Oasia Hotel Downtown, Singapore
Developer: Far East Organization
Designer: WOHA
Site size: 0.6 acres (0.2 ha)
Set against an urban landscape of concrete, steel, and glass in Tanjong Pagar, Singapore’s central business district, Oasia Hotel Downtown (OHD) stands out with its red silhouette clad in lush greenery. An integrated hotel/office development comprising a 27-story, 314-room business hotel and 100 new-age offices, OHD responds to the government’s vision for the precinct earmarked as the island’s next waterfront city with a mix of business, commercial, and residential activities.
The developer sought to create alternative imagery for commercial high-rise developments while combining innovative ways to intensify land use. Designed by local architecture firm WOHA and recognized for its innovative and green portfolio, OHD brings to life new interpretations of vertical environment. The intent at the outset was to give back greenery to the city, both vertically and horizontally. The result: OHD’s main facade is lined with greenery entwined around vertical grid panels in five warm tones of red, forming a green skin.
Vertical greenery forms an intrinsic part of the external palette. The greenery is enhanced by alternating 30-meter-tall (98 ft) sky gardens and sleek architectural details to form a tropical skyscraper in the financial district. The facade panels open up on different floors to elevated gardens cut three-dimensionally into the building like huge windows, providing natural ventilation to the structure, which is capped by an open-air rooftop garden and hotel swimming pool that offer a panoramic view of the surrounding cityscape.
The plants, trees, water gardens, and green spaces attract insects and birds, creating a biophilic environment that engages users of the space. The project achieved overall greenery replacement of over ten times the site area. OHD was awarded Green Mark certification by Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority. It also won a Green Good Design Award from the Chicago Athenaeum and the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
