D printed stainless steel components, designed intricately with 54 bespoke nodes and 216 bars of different lengths and sections to give the most optimal configuration and distribution of material With such precise digital optimization, no materials were wasted as the nodes were manufactured with an additive 3D printing process.
Awarded President*s Design Award’s ‘Design of the Year’ in 2020, the AirMesh Pavilion is a an architectural sight to behold, and this shot was captured beautifully by the designer behind AirMesh, @carlosbannon. He also shared that the form was a reinterpretation of the chinese lantern, created for @gardensbythebay’s mid‑autumn festival!
Marina Bay Sands
Did you know that the infinity pool at the top of the boat‑like structure of Marina Bay Sands holds 1,423,314.83 litres of water? Even if you drink a gallon a day, it would take a millennium to finish it!
One of the top 40 largest hotels in the world, the famed Marina Bay Sands has more than meets the eye ‑ from an underground labyrinth for employees, to a brand new tower slated to be built in the near future, it is definitely an icon that is revelled by locals and foreigners alike.
Here’re some amazing shots and angles of Marina Bay Sands from the lens of @bagatz! Thanks for these awesome photos!
Kampung Admiralty
First‑of‑its‑kind in Singapore, Kampong Admiralty integrates housing for the elderly with a wide range of social, healthcare, communal, commercial, and retail facilities.
What makes it even more special is its sustainable design ‑ a greener, cleaner living environment created through a number of incorporated features, such as its lush greenery, rain gardens, solar panels, and much more!
It’s no wonder that the project received the President*s Design Award last year. Kudos to the team at @woha_architects and @ramboll_studio_dreiseitl for this ingenious work of design! Special thanks to @keithloutit for this amazing timelapse of the growth of the lush landscapes at Kampung Admiralty!
Know other amazing spots in Singapore that you want to share? Tag @singaporeglobalnetwork and you might just be featured on our Instagram account!