Retailing Nature

Nestled on the 11th and 12th storeys, Orchard Central’s Roof Garden is the one tiny strip of green against the bare, concrete skyline of Orchard Road. Like at other new shopping malls, including Serangoon’s nex and Jurong’s upcoming JCube, Orchard Central’s sky garden goes beyond the fashion of environmental sustainability to form part of a new, urban lifestyle – it costs.

The price is not overt, like Pinnacle@Duxton’s ($5) or Marina Bay Sands’ ($20, for half of its SkyPark), but built into its very structure. The 2009 winner of the Skyrise Greenery Awards, a competition organised by the National Parks Board, Orchard Central’s Roof Garden houses an interactive ecosystem of commerce and nature. For its multiple restaurants, the exclusivity of this sky view is a key selling point, which also means that there is zero free seating available. With such sky terraces, the idea of gardens as the people’s space is taken to new, disorientating heights.

To get to Orchard Central’s Roof Garden, you step on a super escalator. From the 7th floor, the mechanical movement of these grey steps, rolling upwards beyond the bobbing heads of shoppers is a strangely alluring view. It encapsulates what any good sky garden is about – disembodiment.

People need a reason to make their way to a rooftop, and Orchard Central’s vertical green wall – standing at 13m tall – provides this. It supports rows of clinging plants that blanket the concrete tightly. Nurtured by automatic irrigation, high technology forms the backbone of this green space. Water and fertiliser quantities are monitored, protecting the shades of exclusive intimacy that might seem to fade with human gardeners.

Amidst this blanketed green roof, art also thrives. At the foot of the vertical wall is Yayoi Kusama’s colourful Let’s Go to a Paradise of Glorious Tulips (2009), adorned with her trademark polka dots. This sculpture acts as a stark contrast to the grey backdrop of the peaking buildings — a perspective that creates a heightened awareness of visitors’ location.

Nearby, Victor Tan’s The Stair, The Clouds and The Sky (2009) introduces a sense of stillness to the swaying landscape. It is his upwards-reaching, steel-wired humanoids, as opposed to the bits of nature, which move the visitor. They perform something essential that gardens on the ground need not — interaction with the sky.

As a garden built upon a commercial building, however, this green and artistic space must also serve a profit-generating function. Tall, cold glass walls separate restaurant patrons from casual visitors; a literal partitioning of economic actors from nature-inclined wanderers.

With seats reserved only for diners, the alienation cuts both ways. One customer at the Japanese restaurant felt the fishbowl effect (even as sashimi was served). Simultaneously, the time spent by others here is considerably less than those observed at other sky gardens. Less meaning is attached – when was the last time you visited Orchard Central, and not to shop?

According to architect Ng San Son, who was on the DP Architects team that designed Orchard Central’s Roof Garden, the lack of seats is due to security concerns. There have been incidents of people throwing loose objects down from these heights, even though stone benches in other sky gardens are cemented down. Safety is a top priority, with security officers on patrol and cameras recording any movement. 

As part of the second wave of sky terraces, Orchard Central’s stands in contrast to ones like Suntec City’s. Built in 1995, it is a place intentionally separated from retail outlets, providing relief from the bustling city. There, foreign workers rest, employees relax, couples court, and children do their homework.

Future sky terraces follow a different philosophy – much more economic integration and much less seclusion in nature. In an already densely built environment, the onus is on private developers to include a landscaped roof that appeals to profits, people, and policy. The still experimental nature of these spaces are encapsulated by their multiple names: roof gardens, sky terraces, sky parks, or perhaps just castles in the air.

Words Amanda Fay Tan

Images Nova Halle