Jewel Changi Airport
“There is a profound ethic to architecture which is different from other arts.” - Moshe Safdie
Mixed-use development project, the Jewel Changi Airport has been swamped with visitors from the day it opened in 2019. Jewel, the S$1.7 billion structure stands over the former open-air car parking facility in front of Changi Airport and connects the terminals of the airport. The visual treat of an airport and the torus shaped attraction makes headline now and often for amenities like a butterfly garden, swimming pool, free 24-hour movie theatre and hawker center. Its centrepiece is the world’s tallest indoor waterfall, the Rain Vortex, which is surrounded by a terraced forest setting.
Singapore, known as the ‘City in the Gardens’ redefines itself with the Jewel in Changi Airport fusing together an intense marketplace and a paradise garden under one roof. Being globally renowned for its visitor experience, Jewel includes gardens, attractions, a hotel, about 300 retail and dining outlets. Each of the cardinal axis—north, south, east and west—are reinforced by gateway gardens that orient the visitors and offer visual connections between the internal program elements of Jewel and the other airport terminals.
Design And Concept
Jewel’s toroidal glass-and-steel façade was designed by a group of architects with Moshe Safdie at its helm. Renowned local firm RSP Architects Planners & Engineers were the executive architect and structural engineers. The landscape architect was Peter Walker and Partners. Benoy were the interior designers; BuroHappold Engineering was responsible for the façade and Lighting Planners Associates handled the lighting. The Rain Vortex which is the prime attraction was engineered by water design firm WET Design. It has a 360-degree light and sound show projected onto it.
Standing as an iconic landmark on the Singaporean skyline, Jewel’s initial ‘grid shell’ concept was a single layer structural system that would maximize light and transparency within the conceived space. This steel and glass shell is made of prismatic steel elements intersecting at solid steel nodes. The 10-storey Jewel is a torus with a roof measuring approximately 200m long and 150m wide. It is a contiguous gridshell held up by 14 tree-like columns and a ring beam at its edge.
Housed under a soaring glass dome, Jewel will encompass a total gross floor area of approximately 134,000 sq. m (1.4 million sq. ft) and feature an expansive garden, cabin hotel, restaurants, retail and attractions in addition to its facilities for airport operations. The two center pieces of the project are an indoor landscape of trees, palms, and ferns with walking trails, referred to as the Forest Valley, and the 40-meter-tall waterfall that will cascade from an oculus at the top of the glass dome, titled the Rain Vortex.
Key Features
Façade: More than 9,000 special, high-performance architectural glass panels are used to form the façade. The glass was selected for its ability to transmit daylight, be energy efficient and reduce heat trapping enabling plant growth in the indoor gardens while providing sustainable cooling – an important factor given the tropical weather. Each glass panel also has a 16mm air gap to insulate against noise emitted from aircraft and ensure that noise levels within the building are kept to a minimum. Likewise, a series of tests and research were conducted to ensure that the glare emitted off the glass surface will not interfere with the daily operations of air traffic controllers as well as aircraft that are approaching the two runways at Changi Airport.
Connector: Jewel is designed in such a way, given its Toroid geometry that it acts as a central connector between the airport terminals at Changi Airport. Jewel is directly accessible from the Terminal 1 Arrival Hall and linked to Terminal 2 and 3 via link bridges.
HSBC Rain Vortex: The crest of the glass roof houses an oculus that showers water down to the centre of the building, creating the HSBC Rain Vortex, the world’s tallest indoor waterfall. Rainwater is funnelled into the waterfall and harvested for landscape irrigation systems.
Shiseido Forest Valley: The Shiseido Forest Valley is a terraced garden attraction that offers many spatial and interactive experiences for visitors, including walking trails, cascading waterfalls and quiet seating areas. Surrounding the gardens is a retail marketplace across five levels, which is accessible to and from the Shiseido Forest Valley through a series of vertical canyons. Two nature trails meander through the gardens, climbing 30 vertical metres from bottom to top.
Canopy Park: On the fifth level of Jewel is the Canopy Park, which includes 14,000 sq. m of attractions integrated within the garden spaces. On the northern side of the park is the Cloud9 Piazza, an event plaza space large enough to serve 1,000 people.
Additional features include a topiary walk, horticultural displays, and an event plaza for 1,000 people. With Jewel, the airport has become a destination in its own right.
Deepest Excavation In The Area:
Numerous studies, including geotechnical studies, had to be conducted to assess the soil condition and possible impact to surrounding buildings. Typically, basements are constructed from the bottom-up, whereby all the soil is excavated, and foundations are placed from the bottom and working upwards. But this method could not be used because of the buildings surrounding Jewel. Instead, a top-down construction method was adopted where excavation and construction works were done one level at a time, moving downwards, while all adjoining structures around Jewel were monitored round the clock to ensure they are not adversely impacted throughout the development works.
Milestones
• Project will enable airport capacity to grow to 85 million annually.
• The 130ft ‘Rain Vortex’ is the world’s largest indoor waterfall.
• The project Jewel’s ovoid shape with a diameter of approximately 650ft is one of the world’s largest grid shells.
• The project received a Platinum rating from Singapore’s GreenMark program for environmentally sustainable buildings.
Reference
» https://www.archdaily.com/915688/jewel-changi-airport-safdie-ar chitects/5cbf5f70284dd17f4b000001-jewel-changi-airport-safdie-architects-image?next_project=no
» https://www.structuremag.org/?p=15054
» https://www.architectmagazine.com/project-gallery/jewel-changi-airport_o » https://www.designandarchitecture.com/article/the-architecture-and-design-of-jewel-changi-airport.html
» https://worldarchitecture.org/article-links/echfp/world-s-tallest-indoor-waterfall-by-safdie-architects-completed-at-jewel-changiairport.html
- By
Tuhina Chatterjee, Associate Editor, Civil Engineering and Construction Review
