Location: Singapore.
Architect: Wilkinson Eyre, Grant Associates, Atelier One and Atelier Ten.
Gardens by the Bay is a key project in delivering the Singapore Government’s vision of transforming Singapore into a ‘City in a Garden’. It comprises three distinct waterfront gardens – Bay South, Bay East and Bay Central. The Cooled Conservatory Complex provides a spectacular, all-weather attraction, comprising a 1.28-hectare cool dry conservatory and a 0.73-hectare cool moist conservatory. Designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects, the conservatories bring the climates and plant life of the Mediterranean and Cloud Forest regions to tropical Singapore. Highlights include an indoor waterfall, a perpetually flowering meadow, cascading levels of vertical planting and high-level walkways through and above the tree canopy.
The curvilinear conservatory structures have been designed with sustainability as a starting point, with every consideration given to passive climate control techniques. The £350 million Bay South Garden, one of three Gardens by the Bay projects initiated by the National Parks Board (NParks) in Singapore, opened on 29th June 2012. The design for the cooled conservatories, enclose an area of over 20,000 sqm and reach a height of 58 metres above the shore of the bay. Grant Associates has overseen the design of the towering forest of ‘Supertrees’ to the south of the conservatories. The conservatories are landmarks that prominently address both the bay and the skyscrapers of densely urban districts that will surround the garden.