Gustafson Porter + Bowman: Marina One is an innovative, highly sustainable, high-density building complex in the Marina Bay financial district which upholds the city’s ambition to become a “City within a Garden”. Comprised of four-towers arranged around a central courtyard, the scheme integrates an extensive planted landscape into the fabric of the building. Gustafson Porter + Bowman’s design for the central ‘Green Heart’ unifies the sculptural and planted elements of the building’s architecture. While the outer face of the four towers (designed by Ingenhoven architects) adhere to the city grid, the maximised inner space allows the building to hold a densely-planted garden within.

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Conceived as one of the largest public landscaped areas in Marina Bay, the Green Heart creates an inspiring and multi-functional space for public use. Visitors enter at ground level from four entrances into a central garden. A large reflecting pond reflects the sky and a three-storey waterfall animates the space. The garden is traversed by intersecting paths, whilst 240 trees and plants are placed underneath the drama of the building’s undulating louvres that extend down to the central courtyard. A winding ramp rises gradually into the building’s form, making a visual and physical connection between the most important levels. Strands of water and light fall from above on either side, adding sound as the water falls into the pool below. This engaging and immersive journey allows visitors and residents to ascend skywards through tropical vegetation, experiencing the changes in climate across different levels which resemble a rainforest valley: From the Green Heart, through the Cloud Garden, rising to the mountain’s peak.

Developed in collaboration with ICN Design International, the planting concept at Marina One varies with the building’s height. Initially covering the 3,700m2 Green Heart, the building contains over 160,000 trees and plants, comprised of 350 species. Canopies of trees create a sense of enclosure, supported by an understorey layer of textured, overhanging plants with generous foliage that echo the forms and intimacy of the rainforest. In the Cloud Forest, one can escape the activity and movement of people at ground level to be surrounded by scents from plants that drift through circulation spaces and capture the spirit of the clouds.

Plants were also chosen to attract insects and butterflies. At the mountain’s peak, one is above the clouds. Here, the planting is comprised of small delicate plants and soft grasses with a gold and silver colour palette and trees and shrubs with crooked stems. Wooden walkways, stone paving, and bronze tones used for the louvres and interior spaces complement the garden’s natural aesthetic, which is further augmented by a bronze Fortune Bowl located along the main path. Conceived to bring luck, prosperity and joy to residents and visitors, the design references the lucky number 8: A smaller diameter circle is superimposed in a larger circle and inscribed by an oval form. The development is located within Singapore’s Marina Bay financial district, a 360-hectare expanse of reclaimed land on the city’s waterfront. Marina One’s towers meet the “LEED Platinum Pre-certification” and the local “Green Mark Platinum” standards for their sustainable design.

Project Data

Client: M+S Pte Ltd. Singapore, a company owned by Khazanah and Temasek.
Project Duration: 2011-2017
Size: GFA 341.000 m²
Ground level landscape: 3,700m2
Status: Completed January 2018
Team: Architect: ingenhoven architects
Project architect: Architects 61, Singapore
Landscape Architect: Gustafson Porter + Bowman, London
Collaborating landscape architects: ICN Design International, Singapore
Main contractor: joint venture company owned 60:40 by Hyundai

Engineering & Construction and GS Engineering & Construction
Structural and M&E Engineers: BECA Carter Hollings & Ferner, Singapore
Residential Interior Designer: Axis ID, Singapore
Facade Consultant: Arup, Singapore
Lighting Consultant: Arup, Singapore
Piling Contractor: Sambo E&C, Singapore