05 Mar 2019
First-of-its-kind leisure airport set to debut this spring in Singapore
BY Andrew Manns
Jewel Changi Airport – long-praised as representing a new paradigm in passenger experience design – is scheduled to open its doors this spring in Singapore.
Planned by Safdie Architects and delivered by BuroHappold Engineering, the first-of-its-kind transit hub will double as an attraction and boast several publicly accessible and "community-centric" leisure facilities and hospitality outlets, including boutique hotels and restaurants, a 40-metre-high indoor waterfall, and a five-storey "paradise garden".
Shaped like a bulbous torus, the 134,000 sq m destination will also play host to nature trails, a swimming pool, a cinema, and an expansive retail emporium.
The waterfall, which will also function as a rain collection system, will descend from the main architectural innovation of the complex: a 200-metre-wide glass and steel roof constructed by BuroHappold.
According to the firm, the dome will make Jewel Changi one of the "world's largest gridshells, with approximately 6,000 steel nodes connecting the steel beams and glass panels and more than 9,304 individually numbered speciality glass panels weighing approximately 250kg each".
Speaking on the soon-to-be-completed project, Moshe Safdie, principal and founder at Safdie Architects, said: "Jewel weaves together an experience of nature and the marketplace, dramatically asserting the idea of the airport as an uplifting and vibrant urban centre, engaging travellers, visitors, and residents, and echoing Singapore's reputation as 'The City in the Garden.'"
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