90% of us Aussies now live in towns and cities. It may come as a surprise to know that, as it flies in the face of some of our outback and frontier narratives – loving a sunburnt country, once a jolly swagman, and all that. But it means that in urban planning and all that flows from it, we have more in common with city-states like Singapore than with our heritage. That comes as a shock to many, still pursuing the sprawling suburban dream.

There is a lot we can learn from Singapore, and in truth that learning is a two-way street – so it’s really a journey together, along with all other mega-cities around the world. A couple of weeks ago we visited many of the wonderful new generation of green buildings there, and here is some of what we learned.

Singapore is a 100% urbanised society, in a hot humid climate zone. Most people think of only two things: endless high-rise, and stifling humidity. Neither is true. Well – the humidity can be sometimes, but there is more to that than meets the eye.

But for me, as a designer of buildings more than public spaces, the buildings themselves are intensely interesting. Of course there is an inseparable relationship between an building and the public space around it and within it. But let me focus mainly on the buildings themselves for a while.

What really took Andy’s and my interest was the ways the current crop of buildings have engaged with plant life – both on and within. This has several really important functions, both at a technical level, at a psychological and emotional level, and importantly – at a societal and political level. I’m not sure if the Singaporeans have deliberately embraced that last feature, but let’s explore them…

Technical

Green cladding helps to cool a building, so it’s a bit of a no-brainer to wrap as much of the exterior as you can in suitable plant life. It does this by reducing the direct solar gain, and at the same time cooling the air that passes through towards the inner skin. There are some lovely examples of this being done to various extents. The new Parkroyal on Pickering has elevated gardens floating up from street level, juxtaposed with delightful biophylic layered soffits. The Oasia Hotel takes it to the max with a whole multi-storey facade that will be 80% green when mature – we saw it when a few months old and already it was covering over 10% of the facade. The new School of the Arts has a similarly dense facade. CapitaGreen[1] is a new Platinum Green Mark (equivalent of Greenstar) building in Downtown. It has many notable features, but one that really made us smile was the workers who go to the 40 storey high Rooftop Forest (yes, and it is!) for their break, and rest in the shade because it is so comfortable.

That particular building also has the most amazing sculptural walls in its foyer, crafted by hand. The other key design-for-climate feature is the air intake ‘trumpet’ on the roof, which funnels the cooler air from 40 stories up deep down into the core, thus reducing the energy demand of the cooling system. You can see more about CapitaGreen here: http://capitagreensingapore.com/green-features/.

This effect is the least well researched to date, and the one where I will go out on a bit of a limb. But I think it’s a sound limb, and bears the weight of the argument! If people are disconnected from nature, there will be a generally less harmonious society – all other things being equal. That is, there will be higher crime rates, and other deleterious outcomes. There is a certain amount of data and research to support this view. But I go further: I reckon that if a society is well connected to nature it will TEND to make social decisions that favour both nature and a humane society, and that will be reflected in its political decision making (assuming it is a democracy of course!). I do not naively suppose that some kind of nirvana will automatically follow, and such an outcome also depends on a bunch of other factors, like world view and so on. But I do observe that people with NDD have no understanding of the importance of things like groundwater, species extinction, etc.

I have mentioned just a few of the buildings we looked over in the week we were in Singapore. If you have the least interest in such things, it is so worth a visit. The photos show many of the features discussed here, and a lot more besides. If you have the least interest in such things, it is so worth a visit.

I was also in Europe recently (not bragging, but I admit it sounds like it! See earlier blog on HUF-Haus, Germany) and saw some interesting buildings in Italy – and no I’m certainly not talking about San Gimignano or even Venice* – these were in Milan, in the recently revitalised Porta Nuova Project precinct. I’ll not discuss the UniCredit Tower designed by Ceasar Pelli, which is a dead ringer for Renzo Piano’s Aurarora Place in Macquarie St, Sydney (who copied whom? – just sayin’). What was outstanding was the residential towers designed by Milan lad Stefani Boeri, which he calls a ‘vertical forest’ – and fair enough too: the two towers contain as many trees a one hectare forest!

“A mixture of large and small trees have been planted on balconies on all four sides of the towers, accompanied by 5,000 shrubs and 11,000 floral plants. The design team claim these will absorb dust in the air, helping to depollute the city. “This is a kind of biological architecture that refuses to adopt a strictly technological and mechanical approach to environmental sustainability,” said Boeri Studio in a statement.”

Can’t disagree with that!

That’s where we are going folks, so get ready for ‘green’ in all senses of the word, and don’t let the developers, or the  planners, or the governments of any type convince you it should be any other way. Please scroll through the rest of the photos, below, and enjoy the green.

[1] Envirotecture would like to thank HO Mei Peng, Head of Investor Relations and Communications at of CapitaLand, who took time out of her busy schedules to show us around CapitaGreen and Six Battery Road. We also thank Shona Sherlin HO, Tenant Relations Specialist at Six Battery Road, and her colleague, for the time they took out of their day to play host to us. Their contributions to our experience of these buildings was invaluable.

[2] Must be something in the onyx – see also Dr Dominique Hes’s chapter in How to Rethink Building Materials – Biophilic Design, which features a powerful story about an onyx walled library.

*I could write at length about what’s wrong with tourist traps like these. It’s quite sad, and every Venetian I spoke to had a similar view – including the one whose frustration was expressed by punching me in the back. It’s ok – I get where he was coming from.