Our team is honoured to have been part of creating the upgraded National Orchid Garden, the newest crown jewel at Singapore Botanic Gardens – a UNESCO World Heritage site! As the lead architect, I see our work as the link between dream and reality, bridging vision into experiential memorable product for the enjoyment of visitors. Designing for the various enhancements provided a meaningful experience but the most outstanding of them all was the Cool House. Working past the site constraints, the new Cool House is now more than double the size, with meandering paths to keep visitors in suspense on what will come next when they walk along the paths viewing the orchid displays.
The Sembcorp Cool House at the National Orchid Garden
The National Orchid Garden, the crown jewel of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, is arguably one of the most visited attractions of the Gardens with stunning displays of orchids. This enhancement of the gardens, after 20 years since it first opened in 1995, instils new life into the UNESCO heritage site, redefining and refreshing the visitor experience. Today, there are 1,500 varieties of orchid species and 3,000 varieties of orchid hybrids in the National Orchid Garden – a 50% increase from before the start of the enhancement works. Some of the key areas of enhancement include the Tropical Montane Orchidetum, Burkill Hall Outhouse, and the Orchid Cooled Nursery.
Interior View of the Cool House (Image courtesy of GradePixel Deck Properties)
The Tropical Montane Orchidetum is a novel attraction displaying orchids that span the range from the lowland to the elfin forest, housing rare orchid breeds rare which are typically only found in the high-elevation montane forests. The existing Cool House is redesigned and integrated within the Tropical Montane Orchidetum, with the seamless extension forming a much larger single space that is tall enough to allow visitors an experience of both the terrestrial and the arboreal zones of the montane forest.
The Secret Ravine (Image courtesy of GradePixel Deck Properties)
The Secret Ravine is a long and winding path that connects all three display houses. This section is designed to reflect the deep and narrow valleys of mountains in the tropics and it showcases rare orchids and ferns that grows within rock cracks and crevices.
The enhanced National Orchid Garden will be able to provide researchers with the opportunity to study rare orchid species at close range and support conservation efforts, making it a true world-class visitor attraction.