As building trends move more and more toward the green aesthetic, one new Singapore skyscraper is setting the bar extremely high.
The Park Royal on Pickering development is a striking example of the growing trend with a building that is, both literally and figuratively, green.
Throughout the world, incorporating greenery as a part of a building’s overall architectural aesthetic is a growing trend. Designed by WOHA Architects, the $350 million mixed use development will feature a hotel and retail spaces adjacent to Singapore’s central business district.
The building will cut an impressive green figure in the Singapore skyline with its unique flora-based exterior. Instead of the usual steel, glass and concrete walls, Park Royal will be notable for a façade that consists of lush swaths of greenery.
While the building itself will be made of prefab concrete, it will boast some 15,000 square metres of green space. This will, obviously, provide remarkable green benefits that will help reduce costs even as it helps reduce the site’s carbon footprint.
Palm trees and hanging creepers will provide shade to help keep cooling costs down. Solar panels have been installed on the roof to power landscape lighting and state-of-the-art sensors will help regulate energy use throughout the site. Rainwater will be harvested for some of the building’s water needs.
Because the building is so overtly green, just looking at it will highlight its eco-friendly nature to passersby. With green being de rigeur today, that should push forward the notion that it is a premium site.
Park Royal is another step forward in a green revolution that has seen other leaps forward in environmental building. While a growing number of skyscrapers are starting to incorporate sky gardens and green spaces, and even greater shifts such as the vertical forest have helped bring the movement forward, WOHA Architects’ work creates a new benchmark for the green building trend.
The site has been given a Green Mark Platinum rating, the highest environmental rating in Singapore. It will hopefully serve as an inspiration to other architects looking to contribute to the green movement.
