Changi Airport Terminal 3 Interior Landscape

Large-scale vertical planting evoking a South East Asian equatorial rainforest was introduced into the interior of Singapore's Changi Terminal 3 to structure and soften an otherwise cavernous industrial building. A woven tapestry of living plants not only divides the mega-building in plan into landside/airside sections but also connect the vertical space of the check-in/arrival areas, which are separated by a glass security screen.

Overview
In embarking on its ambitious expansion program in 2000, Singapore's Changi Airport, perennially named as the best or next-best in the world, intended to raise the bar for excellence in design and to create a monumental iconic first point of entry to the nation-city. Since the landscape design began during the initial stages of project planning, the team was able to integrate the building design, the interior design, and the landscape design into a cohesive whole.

Goals

• To use landscape elements to enhance and to become a dominant feature of the architecture.
• To develop a unique landscape design palette appropriate to the scale and use of the building.
• To establish an interior environment where planting is part of the architecture, not just as accents and decoration.
• To devise a low-cost, light-weight system for growing massed climbing plants.
• To confirm the viability of planting in an in-door air-conditioned environment by testing suitable plant species for long-term sustainability.

Site
The site of Changi Airport, one of the busiest hubs in Asia, is reclaimed from the sea. The Terminal 3 site, allocated in the airport's initial Master Plan, is on the main axial approach road which terminates at Terminal 1. It is directly across the approach road from Terminal 2, and together the three terminals form a huge cul-de-sac. The exterior landscape for Changi Airport, currently being implemented in stages, is not the subject of this submission, although it was part of the landscape architect's scope as the winner of a limited design competition in 2000. The interior space is a ten-story volume, with four functional levels arranged around a huge sky lighted atrium, the base of which is the arrival hall. The roof concept of 'butterfly-winged' skylights is a spectacular and dramatic architectural statement, flooding the interior with diffused light, regulated by sensors to control the heat load and ventilation of the immense space. The building is a conservatory for plants.

Program

1. To treat the most prominent feature of the terminal building - the massive wall which separates the landside check-in arrival hall from the airside departure and shopping lounges.
2. To provide spatial definition and linkage for the vast arrival hall with its eight baggage carousels and omni-directional traffic.
3. To establish a green environment for the interior space, befitting the nation's vision of the arrival to the 'City in a Garden'.