BIG and CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati have collaborated to design a new tech-integrated and verdurous skyscraper in the bustling Central Business District of Singapore. 

The team's new Singapore tower fuses tropical nature and modern architecture as a new urban landmark, which will be one of tallest buildings in the heart of Singapore’s Central Business District.

The 51-story tower, will blend urban life with tropical nature, redefining and elevating workplace and living standards for its users while adding an elegant new landmark to the Singapore skyline.

Located in the heart of Singapore’s financial district, the new 93,000-square-metre, tech-integrated and verdurous skyscraper which includes the 'office of the future', a serviced residence and retail components, transforms the site of a former car park complex built in the 1980s.

CRA and BIG were selected to design the 51-story high-rise following an international architectural competition hosted by Asia’s leading real estate company CapitaLand. 

The development will be funded by the joint venture partnership CapitaLand Limited, CapitaLand Commercial Trust and Mitsubishi Estate Company and the tower had its groundbreaking ceremony on February 9th and is expected to be completed in 2021.

Reaching at 280m, the tower complex will offer premium Grade A office space, a 299-unit Citadines serviced residence to be managed by The Ascott Limited and ancillary retail space. 

The tower is designed to create a distinctive effect on the Singapore skyline: the building’s exterior façade is composed of vertical elements that are pulled apart to allow glimpses into the green oases blooming from the base, core and rooftop. 

Presenting a dynamic interplay of orthogonal lines on its facade details, lush greenery presents itself in the contrasting textures of steel and glass, interweaved with tropical vegetation.

"BIG's design seeks to continue Singapore’s pioneering vertical urbanism with the 280m tall diverse community of places to work, live and play inside as well as outside," said Bjarke Ingels, Founding Partner, BIG.

"At multiple elevations, the facade peels open to reveal urban oases for its users and the surrounding city - animating the elegant smoothness of modern architecture with the ubiquitous tropical nature." 

At the ground floor, visitors will be met by a public rainforest plaza and park. A series of spacious activity pockets invite possibilities for fitness sessions, temporary art installations or other community events. Meandering garden paths and covered passages create natural entryways into the City Room, a 19m-high generous open space at the foot of the tower. 

The lush exterior will be matched by an array of hi-tech solutions shaping a series of fully responsive spaces for work or leisure. Sensors, Internet-of-Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence capabilities are scattered throughout the tower which will enable the tenants to customize their experience of the building.

The City Room welcomes tenants into separate lobbies for the offices and residences, as well as shoppers and diners into the food center within the tower’s podium.

"At CRA, we aim to design spaces that can become settings for novel interactions. In this building, green areas are made accessible to the public at different heights, allowing the city’s exuberance to extend throughout the entire tower," said Carlo Ratti, Founding Partner, CRA; Director, MIT Senseable City Lab.

"Working in nature will be as essential to the experience of the building as the most advanced digital technologies, offering us a glimpse of tomorrow's offices." 

The first eight floors of the tower are dedicated to the serviced residence including a wide range of facilities such as a swimming pool, jacuzzi, jogging track, gymnasium, social kitchen, residents’ lounge and barbeque pits. The top 29 floors of the tower offer premium office spaces with panoramic views to the Singapore River and Marina Bay.

At the core of the building between the hardscapes of the offices and residences are four connected levels of organic softscape, called the Green Oasis – a mesmerizing 30m open-air garden for work, casual strolls, relaxation, exercise and events. 

The multi-leveled oases are connected by a spiraling botanical promenade that creates multiple viewpoints of the vertical park within and the Singapore landscape outside.

The Green Oasis is a tranquil haven of winding walkways and comfortable seating areas for working outdoors or simply lounging in the shade. At about 100m above ground, the tropical garden will feature a jungle gym, treetop cocoons, sky hammocks and a café.

“As someone with Singaporean heritage, I’m honored and humbled by the opportunity to contribute to the ongoing evolution of architecture in Singapore – the home of tropical modernism," said Brian Yang, Partner in Charge, Bjarke Ingels Group.

"BIG’s design looks to further this local typology by distinctly yet seamlessly blending the contemporary high-rise with abundant greenery in-between the offices, residences, amenities and recreation spaces."

Project facts

A project jointly designed by CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati and BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

Size: 93,000 m2

Location: Singapore

Client: CapitaLand

Collaborators: RSP Architects, Dragages Singapore, BIG Ideas, BIG Landscape

CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati

Team: Carlo Ratti, Giovanni de Niederhausern, Saverio Panata (Project lead), Monika Love,Antonio Atripaldi, Andrea Giordano, Chiara de Grandi, Damiano Gui, Mariachiara Mondini, Andrea Pedrina, Andrea Riva3D 

Visualization: Alberto Bottero, Gary di Silvio, Gianluca Zimbardi

Consultants: dotdotdot - Alessandro Masserdotti, Fabrizio Pignoloni, Gabriele Gambotto

BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

Partners-in-charge: Bjarke Ingels, Brian Yang 

Project manager: Günther Weber

Design lead: Song He

Team: Aime Desert, Aleksander Wadas, Aleksandra Domian, Alessandro Zanini, Andrew Lo, Anke Kristina Schramm, Antonio Sollo, Augusto Lavieri Zamperlini, Bartosz Kobylakiewicz, Dalma Ujvari, David Schwarzman, David Vega y Rojo, Dimitrie Grigorescu, Dina Brændstrup, Dominika Trybe, Elise Cauchard, Eriko Maekawa, Espen Vik, Ewa Szajda, Filippo Lorenzi, Francisco Castellanos, Frederik Skou Jensen, Gabrielé Ubareviciute, Gorka Calzada Medina, Helen Chen, Hongduo Zhou, Jakub Wlodarczyk, Jonas Käckenmester, Julieta Muzzillo, Kirsty Badenoch, Luca Pileri, Luis Torsten Wagenführer, Lukas Kerner, Malgorzata Mutkowska, Maria Teresa Fernandez Rojo, Matilde Tavanti, Moa Carlsson, Niu Jing, Orges Guga, Patrycja Lyszczyk, Pedro Savio jobim Pinheiro, Philip Rufus Knauf, Praewa Samachai, Rahul Girish, Ramon Julio Muros Cortes, Rebecca Carrai, Roberto Fabbri, Ryohei Koike, Samuel Rubio Sanchez, Shuhei Kamiya, Sorcha Burke, Steen Kortbæk Svendsen, Szymon Kolecki, Talia Fatte, Teodor Fratila Cristian, Tore Banke, Ulla Hornsyld, Viktoria Millentrup, Vilius Linge, Vinish Sethi, Xin Su, Xinying Zhang, Zhen Tong.

All images courtesy of BIG & CRA 

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