Orange Grove Road is among Singapore's most prestigious addresses, a stone’s throw from the 150-year-old UNESCO-honoured Botanic Gardens, and close to the hustle and bustle of Orchard Road—akin to Singapore’s New York’s Fifth Avenue. Amidst the demure volumes of mostly residential blocks between Botanic Gardens and Orchard Road, the lenticular façade articulation of the hotel's eight-storeyed form shimmers, coyly beckoning visitors towards the surprising twists of amenities concealed in the hotel podium below.
Arriving at the drop-off point, guests are greeted with the same lenticular treatment at the podium, belying the verdant vegetation nestled inside. However, a step into the interior brings the guests into an alternative interpretation of pop-biophilia, with a sunken pool-bar check-in leading the eye towards a series of lushly landscaped, stepped sinkhole-shaped platforms in the podium. This expression carves out hidden spaces that house a secret courtyard, a semi-secluded cave room and stepped terraces that allow various modes of self-expression before peaking at the landscaped pool deck, the nexus of the hotel’s social activities.
To contrast with this, the team opted for a more sedated, typical floor layout for the guest rooms. 143 keys, including double volume suites, are housed within the tower volume, each room sporting city views out through the unconventional faceted façade—a quirk that allows nature-gazing without nature gazing back into the room.
However, guests of the hotel are more likely to be of the more gregarious sort, hence it is envisioned that more will spend time sampling the wide array of socially-oriented amenities housed in the podium. These social spaces are intended to nudge guests towards embracing the optimism of the post-pandemic era, forming friendships between both international and local patrons, and reflecting the DNA of having a dynamic space with a quirky twist.
From beyond the urban jungle, The Standard, Singapore is a hidden gem and intimate sanctuary of sensorial delight. Through lush landscaping, intriguing interiors and crafty play of light and sound, the resultant design is a hidden oasis and a secret garden that beckons exploration. Together with a suite of DP’s architecture-related specialist arms—DP Green for landscape, DP Façade for building facade and DP Engineers for structural and MEP consultancy—The Standard, Singapore serves to be one of the many milestones for DP Architects and its group of companies.
Structurally, The Standard, Singapore might seem simple, yet the massive cantilevers and transfers posed a challenge to the consultants and contractors due to stringent building requirements set by the respective authorities. Key challenges include Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority’s Complex Structure Design Requirements, Engineering Smoke Control Systems for the basement kitchen and the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Sky Terrace Redefinition. The project team had to think of many ingenious ways to maximise floor area for commercial viability while striving to achieve the design intent.
The Standard, Singapore is the first new-build hotel for the land owner, Invictus Developments, making an indelible first step to a burgeoning hospitality portfolio.
