New luxury Singapore hotel blurs line between indoors and outdoors

Established in the 19th century and so called because of the fresh produce and spice farms that lined it, Singapore’s famed Orchard Road became synonymous with retail therapy when the first department store opened on it in 1958.

Now, 65 years later, the 2.4 kilometre thoroughfare, lined with exclusive mall after exclusive mall, is set to revert to at least some of its green, orchard-like roots with the opening on June 1 of the 347-key, 23-storey luxury hotel, the Pan Pacific Orchard.\

The hotel will be the latest bold addition to Singapore’s impressive and, yes, growing, collection of sustainable, greenery-enveloped towers. Pan Pacific Orchard’s sky-high garden spaces and its striking Jenga-like form sits just a block from Orchard on Claymore Road.

Pan Pacific Orchard is the most recent fruit of the labours of the local award-winning Singaporean-Australian architectural firm, WOHA, headed by Wong Mun Summ and Richard Hassell.

WOHA also conceived other groundbreaking skygarden-styled hotels and public buildings hotels such as the equally biophilic Oasia Downtown, Crowne Plaza Changi Airport and the Parkroyal Collection Pickering, a member of the Pan Pacific group.

Pan Pacific Orchard will feature renewable solar panel technology, an in-room filtered water system and a bio-digester system that transforms food waste into cleaning water.

Comprising four connected towers: Forest, Beach, Garden and Cloud - each named after their open-air terrace themes - guest rooms and suites offer views of either the terrace landscapes or the city, many via balconies that blur the line between indoor and outdoor with comfy furnishings and seamless connection.

It’s all part of the Singaporean government’s visionary Green Plan 2030 and its push to redevelop and refocus Orchard Road.

Sections of the strip will be green in the hope of reviving the fortunes of the shopping hub which has suffered due to the pandemic and the rise of online shopping.

See panpacific.com