UNStudio principal 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 concept of The Scotts Tower is that of a vertical city incorporating a variety of residence types and scales. In addition, outdoor green areas in the form of sky terraces, penthouse roof gardens and individual terraces form an important element of the design. The vertical city concept is interpreted on the tower in three scales; the "city", the "neighbourhood" and the "home". The three elements of the vertical city concept along with the green areas are bound together by two gestures: the "vertical frame" and the "sky frames".
The 18,500m2, 31-storey, 231-unit tower consists of 1- to 3-bedroom apartments and 4-bedroom penthouses; expansive landscaped gardens, sky terraces, penthouse roof gardens and diverse recreational facilities. The vertical frame organises the tower architecturally in an urban manner. The frame affords the tower the vertical city effect by dividing the four residential clusters into different neighbourhoods. The sky frames—at the lobby (Level 1 & Level 2) and sky terrace (Level 25)—organise the amenity spaces and green areas of the tower.
The four residential clusters are each designed for versatile and customised living. Individual identity is given to each unit by means of type, scale, distribution and articulation of outdoor space, along with the possibility for personalisation of the interior layout; by means of a semi-white plan, residents will be given the freedom to configure their personal living spaces according to their lifestyles and aspirations.
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."
Park View units form the next cluster above the second sky frame, covering five floors and containing twenty units. Crowning the tower is the final cluster containing one floor of three exclusive Penthouse residences.
Design Architect UNStudio: Ben van Berkel, Astrid Piber with Luis Etchegorry, Ger Gijzen and Cynthia Markhoff, Konstantinos Chrysos, Elisabeth Brauner, Shany Barath, Thomas van Bekhoven, Iris Pastor, Rodrigo Cañizares, Albert Gnodde, Mo Ching Ying Lai, Grete Veskiväli, Samuel Bernier Lavigne, Lukasz Walczak, Alicja Chola, Cheng Gong
Executive Architect: ONG&ONG, Singapore
Landscape Architect: Sitetectonix, Singapore
Structural Engineer: KTP Consultants, Singapore
Mechanical Engineer: United Project Consultants, Singapore
Interior Design (Residential Units): Creative Mind Design, Singapore
Visualisation: rendertaxi, Aachen
Client: Far East Organisation
Location: 38 Scotts Road, Singapore
Building surface: 18500 m2
Building volume: 115000m3
Units: 231 units (128:1bd; 80:2bd; 20:3bd; 3:4bd-penthouse)
Floors: 31 stories (153m high)
Building site: 6099.7 m2
Programme: SOHO residential tower
Status: design development phase
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