d+a | Issue 129 • 2023

49 Terrace lagoon pool - the building massing is self-shading, with each terrace shading the atrium below from the hot sun. urban environment in one building. With over 200% of the hotel’s land area enveloped in foliage, the property’s architectural approach integrates design with nature seamlessly. WOHA’s co-founding director, Wong Mun Summ says that their main focus was to create a new hospitality experience as part of the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s push to remake and revitalise Orchard Road. “Orchard Road…used to be lined by actual orchards, and we are ‘bringing back the orchards’ through the integrated gardens and landscaping of the hotel.” To bring this vision to life, the WOHA team designed the hotel as four seamlessly connected “stacks” or strata – Forest, Beach, Garden and Cloud, each providing exceptional experiences across unique environments. The first, the Forest Terrace, straddles Claymore Road and Claymore Drive with a water plaza and cascades, and is edged by forest trees, creating a dramatic entrance and an urban connection. Located within the Forrest Terrace is Mosella, the hotel’s signature restaurant with its lofty ceilings and al fresco seating. The second stratum was conceived as a Beach Terrace, offering guests a tropical oasis of a meandering sandy beachfront, palm groves, and a lagoon with emerald green waters. There are 10 Beach Club Loft Rooms with direct access to the Beach Terrace pool on level 5. The third was set up as a Garden Terrace, orientated towards the quiet residential estate of Claymore Hill. Flanked by Florette, a champagne and oyster bar and Pacific Club Lounge, the Terrace showcases a manicured garden, complete with veranda, event lawn and fountains. The fourth stratum was envisaged as a Cloud Terrace, comprising a 420-seat ballroom and event plaza, surrounded by mirror pools and filigree planting, and shaded by the PV canopy above. Wong says, “By creating the sky terraces, the site area is effectively tripled – vertically. This strategy creates elevated ground levels where amenities that are usually hidden inside buildings are ‘unpacked’ in a garden, beach, forest or cloud environment. These