As the tallest building in Singapore, Guoco Tower is a civic landmark. The mixed-use development creates an amenity for its surrounding neighborhoods with transit connections, retail, and an expansive public park.
Guoco Tower resides at the intersection of several prominent neighborhoods in Singapore. Sited amid the Central Business District, the historic Chinatown, and rapidly developing neighborhoods to the south and east, the tower marks a gateway to the waterfront city. Its design realizes the shared vision of the Singapore Urban Redevelopment Authority and GuocoLand to create lively public places, sheltered outdoor gathering spaces, and a sustainable urban environment.
The project consists of two buildings—the 64-story, 290-meter-tall tower, which is Singapore’s tallest building, and the free-standing 20-story Sofitel Singapore City Centre hotel. The tower primarily features Grade-A offices with luxury residences above. Its six-story podium provides multiple levels of car parking, retail, restaurants, entertainment spaces and a link to an underground pedestrian network that connects directly to the Tanjong Pagar Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station.
Guoco Tower blends Singapore’s business district with its cultural heritage, and the massing of the buildings respond directly to this aspiration. The 64-story tower rises adjacently to the business district, responding to the neighborhood’s scale, while the 20-story hotel steps down toward the scale of the historic Chinatown—bridging the gap between old and new. The tower tapers as it rises, with a strong setback two-thirds of the way up that fulfills a symbolic purpose: the eastern and western profiles of the complex resemble the Chinese symbols for “entry” and “people” respectively, promoting Singapore’s global, welcoming presence.
The park is the site’s central jewel. Comprising more than 8,000 square meters, it is designed in a series of sequential spaces, starting at the site’s several entry points. Diagonal paths lead directly toward the center, making for an intuitive wayfinding system that brings pedestrians into a 3,000-square-meter, canopied area called the “City Room,” a space designed for community events and public art displays. Within and around this space, cafes and eateries form a lively retail cluster, and cascading, landscaped stairs bring visitors up to a series of rooftop gardens above the MRT station.
The development has achieved Green Mark Platinum and LEED Platinum certifications. On the ground, the City Room canopy is a highly visible example of sustainable design innovation. BIPV technology is embedded into the canopy glass, permitting soft light to filter through while capturing the sun’s energy above. Up to 2 percent of the development’s energy can be sourced from this canopy. The BIPV panels also help cool the public space at grade level and promote air movement from east to west. The exterior glass walls of the buildings use double silver, low-e coating to reduce solar heat gain while maximizing natural lighting inside. Much of the site is covered with lush landscaping, and with bicycle racks and direct connections to the MRT station, the development promotes the use of public transit.
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