📋 Tender Overview
The Singapore Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai puts green architecture at the forefront to help visitors appreciate the benefits and possibilities of integrating nature within our urban environments. Layered with a showcase of greenery digital solutions and art the Pavilion exemplifies Singapores vision of becoming a City in Nature and ethos of sustainable development via innovative and impactful urban solutions. Ms Yap Lay Bee Deputy Commissioner-General of the Singapore Pavilion and Group Director Architecture Urban Design Group at the Urban Redevelopment Authority said The Singapore Pavilion demonstrates the potential to push the envelope to integrate nature architecture and technology through various design strategies and digital elements. We wish to invite visitors to contemplate their relationship with nature as they explore the Pavilions green digital ecosystem and its artistic representation of the Pavilions integrated system of greenery water and energy management. In doing so visitors will be able to appreciate the challenges in realising the Singapore Pavilion and the ways we can co-exist with our natural and built environment where both people and ecologies are cared for. Designing a lush Pavilion with a rich and diverse selection of plantsConsidered one of the greenest pavilions at this years Expo the Singapore Pavilion will showcase more than 170 varieties of plants within different layers of greenery in various spaces of the pavilion. From hanging gardens to vertical walls that feature plants of ethnobotanical value1 visitors are enveloped in an inviting three-dimensional green space that also provides a cool respite from the buzz and excitement of the Expo grounds.Capturing ones attention upon entering the Rainforest Cone is the Dipterocarp seed kinetic sculpture. It is inspired by the helicopter-like spinning movement of the winged seeds of trees from the Dipterocarp family. These ecologically important giants are some of the tallest trees in Southeast Asias tropical forests and make up 50 to 80 per cent of the forest canopy. The landscape design digital and art elements are helmed by Singapore landscape architecture firm Salad Dressing in close partnership with the Pavilion architect WOHA. The planting strategy for the Pavilion features plants from diverse unique habitats from the natural heritage of Singapore including varieties found in the tropical rainforest freshwater forest streams and mangrove habitats that are central to Singapores natural environment.Recognising the challenge of growing these plants in Dubais desert environment plants are also strategically situated within the various spaces in the Pavilion based on their specific growth needs. For example the Pavilions perimeter is protected by trees and palms that thrive well in the Dubai climate mimicking a forest strata2 to form a well-shaded layer that shields the interior. Sun-loving plants such as Singapores national flower the Vanda Miss Joaquim will greet visitors at the front of the Pavilion where it receives the most direct sunlight. As part of water conservation efforts potable water produced through the on-site solar desalination process is also deployed through drip irrigation3 to minimise water wastage. In addition leaf litter is also used to replace water-consuming ground cover to retain water in the soil. Together with misting the greenery helps to increase humidity and thermal comfort within the Pavilion. These strategies enable the creation of microclimates within the Rainforest Cone and the Flower Cone to sustain rainforest plants. The growth of the multitude of plant varieties despite the ground conditions demonstrates the possibility for such lush landscapes to thrive in different environments around the world while using renewable resources.Capitalising on technology to augment bold landscaping designCaring for the varieties of plants within the Pavilion is no easy feat especially those on the curved green walls of the Pavilions iconic cones. To address this challenge three prototype climbing robots will traverse the green walls around the Flower Cone to inspect the health of the plants as well as to collect environmental data to monitor the performance of the Pavilions systems.These dome-shaped robots are the result of a collaboration with Singapore-based robotics start-up Oceania Robotics and they are among the first robots in the world deployed for the purpose of landscape maintenance on curved vertical green walls. These prototypes present a novel solution particularly relevant in Singapore where vertical and skyrise greenery is an increasingly common sight in our built environment a result of the nations urban greening policies that encourage building owners to inject more greenery into the buildings. It also provides a starting point for similar technologies to be developed in the future as such greening initiatives become more commonplace around the world.Each robot is equipped with cameras and sensors and is trained through machine learning to evaluate the health status of individual plants. As they move along green walls the robots can recognise plants in poor health that need to be replaced as well as capture data for the calibration of irrigation and grow light settings to help the plants thrive.This creative application of technology also extends to the existing innovations used by the National Parks Board NParks in Singapore such as tree inspection microdrones and ultraviolet cameras.
