Singapore – city in the garden
Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay has won the top prize, World Building of the Year, at the World Architecture Festival that was also held in Singapore this year.
Officially the prize went to Wilkinson Eyre Architects from London, but jury represented by such names as: Ben Van Berkel, Moshe Safdie, Jϋrgen Mayer H, Yvonne Farrell, insisted that the whole design team should have recognition (Grant Associates, Atelier One i Atelier Ten) for this magnificent team effort.
Located in Marina Bay, Gardens by the Bay is a key project in delivering the Singapore Government’s vision of transforming Singapore into a ‘City in a Garden’. At a total of 101 hectares, the Gardens by the Bay project comprises three distinct waterfront gardens.
At the heart of Bay South Garden is the Cooled Conservatory Complex which is the focal point of the Gardens. The two main Conservatories cover an area in excess of 20,000sq m and are among the largest climate-controlled glasshouses in the world. They provide a spectacular, all-weather attraction and comprise a cool dry conservatory (the ‘Flower Dome’) and a cool moist conservatory (the ‘Cloud Forest’). Each has its own distinct character, but both explore the horticulture of those environments most likely to be affected by climate change.
The Flower Dome tells the story of plants and people in the Mediterranean climate zone, aims to bring alive the experience of seasonal change for visitors more used to Singapore’s eternally tropical climate and lush green vegetation. Even the landform of the conservatories draws inspiration from Mediterranean landscapes and evokes the language of dry, sun-baked hillsides punctuated with rocky terraces and stony outcrops, and the intimate bond between land, geology, vegetation and cultivation.
The Cloud Forest highlights the relationship between plants and the planet, showing how the warming of the cool tropical cloud forests will threaten biodiversity. With a smaller footprint but greater height than Flower Dome, it has at its heart a planted ‘Mountain’ from which a 35m high waterfall drops. Visitors can experience the forest at different levels, but most interesting is a Cloud Walk between tree crowns.
Gardens by the Bay are open for visitors from June 2012 and during August 1.000.000th visitor is registered.
Photo: © Gardens by the Bay
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