GARDEN STATE
All of these lushly planted projects owe a debt to WOHA, the local firm that helped lay the groundwork for greenery-infused high-rise living. Beyond eye-catching landmarks such as Oasia and Parkroyal on Pickering, WOHA has designed a number of residential projects that were conceived as an alternative to shoebox-style apartment living.
Completed in 2013, each of the 210 units inside the two 12-storey blocks of the Goodwood Residence is shaded by operable aluminium sun screens. “It goes back to the black-and-white bungalows that have verandahs with teak blinds that go up and down,” says the project’s lead architect, Pearl Chee of WOHA. With the screens closed and the windows open, no air-conditioning is needed as the buildings are just one unit thick, allowing for constant cross-ventilation—along with views of the greenery that surrounds the complex. “There is a big emphasis today on recreating a ground-level-type environment in high-rises,” says Chee. “This is a very successful prototype of how we can make upper-level living spaces almost look like the ground. You almost feel like you are living in a bungalow, but in the air.”
Meyer House, another WOHA project in East Coast, goes one step further. WOHA architect Chan Ee Mun says the goal was to “replicate the experience of living in a landed home” in a multi-storey building, and to achieve that, the building was arranged around a 0.6-hectare courtyard. “The living areas are designed to spill out onto this internal garden,” he says. “Thanks to folding doors, the 15-m-wide living room of each apartment opens onto a large screened balcony, creating a seamless indoor-outdoor living space.”
That was also Moshe Safdie’s goal in his firm’s latest Singapore project, Boulevard 88, whose two 28-storey towers will contain 158 units when they are completed in
2022. Most units feature large balconies or terraces, and the towers are connected
Midtown Bay is a mixed-use development that will incorporate over 170,000sqft of landscaped gardens and public areas, and more than 34,000sqft of vertical greenery; designed by Safdie Architects, the Sky Habitat residential towers feature a stepped form inspired by a hillside town