City-Reader
Oasia Hotel Downtown
Facade facts
- Facade summary
- A double-skinned facade featuring a bright red expanded aluminum mesh outer trellis that supports 21 species of tropical climbing plants,interspersed with large,open-air sky terraces.
- Documented intention
- WOHA's intention was to create a 'living tower' that rejects the standard sealed, glazed skyscraper model of the West. They aimed to reintroduce biodiversity, maximize green plot ratio (achieving over 1100%),and offer a warm, vibrant visual landmark that softens the sterile, glass-and-steel downtown environment while promoting natural cooling and ventilation.
- Street relationship
- At the ground level,the facade lifts,creating a massive, multi-story open-air pedestrian plaza covered by a soffit clad in green creepers, seamlessly drawing the public realm into the building's biophilic interior.
- Climate relationship
- The facade is highly optimized for Singapore's tropical climate. The expanded metal mesh and living plant barrier shade the inner glass, reducing solar heat gain and lowering mechanical cooling loads. The open sky terraces allow cross-ventilation, purging hot air from the building core and creating pleasant outdoor communal zones without the need for air conditioning.
- Window pattern
- Regular vertical glazed bays set back behind the continuous outer aluminum mesh envelope.
- Glazing
- Double-glazed units (DGU) with low-emissivity coating
- Depth
- Deep double-skin assembly containing structural planters,steel support substructure,and a maintenance access walkway, measuring approximately 0.8 to 1.2 meters in depth.
- Rhythm
- Monolithic and continuous vertical cylindrical skin, broken at rhythmic vertical intervals by massive,rectangular,multi-story horizontal voids (sky terraces).
- Expanded Aluminum Mesh
- Expanded Aluminum Mesh — Outer skin wrapper, full height of the tower — Powder-coated,textured matte
- Climbing Plants (21 species)
- Climbing Plants (21 species) — Grown from perimeter planter boxes,climbing the outer mesh — Organic,leafy foliage
- Double-Glazed Glass
- Double-Glazed Glass — Inner skin of the offices and hotel rooms — Smooth,low-reflective
- Reinforced Concrete
- Reinforced Concrete — Exposed columns,floor slabs, and sky terraces — Exposed smooth concrete
- Double-Skin Ventilated Facade
- Comprised of an outer layer of lightweight expanded aluminum screens attached to a structural steel framework, separated by a maintenance catwalk from the inner thermally broken,double-glazed window wall.
- Integrated Vertical Greening / Trellis System
- Integrated structural concrete planter boxes at the edge of each slab equipped with automated drip-irrigation and drainage systems, feeding 21 species of creepers that climb up the aluminum mesh panels.
Tags
- 2011–2020
- Af - Tropical Rainforest Climate
- Aluminum mesh
- At the ground level
- Biophilic Architecture
- Climbing Plants (21 species)
- Climbing plants
- Commercial offices occupying the lower portion
- Concrete structural frame
- Contemporary
- Double Glazed Units
- Double glazed glass
- Double-skin facade
- Downtown Core
- Expanded Aluminum Mesh
- Expanded metal
- Green Architecture
- Green facade
- High-rise
- Integrated irrigation system
- Prefabricated aluminum panels
- Reinforced Concrete — Exposed columns
- Singapore
- Trellis system
- Tropical Modernism
- WOHA
- Wong Mun Summ
- and a maintenance access walkway
- and offer a warm
- climbing the outer mesh — Organic
- creating a massive
- double-glazed window wall.
- floor slabs
- hotel
- hotel rooms on the upper levels
- interspersed with large
- leafy foliage
- low-reflective
- multi-story horizontal voids (sky terraces).
- open-air sky terraces.
- rectangular
- reinforced concrete
- steel support substructure
- textured matte
- the facade lifts
Description
The facade is designed as a cylindrical, rounded-rectangular tower wrapped in a porous envelope. The outer skin consists of powder-coated, expanded aluminum mesh panels in five different shades of red, pink, and orange. This metal screen acts as a vertical trellis for extensive climbing vegetation. Behind this mesh layer, structural planter boxes run along the perimeter of each floor. An access walkway/catwalk separates the outer mesh skin from the inner curtain wall, which is glazed with double-glazed glass units. The monolithic form is dramatically broken by four massive, open-sided sky gardens (on levels 6, 12, 21, and 27) that showcase exposed concrete structural columns and lush vertical planting, acting as massive wind scoops and shading devices.
Visual analysis
Visually, the building is a dynamic canvas. The intense red of the aluminum mesh provides a strong chromatic base that stands out in the gray skyline. Over time, as the 21 species of creepers mature, the green foliage weaves through the mesh, creating a shifting, organic tapestry of red and green that responds to seasonal growth, flowering cycles, and local biodiversity (birds and insects).
Gallery
Drawings and models
TFA-000003-D01
Sources
- Oasia Hotel Downtown - WOHA · WOHA Architects
- Garden City Mega City: Rethinking Our Hot and Crowded Cities · Patrick Bingham-Hall, WOHA
- Case Study: Oasia Hotel Downtown, Singapore · Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH)