A unique way of living in Singapore — LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AOTEAROA

Heatherwick Studio’s 20-storey apartment building in Singapore’s Newton district is inspired by Lee Kuan Yew’s ‘city in a garden’ vision and builds upon the lush tropical setting of the area.

EDEN is promoted as “a place where residents would feel connected to the city’s tree-lined streets whilst enjoying views, light and privacy.”

The project is designed to feel like a city within a garden.

The 3105 square metre building is made from natural materials and includes more than 20 species of flora, and was shortlisted in the housing project category of the 2020 Dezeen Awards.

EDEN’s entrance is at ground-level through a canyon-like corridor, opening into an 18-metre high lobby hung with living plant chandeliers. These thread up and around the building to become private outdoor spaces.

The building is constructed with natural materials.

An intensely-planted street level tropical garden features a variety of unusual and exotic plants with different forms, heights, textures and colours.

Paths, social spaces and hard landscaping are all paved in different shades of green granite, and the outdoor space flows organically from the interior, shaded by both planting and the positioning of above balconies.

A featured swimming pool clad in green ceramic tiles gives the impression of a lake.

The complex includes 20 apartments, all taking a floor each.

Singapore is known as the city in a garden, and EDEN is therefore designed to mature over time as the planting grows, “like a sapling that has taken root beneath the streets, pulling the landscape of Singapore up into the sky.”

Services have been moved to the perimeter to allow for wide, shell-like balconies that alternate to create double-height outdoor spaces. .

The development is inspired by Lee Kuan Yew’s garden vision for Singapore.

Each apartment takes an entire floor, with the central living area and two master bedrooms opening onto balconies, as well as two smaller balconies on either side of the main living room.

These balconies act as lush and immersive raised gardens, encouraging residents to open up the facade and take in the 270-degree views across Singapore, as well as offering cross-ventilation in three directions.

The shell like structures are alternated to allow double height balconies.

External walls are moulded with a topographical map of Singapore’s terrain, which is abstracted to create a three-dimensional texture.

“The building represents a unique way of living in the city,” says Heatherwick Studio, “with its combination of evocative natural materials, textures and crafted details and its celebration of the area’s natural landscape.”