Renowned Pritzker Prize winning architect Toyo Ito has completed yet another building in Singapore, joining VivoCity, Belle Vue Residences, Pioneer & Crescent Halls at NTU, and the recently completed sports hall at NTU.
CapitaGreen joins a number of architecturally significant structures by developer Capitaland, such as Moshe Safdie’s Sky Habitat, The Interlace by OMA, and Zaha Hadid’s d’Leedon (Check out my post on the Capitaland Model Gallery for more on their cool projects).
Ito described the building as a metaphor for a tree with the wind scoop funnel as the crown, the green planted facade as the branches, and Olafur Eliasson‘s sinuous artwork as the roots. Interestingly, the lift core at ground level is a beautifully textured earth tone wall which Ito mentioned was made using a special earthen plaster technique by master craftsmen from Japan from Singapore soil- furthering the tree metaphor (pictured below).
The office floors are standard wide office floorplates with a central services core and generous 3.2m ceiling heights. The location within the heart of the built-up CBD is stunning with 360 degree views through full height glass from within the centre of the skyline.
The double glass skin facade attempts to blur the transition between interior and exterior but the inner layer of the building is distictly a standard sealed, fully AC tower. Green ledges cut into the edge of the facade further serve to blur interior/exterior boundaries and help to shade the interior spaces.
Punctured throughout the height of the building are several skygardens, which inhabit voids carved between the office spaces and the outer facade layer, oversized versions of the green ledges cut into most floors. They are simply furnished with smooth round concrete benches and lushly landscaped, subtle joint and turn details provide a hint of Ito’s playful and scultpural geometries. Some of the skygardens are part of private office spaces, and some are public for the entire building.
Atop the building is the ‘skyforest’, hosting an upscale restaurant and a fitness club with outdoor pool, as well as a lushly landscaped ‘forest, which feels oddly disconnected with the city below and a serene moment floating above the skyline.
At the middle of the forest, and perhaps the most iconic feature of the building is the iconic red funnel which sits atop the skyscraper like a giant Pokemon. This urban-scale sculpture also functions as a wind scoop, which draws cooler high-altitude air into the building, lessening the cooling load of the building. It’s iconic qualities are more profound- the chaotic angles of the red petals appearing as surreal forms throughout a multitude of skyline views throughout the city.
CapitaGreen represents a new norm for commercialisation of both sustainable architecture and starchitecture. While not the most innovative tropical high rise, it represents a significant step to the normalisation of green architecture and creates an urban scale spectacle for the city to enjoy.
Images by Jonathan Choe
