Shell-like balconies and hanging greenery make EDEN by Heatherwick Studio a stunning departure from the normal on Singapore’s skyline.
Eden is Heatherwick Studio’s first residential project in Asia. Designed to “entwine nature with city apartment living”, the 104.5-metre-tall building is one of a growing number of buildings in the city that combine architecture and greenery, following the vision of Lee Kuan Yew, who imagined Singapore as a “city in a garden”.
“Like most global cities, Singapore’s skyline is filled with angular steel and glass towers,” said Thomas Heatherwick, founder of Heatherwick Studio.
“With Swire Properties we wanted to create something distinctive that represents Singapore as a city in a garden, and recreate the verdant backyard access once ubiquitous across homes here,” he says.
So, instead of glass-clad edifices with token balconies, each of the 20, 282metre2 luxury apartments within EDEN has a lush garden right at the doorstep with organic and generous living spaces achieved by breaking up the traditional boxy floorplate.
EDEN is fronted by hanging gardens that connect the living spaces with the outdoors and ensure privacy for each of the apartments. White garden balconies, which take the form of striped, shell-like shapes alternating in size, are intended to resemble a spine.
Either side of the hanging gardens, EDEN features a unique three-dimensional textured concrete facade, which was cast from moulds that Heatherwick Studio imprinted with a topographical map of Singapore’s terrain.
EDEN’s first apartment is elevated 23 metres above ground level, and each dwelling will be arranged around a generous living rooms at its centre.
Heatherwick Studio was founded in London by British designer Thomas Heatherwick, who ranked at number 18 on Dezeen Hot List in 2017.
While EDEN is its first residential project in Asia, the studio’s debut project on the continent was the Learning Hub, now known as The Hive, at Nanyang Technological University. The studio is also currently working on a new terminal for Singapore’s Changi Airport with KPF.
Elsewhere, other recently completed projects by the studio include the Coal Drops Yard shopping centre at London’s King’s Cross and the giant honeycomb-like Vessel sculpture at New York’s Hudson Yards.