South Beach, Singapore / Foster + Partners

Occupying an entire city block between the Marina Centre and the Civic District, the scheme will create a 150,000 square meter eco-quarter in downtown Singapore that continues the Singaporean ideal of the ‘city in a garden’ with its lush planting and sky gardens. A generous canopy protects the public realm at ground level, buffering the spaces beneath from the extremes of the tropical climate. Above the canopy rises a vertical city of clustered towers.

The canopy is articulated by ribbon-forms that flex above the primary circulation routes and public spaces and dip near the edges - reflecting the changes of use beneath it. The ribbons rise up the exposed east and west elevations of the towers where they form a series of vertical louvres. These filter the sun and provide a framework for the planting which will transform the towers into a series of vertically linked green spaces. The buildings’ forms and slanted facades are oriented to catch the prevailing winds and direct air flow down to cool the ground level spaces.