Scotts Tower | UNStudio

The Scotts Tower is situated on a prime location in Singapore, close to the Orchard Road luxury shopping district and with views encompassing both nearby parkland and the panoramic cityscape of Singapore City.

The 18,500m2, 31-storey, 231-unit tower consists of 1 to 3-bedroom apartments and 4-bedroom penthouses, along with expansive landscaped gardens, sky terraces, penthouse roof gardens and a variety of recreational facilities.

Ben van Berkel: “An interesting facet of The Scotts Tower is the way that it reacts to the urban context of Singapore. Instead of the more usual means of planning a city horizontally, we have created neighbourhoods in the sky: a vertical city where each zone has its own distinct identity.”

The design concept of The Scotts Tower is that of a vertical city incorporating a variety of residence types and scales. The tower is divided into four different residential clusters, denoted as ‘neighbourhoods’. Within each of these neighbourhoods, individual identity is given to each unit by means of type, scale, distribution and articulation of outdoor space and the possibility for personalisation of the interior layout. Terraces unique to each unit type further enhance the personalised feel.

Ben van Berkel: “The balconies, combined with the zoning of the individually framed neighbourhoods, in The Scotts Tower create different scales of detail in the structure; both intricate, smaller details and larger gestural details. In The Scotts Tower the balconies form part of the interior furniture.”

The nearby green area to the West of the tower is extended into The Scotts Tower site initially by means of a ground level landscape concept designed by Sitetectonix. This ground level concept incorporates a multi-layered environment which links together the different zones and recreational facilities available to the residents.

The vertical city concept along with the green areas are bound together by two gestures: the ‘vertical frame’ and the ‘sky frames.’ The vertical frame organises the tower in an urban manner. It unites the tower into one ‘vertical city’, but also provides clear distinctions between the four residential clusters, providing the neighbourhood effect.

The sky frame – at the lobby (level 1 and 2) and sky terrace (level 25) – organise the amenity spaces and green areas of the tower and provide areas with panoramic views. The communal nature of these spaces also encourages interaction among users, enhancing the neighbourhood concept.

A verdant landscape unifies the communal outdoor spaces. An extension of this quality, through the use of natural materials, was the primary design intention for the lift lobbies of the tower.

Marble tiles are arranged on the floor in a random pattern and extend upwards on the lower part of the lobby walls to extend the space. Above this, curvilinear wooden ribbons fold on to the ceiling and span across the lobby, connecting both ends and introducing motion and residential warmth into the space.

Project Info
Architects: UNStudio
Country: Singapore
Area: 16855 m²
Year: 2018
Photographs: Darren Soh
Executive Architect: Ong & Ong Pte Ltd
Architect In Charge: Ben van Berkel, Astrid Piber
Design Team: Ger Gijzen, Konstantinos Chrysos, Luis Etchegorry, Cynthia Markhoff, Elisabeth Brauner, Shany Barath, Thomas van Bekhoven, Iris Pastor, Rodrigo Cañizares, Albert Gnodde, Mo Ching Ying Lai, Grete Veskiväli, Philipp Weisz, Samuel Bernier Lavigne, Lukasz Walczak, Alicja Chola, Cheng Gong
Project Management: Arcadis
Interior Design (Residential Units): Creative Mind Design, Singapore
Structural Engineer: KTP Consultants
Landscape Architect: Sitetectonix, Singapore
Mechanical Engineer: United Project Consultants