BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group and CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati design CapitaSpring, biophilic skyscraper in Singapore

Singapore’s fascinating skyline has been enriched with a new element: CapitaSpring, the mixed-use skyscraper designed by international architecture studios BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group and CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati.
With its 51 floors and a total height of 280 metres, the recently completed CapitaSpring is one of the tallest towers in Singapore’s financial district. In addition, as explained by architect Bjarke Ingels, founding partner of BIG, the skyscraper represents a new and pioneering approach to the city’s vertical development, serving as an important example of biophilic architecture thanks to the presence of luxuriant hanging gardens, distributed throughout its height, from the square at street level to the roof-top garden. All in an unprecedented integration of technology with natural elements, as Carlo Ratti, founding partner of CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati stresses.
Built in just four years, CapitaSpring stands in an area previously occupied by a former public car park and a food market. An important presence for the local gastronomic culture, which the architects have carefully maintained, reserving specific spaces on the second and third floors of the tower for the iconic Market Street Hawker Centre and its street vendors.
The skyscraper, in fact, is a veritable vertical development neighbourhood, offering users an interesting mix of public, private spaces and gardens. The residences occupy the first eight floors of the tower, while the top 29 floors offer premium office spaces with panoramic views of the Singapore River and Marina Bay.
At street level, a covered public square offers shelter from the hot sun and heavy tropical rains, with separate lobbies for residences and offices. Starting from the base of the building, the presence of greenery becomes more and more persistent, with a spiralling promenade that develops around its central core, dotted with gardens and flower planters.
Halfway up the skyscraper, the Green Oasis develops over four levels, a 35-metre garden that offers residents space for walks, relaxation and events. Looking to imitate a natural tropical rainforest ecosystem, the plants have been arranged according to their need for direct light and the size of their leaves. The final element of the greenery is the roof-top garden which houses the tallest urban farm in Singapore, with thematic plots where the fresh vegetables that supply the restaurants in the building are grown, as well as offering beautiful panoramic views over the city. />
(Agnese Bifulco)

Images courtesy of BIG and CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati, photos by Finbarr Fallon

Credits

CapitaSpring is a project designed by BIG and CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati
Size: 93,000 square metres
Location: Singapore
Client: CapitaLand Development, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd.
Collaborators: RSP Architects Planners & Engineers (Pte) Ltd, ARUP Singapore Pte Ltd , Beca Carter Hollings & Ferner (S.E.Asia) Pte Ltd, Arcadis Singapore Pte Ltd, COEN Design International Pte Ltd, Takenouchi Webb Pte Ltd, Nipek Pte Ltd, Asylum Creative Ptd Ltd, Jacobs International Consultants Pte Ltd, Ignesis Consultants Pte Ltd, PH Consulting Pte Ltd, TSM Consultancy Pte Ltd, Dragages Singapore Pte Ltd, Meinhardt Singapore Pte Ltd, Squire Mech Pte Ltd.

CRA-CARLO RATTI ASSOCIATI Team:
Carlo Ratti, Monika Löve, Antonio Atripaldi, Gary di Silvio, Gianluca Zimbardi, Saverio Panata, Alberto Bottero, Chiara de Grandi, Giovanni de Niederhausern, Andrea Giordano, Damiano Gui, Mariachiara Mondini, Andrea Pedrina, Andrea Riva
CONSULTANTS: dotdotdot – Alessandro Masserdotti, Fabrizio Pignoloni, Gabriele Gambotto

BIG Team:
Partners-in-charge: Bjarke Ingels, Brian Yang
Project Leader: Gorka Calzada Medina, Martino Hutz, Song He
Project Manager: Eric Li, Günther Weber
BIG Sustainability: Tore Banke, Anders Holden Deleuran
BIG Landscape: Dina Brændstrup, Kirsty Badenoch, Ulla Hornsyld
Team: Aime Desert, Aleksander Wadas, Aleksandra Domian, Alessandro Zanini, Anke Kristina Schramm, Augusto Lavieri Zamperlini, Dalma Ujvari, David Schwarzman, David Vega y Rojo, Davide Tarditi, Dimitrie Grigorescu, Dominika Trybe, Elise Cauchard, Eriko Maekawa, Espen Vik, Ewa Szajda, Federica Locati, Filippo Lorenzi, Francisco Castellanos, Frederik Skou Jensen, Gabrielé Ubareviciute, Guoyu Liu, Helen Chen, Jacek Baczkowski, Jakub Wlodarczyk, Jonas Käckenmester, Julieta Muzzillo, Luca Pileri, Luis Torsten Wagenführer, Lukas Kerner, Malgorzata Mutkowska, Maria Teresa Fernandez Rojo, Matilde Tavanti, Moa Carlsson, Nataly Timotheou, Niu Jing, Orges Guga, Patrycja Lyszczyk, Pedro Savio jobim Pinheiro, Philip Rufus Knauf, Praewa Samachai, Qamelliah Nassir, Rahul Girish, Ramon Julio Muros Cortes, Rebecca Carrai, Roberto Fabbri, Samuel Rubio Sanchez, Shuhei Kamiya, Sofiia Rokmaniko, Sorcha Burke, Steen Kortbæk Svendsen, Szymon Kolecki, Teodor Fratila Cristian, Viktoria Millentrup, Vilius Linge, Vinish Sethi, Weijia Lu, Xin Su, Xinying Zhang, Zari van de Merwe, Zhen Tong

Photo credits: Finbarr Fallon

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