Super-trees and vertical gardens

Singapore: Gardens by the Bay. In the evening, we visited the Gardens by the Bay, including their Flower and Cloud Forest bio-domes – with beautiful displays of orchids – and the entertaining open air light and music show projected onto a cluster of tall, tree frame structures covered by vertical gardens. Dinner at the Sky Café at the top of one of these so-called super-trees, 16 floors high, offered impressive views of the city skyline. I also really loved all the wood and metal carvings and sculptures around the garden.

On our last day, we visited a showcase green building at the Botanical Gardens, which is constructed using vertical gardens, solar panels and walls of hemp fibre, sand and lime. More impressive still was our visit to the world’s tallest vertical garden, which is part of a green condo developed by CDL. I can only hope that this eco-design, which is both aesthetically pleasing and carbon efficient due to its cooling effect, will be adopted as best practice around the world.