Tierra Design - Changi Airport Terminal 3 |
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THE GREEN WALL
Terminal 3 is the latest star in the constellation of Singapore’s Changi Airport, perennially voted at the top of the world’s airports. Tierra's contribution was to make landscape features the defining elements of the terminal, rather than mere decorations. The green tapestry is perhaps the largest interior landscape feature anywhere in the world – 14 meters high and 300 meters long. Strategically located in the mid-belly of the terminal, the wall separates two main functions, providing a clear demarcation of an international border; the green tapestry gives it a form that is friendly, organic, and alive. This wall between landside and airside is Singapore's border, and it projects an image of green-ness on a grand scale, of the power of simplicity, of an elegant sensitivity to natural materials, of harmony of nature with the built environment; it underscores Singapore’s search for uniqueness as a small player in a highly competitive world. The goal was to combine building technology and a living green “wall” in order to create an interior Architectural Landscape environment. To embrace this integration, the design of the Green Tapestry at Terminal 3, Changi Airport Singapore, was created to challenge the traditional approach to landscape architecture and to create living spaces without borders between buildings and garden, architecture and landscape - Architecture of the Landscape.
The project began as a limited design competition in February 2000. Since the overall planning and design for Terminal 3 was still at a very preliminary stage, a holistic design approach could be taken to integrate and to blend the building design, the interior design and the landscape design into one cohesive whole.
Located in the transitional zone of the newest Terminal to Singapore’s City in a Garden, the living tapestry separates the two spaces (the landside check-in and the airside lounges) from each other. This vertical garden is the most distinctive feature of the new terminal building and spans 300 meters in total length separated only by four water features. Passengers moving through the new “atmospheric” environment of the new terminal building can enjoy the interior suspended garden not only from the departure area but also from the arrival area.
There are many vertical green walls and other significant landscape projects around the world, but the Green Tapestry designed for Terminal 3 is unique since the airport is operational 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It had to be designed to be maintained easily without the need for scaffolding. The plants are grown on stainless steel cables secured to the infrastructure system and each cable is removable in case there is a need to replace plants individually.
Maintaining the green tapestry requires an intangible quality called passion. Like any garden, it will mature and evolve in response to the care that it is given. In future it will not be the same as it is today. That is the beauty of this vertical garden as there will be an ever changing tapestry of living texture. This is the living process of this Architecture of the Landscape. Project Details |
