Our fellow admin Van has been going on and on about green buildings and green buildings for the past few weeks and we decided we should finally do up one post dedicated to eco-friendly buildings here in Singapore. I hope she'll stop bugging us now.
Anyway,
Surprised? Bet you didn't know Singapore is going all out to be environmentally friendly. Turns out Singapore has big dreams to be the "eco-hub" in all of South East Asia, similar to its other dreams like to be a sports-hub, fashion-hub or design-hub.
But unlike the other hubs, being an eco-hub is probably the most sensible among all her other fantasies. But it
So without ado,
Presenting: The eco-buildings of Singapore
City Square Mall
City Square Mall is the first eco-friendly mall in Singapore. It is one of the first few buildings in Singapore to implement alternative sources of energy and clever building design to reduce their carbon footprint.
Some of the malls environmentally-friendly features include
- Extended solar fins and louvres to tap on solar energy
- Specially designed roof to allow natural light to pass through.
- Light sensors on the roof to regulate interior lighting,
Basically they have loads of light sensors implemented everywhere to reduce the use energy. Combined with the features mentioned above, City Square malls seems to have nailed it in energy conservation.
Khoo Teck Puat Hospital
Khoo Teck Puat Hospital is Singapore's other green building which is worth mentioning. It features a cleverly designed ventilation system which allows the hospital to utilize minimal use of air conditioning.
Apart from that, the hospital also utilizes solar panels to heat up water to be used by the hospital.
And to top it off, the hospital is surrounded by gardens. There is even on on the roof!
EDITT Building
This is where the fun starts.
Although the EDITT builiding is still pending construction, when it is built, it will be the most energy-effecient, most eco-friendly building among all eco-friendly building in Singapore. Put it simply, the EDITT building will make the other two buildings mentioned here look like a carbon emitting factory.
The EDITT building was designed back in 1998 by TR Hamzah & Yeang, but is only getting recognition recently. Now plans are being brought forth to make this building a really.
The building is essentially just a residential apartment building with loads of green sprinkled all over it. The eco-friendly features are more efficient beats the other two buildings hands down!
The features include,
- Solar Panels which will provide 40% of the building energy needs.
- A passive architectural design to allow natural air flow and ventilation throughout the building
- A biogas production plant that will convert sewage into biogas to be used as fuel for the building.
- A centralized recycling facility for each storey in the building.
The building will also be made up of recycled materials where necessary. It can't totally be built out of 100% natual materials can it, it wouldn't be safe at all.
How was that for a green building? Told you it would be great.
We would like to also tell you about Gardens by the Bay which is located at Marina Bay Sands. It is a large garden by the sea, boasting many flowers and plantation. It is supposed to promote the love for our home and I dare say that it is doing a good job.
Unfortunately it is not officially opened yet and will only do so in June 2012.
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