gardens of the bay SUPERTREE GROVE+COOLED CONSERVATORIES ART 03//P9 Mª SALOMÉ PAGÁN ARACIL
INTRODUCTION
GArdens of the BAy is a awareness park. It is designed by Wilkinson Eyre, GRant Assocites and others, and it was comisioned by National Parks Board of Singapore.The park is located in between sea and corporation Marina Bay Sands, and It was inaugurated in 2012. The purpose of the park is being a balancer and environmental awareness. The project is composed by a 18 “tress” and 2 greenhouses, wich have a steel, reinforced concret, and glass structure. The 18 “trees” home to endangered species, generate energy, clean air and capture the water needed for the beings it houses.
KEY CONCEPTS
ECOLOGIZING
POSTHUMAN DESIGN
BIO-FILIA/ECO-FRIENDLY
COSMOPOLITIC
ECOSYSTEM
LOCATED
The Project it is located in the South Singapore (Singapore). In particular, between the Singapore’s straits and the set of buidings (hotels, museums, restaurants and shopping centers) Marina Bay sand. This area is the center of the Singapore’s skyline. Near to him, it is the Teather, Art Museum and National Stadium… Furthermore, close the ring of parks: Central, Est, South.
AGENTS
GOVERMENT DEPARTMENT SINGAPOUR’ HABITANTS
BIRDS
HUMANS
There are some agents involvent in this Project. On the one hand, the government department, who want concern the people with the environment, they want to create a “city in the garden”, and improve their lives. Also, Singapour’s habitants, because they get an adventage, better air. On the other hand, the non-human agents, like vegetation in danger and non-danger. Also, animals wich have new place to live. One controversy in Singapore is that it is the country with the highest carbon footprint in the Asia-Pacific area, so the government has proposed reducing the footprint by 10% by 2020 and raising new green areas.
VEGETATION NO-HUMANS
FISHES
MAIN IDEA
The main idea was to create a park that symbolized the importance of having a balance with nature and increase the awareness of the inhabitants and thus their way of thinking. Given this situation the government offers the international competition in 2006 for the parks. It is decided to execute the current Project carried out. The Project is a Master Plan that organizes the New South Park, initially based on the structure of the orchid as it is the national flower and is a settler like this New Project. The leaves are topography; The roots are water, energy and communication; The shoots are the roads and highways; And flowers are the nodes that house the gardens. Finally, it opens in 2012.
MASTER PLAN: STRUCTURE OF THE ORCHID: NATIONAL FLOWER & SETTLER
MAIN ARCHITECTURAL STRATEGIES
The principal strategies were: Be an icon of the necessary balance between human and non-human. Which they do when raising 18 trees by a height of between 25 to 50 m which compete with the surrounding buildings, since it is placed between the highest buildings of Singapore. Be eco-friedly. For a long time Singapore has needed water imports from Malaysia, but now it is independent thanks to the collection, purification and desalination. Therefore, in this context, the whole complex benefits from water collected by the rain through the trees. In addition, it is energetically independent by cells designed in trees and in greenhouses.
MAIN ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS
The strategies were get it by two principal elements. On the one hand, “trees”. On the other hand, Greenhouses.
TREES
It is designed 18 trees of different dimensions, which are composed in 4 parts, a reinforced concrete core, trunk and steel cup, photovoltaic cells in 11 of them.
GREENHOUSES
The greenhouses have a structure consisting of a glass and steel framework and an outer steel superstructure arranged radially in an arc. The parabolic form allows rainwater to be drawn into natural ponds which purify them and serve as a habitat for non-humans. Likewise, the use of a glass that rejects the heat reduces the heat introduced. However, the main role of condition it, they Are the trees, because they absorb the energy from the sun, and used for cooling the green-
house. They also act as chimneys that absorb and introduce clean air into the greenhouse, and the hot air is expelled into other chimneys.
HOW IT WORKS?
As you can see in the diagram the trunk allows the 162 900 plants of 200 species (orchids, liana, ferns ...) to climb by the structure. The treetops provide shade all around. Also, the treetops contain the solar cells that let the tree and whole park work by itself. Besides, the treetops, they collect rainwater which is used in the irrigation of plants. The union of the cup and trunk serves as a ventilation conduct for the greenhouses, such as absorption and expulsion. Even, at night, there are light shows that compete with the lights of the
city. In the same way, the biomass produced by the trees and plants of the park are collected to complete the production of energy, which once produced causes waste that are fertilizer for the plants completing the circle.
SUCCESSES
The Project has several successes and failures. It is a success that has made people aware of the need for a balance between humans and non-humans, as well as giving place to and exploiting and benefiting strange and endangered species that promote people’s knowledge and concern.
FAILURES
However, it has several failures, one of them is the practice that the government has to increase its land. Since Singapore does not have more space since the beginning of the 19th century, its space grows towards the sea and this is the case of this new area which damages and diminishes the space of the sea.
CONCLUSION
As a conclusion I can say that, it is a Project from which we can extract several elements to copy. On the one hand, they compose in an artifact, the system of air conditioning, supply, awareness, and home of plants and animals. And how in creating an ecosystem, they link nonhumans with the needs of humans, making their existence and preservation vital.