Tanjong Pagar Centre, a mixed-use tower in Singapore designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM), is now fully open. Situated between the city’s Central Business District and historic Chinatown, the development—which provides Grade-A offices, residential units, retail space, and hospitality services—has quickly become an epicenter of commerce and culture. The site comprises a 64-story tower, a freestanding 20-story structure, and a redesigned Tanjong Pagar Park.
The 64-story tower is Singapore’s tallest building. Rising 290 meters, it contains offices and the luxury Wallich Residence. At the apex is a glass-floored viewing deck featuring panoramic views of the city and the nearby sea.
The smaller building, scaled to accommodate the low-rise conservation district of Chinatown, features the luxury Sofitel Singapore City Centre business hotel and its amenities, including restaurants, a conference center, a gym, and a pool deck overlooking the park.
Retail and a heavily planted landscape on the lower floors and ground level bring vibrancy to the project’s public component. Tanjong Pagar Centre’s 6-story podium provides multiple levels of car parking, restaurants, and entertainment, as well as the hotel, office, and residential lobbies. At the heart of this space is the canopied “City Room,” which features public art, outdoor performance areas, ground-level retail, and an underground pedestrian network connected to the Tanjong Pagar Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station.
“The City Room at Tanjong Pagar Centre is a great addition to active and programmable public spaces in Singapore,” said SOM Design Partner Mustafa K. Abadan. “It is centrally located in the city to draw people to the site and has great connectivity to public transportation systems. The 15-meter-tall canopy defines the City Room, creates a grand and inviting space, and, with its solar integrated glass roof, is a visual demonstration of the project’s commitment to the highest aspirations in sustainability.”
The City Room canopy roof is composed of glass with integrated photo-voltaic cells, which contribute renewable energy to the project. BIPV technology is embedded into the glass, permitting soft light to filter through while capturing the sun’s energy above. Up to 2 percent of Tanjong Pagar Centre’s energy is sourced from the canopy. The BIPV panels also help cool the public space at grade level and promote air movement from east to west.
Additional sustainable features are incorporated into the tower. The exterior glass wall uses a double silver low-e coating to reduce solar heat gain while allowing for maximum penetration of natural light. Rooftop gardens in the hotel and residential portions provide private green space, and the residential units were designed with operable windows to bring in natural air. These features helped the commercial components of Tanjong Pagar Centre achieve Green Mark Platinum and LEED® Gold certifications.
Upon its opening, Tanjong Pagar Centre received six EdgeProp Singapore Excellence Awards—more than any other project in the program this year. Wallich Residence won four awards for Design Excellence, Landscape Excellence, Innovation Excellence, and Top Development for a completed project in the Central Region. Sofitel Singapore City Centre hotel took home the Hotel Development Excellence award, and the entire development was honored with the Integrated Development Excellence award.
The project was conceived through a shared vision between the Singapore Urban Redevelopment Authority and the developer, GuocoLand, to create a lively and attractive public place, protected outdoor gathering spaces, and expansive green space in a dense urban center.
About Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) is one of the leading architecture, interior design, engineering, and urban planning firms in the world. Since its founding more than 80 years ago, SOM has earned a reputation for design excellence with a portfolio that includes some of the most important architectural accomplishments of the 20th and 21st centuries, and has been a leader in the research and development of specialized technologies, new processes and innovative ideas, many of which have had a palpable and lasting impact on the design profession and the physical environment. The firm’s longstanding leadership in design and building technology has been honored with nearly 2,000 awards for quality, innovation, and management. The American Institute of Architects has recognized SOM twice with its highest honor, the Architecture Firm Award—in 1962 and again in 1996. The firm maintains offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Dubai, and Mumbai.