UNStudio’s design for The Scotts Tower unveiled in Singapore

Ben van Berkel / UNStudio has shared with us their design for The Scotts Tower in Singapore which was just unveiled yesterday.

The tower will be the first development under the Far East Organisation’s new SOHO brand. Designed to conserve space whilst maximizing live/work/play areas, The Scotts Tower promises to present a new dimension of functional and flexible vertical space.

Project Description from the Architects:

The Scotts Tower SOHO apartment building is situated on a prime location in Singapore, close to the Orchard Road luxury shopping district and with views encompassing both nearby parkland and the panoramic cityscape of Singapore City.

Ben van Berkel: "An interesting facet of The Scotts Tower is the way that it reacts to the urban context of Singapore. Instead of the more usual means of planning a city horizontally, we have created neighbourhoods in the sky; a vertical city where each zone has its own distinct identity."

The 18,500m2, 31-storey, 231-unit tower consists of 1 to 3-bedroom apartments and 4-bedroom penthouses; expansive landscaped gardens, sky terraces, penthouse roof gardens and diverse recreational facilities.   

Neighbourhoods in the sky

The concept of The Scotts Tower is that of a vertical city incorporating a variety of residence types and scales. In addition, outdoor green areas in the form of sky terraces, penthouse roof gardens and individual terraces form an important element of the design. The vertical city concept is interpreted on the tower in three scales; the "city", the  "neighbourhood" and the "home". The three elements of the vertical city concept along with the green areas are bound together by two gestures: the "vertical frame" and the "sky frames".

The vertical frame organises the tower architecturally in an urban manner. The frame affords the tower the vertical city effect by dividing the four residential clusters into different neighbourhoods.

The sky frames - at the lobby (Level 1 & Level 2) and sky terrace (Level 25) - organise the amenity spaces and green areas of the tower.

Customised living

The four residential clusters are each designed for versatile and customised living. Individual identity is given to each unit by means of type, scale, distribution and articulation of outdoor space, along with the possibility for personalisation of the interior layout; by means of a semi-white plan, residents will be given the freedom to configure their personal living spaces according to their lifestyles and aspirations.

The individual articulation of each cluster within the main framework of the tower is directly related to the organisation and materialisation of the terrace spaces. These varied outdoor spaces afford a choice of views, with corner terraces providing both cityscape panoramas and vistas over the natural landscape adjacent to the building.

Ben van Berkel: "The balconies combined with the zoning of the individually framed neighbourhoods in The Scotts Tower create different scales of detail in the structure; both intricate, smaller details and larger gestural details. In The Scotts Tower the balconies form part of the interior furniture."

City Loft, City View, Park View and Penthouses

Situated above the lower sky frame, the hundred and twenty-eight City Loft residences in the first cluster occupy the lower sixteen floors of the tower.

The second cluster offers a total of eighty City View units distributed in two clusters. The first cluster shares the first sixteen floor plates with the City Loft residencies. While the second cluster of forty eight units runs above the previous package.

Park View units form the next cluster above the second sky frame, covering five floors and containing twenty units. Crowning the tower is the final cluster containing one floor of three exclusive Penthouse residences.

Gardens, recreation and Sky Frames

The nearby green area to the West of the tower is extended into The Scotts Tower site initially by means of a ground level landscape concept designed by Sitetectonix. This ground level concept incorporates a multi-layered environment which links together the different zones and recreational facilities available to the residents. Recreational facilities within the gardens include a 50 meter lap pool with sunning deck, a children’s pool, a wellness pool, dining & BBQ pavilions, a meeting pavilion and massage and gym pavilions.

A green gateway to the residences is created by the lower sky frame terrace, the "sky lobby", which is located eight meters above the access routes to the building. This terrace serves to continue the natural landscape of the gardens vertically into the tower.

A second sky frame terrace, the "sky garden" is introduced above the third cluster, offering panoramic views and the possibility for use as a social platform for outdoor events. Facilities such as Jacuzzi pools, a swimming pool and a dining deck can be found on the "sky garden" level.

Project Details:

Project title: The Scotts Tower
Client: Far East Organisation
Location: 38 Scotts Road, Singapore
Building surface: 18,500 m2
Building volume: 115,000m3
Units: 231 units (128:1bd; 80:2bd; 20:3bd; 3:4bd-penthouse)
Floors: 31 stories (153m high)
Building site: 6099.7 m2
Program: SOHO residential tower
Status: design development phase

Project Credits:

Design Architect UNStudio: Ben van Berkel, Astrid Piber with Luis Etchegorry, Ger Gijzen and Cynthia Markhoff, Konstantinos Chrysos, Elisabeth Brauner, Shany Barath, Thomas van Bekhoven, Iris Pastor, Rodrigo Cañizares, Albert Gnodde, Mo Ching Ying Lai, Grete Veskiväli, Samuel Bernier Lavigne, Lukasz Walczak, Alicja Chola, Cheng Gong

Executive Architect: ONG&ONG, Singapore

Advisers:
Landscape Architect: Sitetectonix, Singapore
Structural Engineer: KTP Consultants, Singapore
Mechanical Engineer: United Project Consultants, Singapore
Interior Design (Residential Units): Creative Mind Design, Singapore
Visualization: rendertaxi, Aachen