The Pan Pacific Orchard, designed by Woha Architects, presents an innovative approach to high-rise tropical hospitality in downtown Singapore. This 23-story hotel, comprising 347 rooms, showcases an open-air architectural design that incorporates verdant greenery across its four distinct terraces, encompassing guest accommodations, communal areas, and gardens. The Forest Terrace, located at ground level, serves as a publicly accessible urban link between Claymore Road and Orchard Road, featuring a cascading water plaza and lush foliage.
The Beach Terrace above is a tropical oasis with an organically shaped emerald lagoon, meandering sandy beachfront, and palm groves floating above the bustling Orchard Road. Further up, the Garden Terrace orientates towards the quiet Claymore residential estate. Flanked by the hotel’s bar and lounge, this sky terrace showcases a manicured garden with reflection pools and planter beds.
At the top, the Cloud Terrace comprises a landscaped event plaza surrounded by a 400-seat ballroom, function room, planter islands, and reflection pools. The terrace is sheltered by a photovoltaic canopy above. Green columns anchor each terrace and visually connect the four strata. Together with the landscaping on the terraces, the building replaces 200% of its site area with greenery. The selection of greenery echoes the theme of each stratum, bringing nature and biodiversity back to the city.
Pan Pacific Orchard contributes to the vibrancy of the city by revealing celebrations that are normally hidden indoors. This is made possible by the open-air, cross-ventilated yet sheltered spaces, which are designed specifically for Singapore’s equatorial climate, where warm, humid air, low wind speeds, and frequent, yet unpredictable, heavy rainfall make fully outdoor events a challenge.
These garden volumes provide views for both the rooms and the neighbors, creating a spatial interplay with the neighborhood that is lacking in most high-density environments. The mirrored ceilings reveal the landscape and activities of the street below. Likewise, the signature creeper-clad columns make a powerful green statement. The huge volumes function as giant sunshades to the terrace and rooms, while the reflective ceilings act as thermal mirrors, providing radiant cooling by doubling the surface area of gardens and water.
Pan Pacific Orchard has obtained the Green Mark Platinum rating, Singapore’s highest environmental certification, with its incorporation of active systems and passive design strategies that reduce energy and water needs. It will be Singapore’s distinctive garden hotel and a green icon in its famed Orchard Road.