Pan Pacific Orchard named Best Tall Building Worldwide by Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat

SOUTHEAST ASIA BUILDING06 Nov 2024

Image copyright: Darren Soh

Chicago, USA – The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) named Singapore’s Pan Pacific Orchard “2024 Best Tall Building Worldwide” at its recent annual international conference, in London and Paris. The award recognises the project’s groundbreaking approach to high-density urbanism, combining nature, community and sustainability within the city’s bustling Orchard district. (See below for a complete list of CTBUH 2024 Award of Excellence category winners.)

Amidst Orchard’s renowned shopping malls, tree-lined boulevards and mixed-use towers, Pan Pacific Orchard stands out as a beacon of Singapore’s environmental vision. The project’s “hotel in nature” concept transforms the traditional high-rise into a vertical green space, with multiple terraced gardens and water features integrated into the building, achieving a green plot ratio of more than 300 percent. By holistically incorporating greenery into its design, Pan Pacific Orchard honors Singapore’s heritage while pushing the envelope of sustainable urban development in a dense, urban setting.

“Pan Pacific Orchard represents the best in responsible vertical urbanism today,” explained CTBUH CEO Javier Quintana de Uña. “It does so by considering the question at the very core of this year’s conference – New or Renew? – from a more encompassing and nuanced perspective: this isn’t a building refurbishment; it’s about reimagining entire communities in novel, forward-thinking ways. The significance of Pan Pacific Orchard cannot be overstated – it emphasises the revitalisation of urban spaces rather than relying solely on new developments.”

Both structurally and conceptually, Pan Pacific Orchard breaks from tradition: instead of a tower-on-podium design, it delineates a series of four terraced sky gardens with individualised motifs – forest, beach, garden and cloud – which provide guests distinctive amenities and biomimetic landscapes at each level. The “forest” terrace at ground level features lush foliage and a cascading water plaza, while the “beach” terrace includes a tranquil lagoon surrounded by palms. The “garden” terrace offers serene walking paths, and the “cloud” terrace, capped with a photovoltaic canopy, hosts events with views of the surrounding city. These spaces create a unique connection between guests and nature while mitigating Singapore’s tropical heat through passive design strategies that reduce energy consumption and improve ventilation.

Mun Summ Wong, Founding Director of WOHA, the architectural firm behind Pan Pacific Orchard, stated, “We are deeply honored by this recognition. At WOHA, we believe in creating living buildings that are integrated with nature, as well as the urban fabric of the cities they inhabit, and Pan Pacific Orchard represents our commitment to building for both people and the planet. This project demonstrates that sustainability and hospitality can go hand-in-hand, and that skyscrapers can serve as green lungs within dense urban environments."

The project departs from conventional tower designs by carving out large open-air atria that not only reduce the building’s environmental footprint but also foster interaction between nature, the city and its many diverse communities. Its semi-outdoor tropical climate reduces reliance on mechanical cooling systems, while its 45 percent external to 55 percent internal surface area ratio optimises energy efficiency. These features align with Singapore’s broader sustainability goals and reflect a global push to lower the environmental impact of dense urban environments.

Lay Bee Yap, Group Director (Architecture and Urban Design) at Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority, who spoke at the conference’s opening plenary, added, “Greening our urban environment has always been a priority in planning for a quality living environment for residents and driving Singapore’s City in Nature vision. One innovative national strategy we adopt is partnering developers and architects to design buildings that incorporate vertical greenery in the forms of sky terraces, rooftop gardens and green walls. This is exemplified in Pan Pacific Orchard, which has transformed itself into an extension of the natural environment while enhancing Orchard Road’s skyline. Its multiple levels of greenery and open spaces also provide respite and contribute to the well-being of both its guests and the wider community.”

The project’s focus on sustainability extends to its Green Mark Platinum rating, which recognises its commitment to minimising energy consumption, water usage and waste. Solar panels power the common areas, rainwater is harvested for irrigation and food waste is processed via an on-site biodigester. These measures contribute to Pan Pacific Orchard’s nature-positive ethos, where the building not only connects with the environment but actively enhances the local ecosystem and biodiversity. The design’s innovative approach to energy efficiency also helps reduce the urban heat island effect, contributing to a more livable cityscape.

Pan Pacific Orchard also received CTBUH’s Space Within category award, which recognises tall building projects that have integrated extraordinary interior spaces and demonstrate exceptional functional success in terms of the user experience, elevating the solutions and possibilities for interior space design to the next level. In addition to evaluating the interior design of the space, the judging process also considers the design and integration of movement between spaces (vertically and horizontally), the performance of building systems, vertical transportation and smart technologies, among others.

As the CTBUH 2024 Best Tall Building Worldwide, Pan Pacific Orchard joins an illustrious group of past winners, including Quay Quarter Tower, in Sydney (2023), The David Rubenstein Forum, in Chicago (2022), and One Vanderbilt Avenue, in New York City (2021). These projects represent the pinnacle of innovation in sustainable tall building design and serve as benchmarks for future urban developments.

CTBUH 2024 Award of Excellence Category Winners:

- Best Tall Building (BTB) Worldwide: Pan Pacific Orchard, Singapore

- BTB Under 100 meters: T3 Collingwood, Melbourne, Australia

- BTB 100–199 meters: Pan Pacific Orchard, Singapore

- BTB 200–299 meters: 8 Bishopsgate, London, United Kingdom

- BTB 300 meters and above: Brooklyn Tower, New York City, United States

- BTB Americas: Boston University Center for Computing & Data Sciences, Boston, United States

- BTB Asia: Greenland Hangzhou Century Center, Hangzhou, China

- BTB Europe: Kaktus Towers, Copenhagen, Denmark

- BTB Middle East & Africa: One Za’abeel, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

- BTB Oceania: T3 Collingwood, Melbourne, Australia

-Urban Habitat Award: Al Wasl Plaza, Dubai, United Arab Emirates