The first phase of Singapore’s dramatic Gardens by the Bay project opens to the public on 29th June following completion of the 54ha £500M Bay South Garden by a world-class British design team led by Bath-based landscape architects, Grant Associates.
Gardens by the Bay is one of the largest garden projects of its kind in the world. Ultimately, the site will total 101ha comprising three distinct gardens – Bay South, Bay East and Bay Central. Located on reclaimed land in Singapore’s new downtown at Marina Bay, the site will provide a unique leisure destination for local and international visitors.
Bay South Garden - Photo © Darren Chin
The project is an integral part of Singapore’s “City in a Garden” vision, designed to raise the profile of the city globally whilst showcasing the best of horticulture and garden artistry.
A Great British Collaboration
Following an international design competition, a team led by landscape architecture firm Grant Associates was appointed in 2006 by the National Parks Board of Singapore to masterplan Bay South Garden, the first and largest of the three planned gardens at Gardens by the Bay.
Alongside lead designers Grant Associates, the British design team for Bay South includes Wilkinson Eyre (architects); Atelier Ten (environmental design consultants); Atelier One (structural engineers); Land Design Studio (museum and visitor center designers) and Thomas Matthews (communication designers).
Photo © Craig Sheppard
A Fusion of Nature and Technology
Taking inspiration from the form of the orchid, Grant Associates’ masterplan is a rich fusion of nature, technology and environmental management. Stunning architectural structures are combined with a wide variety of horticultural displays, daily light and sound shows, lakes, forests, event spaces and a host of dining and retail offerings. The whole plan has an intelligent environmental infrastructure, allowing endangered plants, which could not normally grow in Singapore to flourish, providing both leisure and education to the nation.
“Our brief for Gardens by the Bay was to create the most amazing tropical gardens in the world, incorporating cutting edge environmental design and sustainable development principles,” says Andrew Grant, Director, Grant Associates. “We had to factor in the challenges of both the Singaporean climate and working on a reclaimed waterfront. We wanted to capture people’s relationship with nature and use innovative technology to create rich lifestyle, educational and recreational experiences for both local residents of Singapore and visitors from around the world. All these elements informed the vision and creation of the gardens.”
Photo © Craig Sheppard
Highlights of Gardens by the Bay are many and include:
Cooled Conservatories
Two giant biomes designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects – the Flower Dome (1.2 hectare) and the Cloud Forest Dome(0.8 hectare) – display plants and flowers from the Mediterranean-type climatic regions and Tropical Montane (Cloud Forest) environments and provide an all-weather “edutainment” space within the Gardens.
Photo © Craig Sheppard
The Conservatories are an amalgamation of architecture (Wilkinson Eyre), structural ingenuity (Atelier One) environmental engineering (Atelier Ten) and landscape design (Grant Associates). They are an iconic feature of the Gardens that showcase the application of sustainable energy solutions and tell the story of plants and their intimate relationships with man and the ecosystem. At the same time they offer a spectacular visual and spatial experience for the visitors.
The Flower Dome replicates the cool-dry climate of Mediterranean and semi-arid sub tropical regions like South Africa and parts of Europe like Spain and Italy. The Cloud Dome replicates a cool-moist climate found in Tropical Montane regions between 1,000 to 3,500 metres above sea level, such as Mt Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia, and high elevation areas in South America.
About 226,000 plants from every continent except Antarctica expect to be featured in the conservatories. Many of these species face the threats of climate change and habitat loss brought about by human activities. It is hoped that displaying them in the conservatories will help to promote awareness of the wonders of nature and the value of plants to Man and the Environment.
Photos © Craig Sheppard
Supertrees
Between 25 and 50 metres in height, the 18 Supertrees designed by Grant Associates are iconic vertical gardens, with emphasis placed on creating a “wow” factor through the vertical display of tropical flowering climbers, epiphytes and ferns. At night, these canopies come alive with lighting and projected media. An aerial walkway suspended from the Supertrees offers visitors a unique perspective on the gardens. The Supertrees were planned from the outset to showcase innovative environmental technologies and to become an integral part of the overall site environmental systems. In addition to the creation of habitat and shaded spaces through the use of vertical planting, some will have photovoltaic cells to harvest solar energy, others include rainwater harvesting and some will be integrated with the Cooled Conservatories and energy centre to serve as air exhausts.
Supertrees - Photography © Robert Such
Horticultural Gardens
Two collections The Heritage Gardens and The World of Plants centre on ‘Plants and People’ and ‘Plants and Planet’. Together with mass flowering and coloured foliage landscape, they form a spectacle of colour and texture and fragrance within the Gardens, providing a mesmerising experience for visitors.
Images courtesy Grant Associates
Nice article as I get to know that the project was a collaboration with the British. I think in the coming future Gardens by the Bay will become one of the iconic attraction of Singapore.