Orchard Road and the Dhoby Ghaut area are known for the many shopping and eating outlets. But did you know that there are many unique green spaces found on and within the shopping malls and buildings situated in this area?  

With limited land, Singapore has to find new and innovative alternatives to harmoniously balance urban development and our natural heritage in addition to creating habitats to enhance biodiversity in urban areas. 

Rooftop greenery not only aids in lowering energy consumption but it also serves to cool the surrounding area and mitigate the urban heat island effect. This occurs when built-up urban areas in cities have a higher air, surface and soil temperature than rural areas. At the same time, vertical greenery lines concrete walls with climbing plants, enhancing the beauty of our landscape, creating a more pleasing environment for all residents. 

Take a walk down Orchard Road and the Dhoby Ghaut area and you can discover installations such as sky terraces, balcony planters and green walls with living plants. There are even high-rise rooftop gardens that offer scenic views of the city.

Shaw House

Photo credit: Lok Yan Ling

A winner of the Garden City Awards 2001, Shaw House with the Lido cinemas and multi-storey car park is one of the earliest building with a rooftop garden in Singapore, adding to the skyrise greenery concept. While the garden is not open to the public, standing at the junction of Orchard and Scotts Roads, you can spot its beautiful trees and plants that soften the building’s glass and concrete façade. 

The Heeren

Photo credit: Lok Yan Ling

Located at the back of the Heeren shopping mall near its car park entrance is this impressive vertical greenery installation that spans six levels. It feels almost like a giant tree is growing on the building!

313 Somerset  


313 Somerset, located just above the Somerset MRT station, has a recreation space on its fifth level. Located just next to the food court, this is a green oasis not many people know about. Called the Sky Terrace, it has pillars cladded with vertical greenery that stretches across the narrow space. Children will be able to enjoy a little outdoor fun at the mini playground. Even adults can relax after shopping and try out the interactive electronic game! 

Orchard Central 

 
During Christmas, many people enjoy snapping photos of Orchard Central’s quirky festive decorations, but few have been up to its 11th and 12th levels where there is a one-of-a-kind rooftop garden in Singapore! 

 
A winner of the Skyrise Greenery Awards in 2009, Orchard Central offers a paranomic view of the surroundings such as the nearby Istana Park. Who said Singapore is a concrete jungle?



Children can enjoy themselves at the playground with colourful polka dot art installations of a girl, tulips and dogs, partially surrounded by 8-metre tall green walls. The playground can be found on the 11th level and is named "Let's Go to a Paradise of Glorious Tulips" by Yayoi Kusama, a Japanese artist. There is also a mini garden complete with a waterfall made with boulders and a fish pond. Flowering plants surround the pond, making this a really wonderful place to relax.

School of the Arts 

Photo credit: Lok Yan Ling

The School of the Arts, located about a 10-minute walk from Orchard Central, is one of those structures that you cannot help but take a second look at. After all, the large amount of vertical greenery on its façade almost seems like the plants are about to devour the building! The greenery is supported by mesh panels, improving the air quality, cooling its surrounding and helping the school to save energy! There is even a large recreational park with a 400-metre running track within the school, although that is opened only to students and not the public. 

Singapore Management University


Just across the road is the Singapore Management University campus. You can spot pretty rows of climbers that line the building’s different levels. This vertical greenery takes up little space and helps to enhance the architecture of the building. 

National Library
 
Photo credit: Lok Yan Ling

Want to read a book in a garden in the sky? Sky terraces with lush and verdant greenery, are located at various levels of the National Library building, creating pockets of green spaces for readers and staff to enjoy. These sky terraces also help to improve the indoor thermal environment, thus lowering energy use. 

Bugis+


The last stop on this walk is the 10-storey shopping mall, Bugis+. There are sky terraces built at various levels, integrating event spaces with eateries, giving shoppers the opportunity to enjoy an eco-friendly break. You can access a rooftop garden on the seventh level of the mall.



Up to 80.5 ha of green roofs have been installed in Singapore to transform our landscape into a City in a Garden. So keep your eyes opened and explore the buildings around you – you may be surprised to find more green spaces around us than you expected!

Learning More

To increase greenery provision in Singapore, NParks has introduced the Skyrise Greenery Incentive Scheme (SGIS) which will fund up to 50% of installation costs of rooftop greenery and vertical greenery. This is to facilitate the development of a more lush and pervasive greenery in the built environment by encouraging more intensive forms of landscaping on built structures. Find out more here.

Would you like to explore more skyrise greenery in Singapore? Besides the Orchard and Bugis areas, there are six more DIY trail maps you can use to discover other sky and vertical gardens throughout the island. Find out more here.

Look out for details on the Skyrise Greenery Awards 2017, coming soon.

Text and photos by Tan Yong Hui