{"id":478,"date":"2025-09-30T10:30:44","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T10:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scientificmediagroup.com\/?p=478"},"modified":"2025-10-02T16:10:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T16:10:07","slug":"singapore-rainforest-resort-by-wow-architects-creeps-through-the-jungle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.scientificmediagroup.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/30\/singapore-rainforest-resort-by-wow-architects-creeps-through-the-jungle\/","title":{"rendered":"Singapore rainforest resort by WOW Architects “creeps through the jungle”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mandai<\/div>\n

Treehouses resembling seed pods, bark-imprinted walls and a spine-like spiral staircase pay homage to the landscape surrounding Mandai Rainforest Resort in Singapore<\/a>, completed by local studio WOW Architects<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Overlooking a reservoir in the 126-hectare Mandai Wildlife Reserve, the resort was created for hospitality brand Banyan Tree and is designed to immerse visitors in the surrounding nature.<\/p>\n

It was completed by WOW Architects<\/a> as part of a larger wildlife and nature destination funded by the Singapore government, which also includes the wildlife parks Singapore Zoo, Night Safari and Bird Paradise.<\/p>\n

\"Treehouse
WOW Architects has completed a rainforest resort in Singapore<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“This development, the Mandai Rainforest Resort, is part of a $3.5 billion SGD (\u00a320 billion) investment to build all the [local] natural attractions,” studio co-founder Wong Chiu Man told Dezeen.<\/p>\n

“One of the key issues was that the non-profit organisation Nature Society was against development in this area because it was the last remaining patch of green forest in Singapore and there was a lot of biodiversity around this.”<\/p>\n

To address these concerns and minimise the project’s impact on the forest and its biodiversity, WOW Architects designed the hotel in line with national sustainability benchmarks and organised the building to be eventually “reabsorbed within the jungle”.<\/p>\n

\"Outdoor
The structure “creeps through the jungle”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This strategy involved minimising the felling of old trees, preserving existing habitats, integrating a rainwater collection system and passive cooling techniques, as well as cloaking the structure in greenery.<\/p>\n

According to the studio, the hotel is the first in Singapore to achieve the country’s Green Mark Super Low Energy certification, which is awarded by the Building and Construction Authority to buildings that achieve at least a 60 per cent energy saving compared to the 2005 building code.<\/p>\n

\"Lobby
Organic forms feature throughout the hotel’s interior<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Greenery-covered forms make up the hotel’s curving six-storey structure, which was designed to wind around the site’s largest trees in a way that mimics a vine. Meanwhile, 24 treehouse pods contain rooms elevated within the forest’s canopy.<\/p>\n

“The shape of the building has no defined shape, because it’s like a vine \u2013 it creeps through the jungle,” Chiu Man explained.<\/p>\n

“The building mass [and] the plan do not really have a usual architectural logic to it,” he added. “It’s simply opportunistic and responsive to the situation.”<\/p>\n

\"Dining
A restaurant and dining hall are held at the basement level<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Concrete used for the structure’s exterior was chosen in response to Singapore’s humid climate, says Chiu Man, and has been imprinted with the bark of felled trees as a “living memory of the forest”.<\/p>\n

Steps at the hotel’s front lead up to an open-air lobby, where a panelled ceiling is raised on a series of large round columns. Organic forms feature throughout the interior, with wooden furniture nodding to the jungle.<\/p>\n

From the lobby, a spiral staircase resembling the “spinal column of a living creature” leads to the hotel’s upper floors alongside two elevator shafts and a winding external ramp.<\/p>\n