Conjured by the genius of 21st-century architects and engineers, the conservatories in Singapore’s Gardens by the bay were created in response to the contemporary challenges of sustainability and global climate change. Here at Gardens by the Bay, the evolution of the 18th-century aristocratic orangery into the 21st-century public nature park, with its mix of entertainment, research, and education, is complete. Devoted to both recreation and education, this stunning conservatory pair is a showpiece of horticulture and garden artistry that presents the plant kingdom in a whole new way.

The story of Gardens by the Bay dates back to the early 1800s, as you can read in The Conservatory: Gardens Under Glass, but the vision to transform this creation from a “Garden City” to a “City in a Garden” came about in 2005 under the direction of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. In 2006, Loong’s government announced an international competition to design a technology-driven nature park; more than 70 entries were submitted from 170 firms and 24 countries! Fresh from their success in the design of Kew’s striking Davies Alpine House, the British architectural firm WilkinsonEyra in partnership with Atelier One structural engineers, was chosen to design the two conservatories in the South Garden.

Comprised of three gardens - South, Central, and East - the park is built on 250 reclaimed acres with expansive single-span glass conservatories shielding an astonishingly wide variety of plants. The Flower Dome, 120 feet high with a 3-acre footprint, is the larger of the two conservatories in the South Garden. It is braced not by columns, but instead by arched ribs that carry the eye skyward like the arches of a gothic cathedral! The slightly smaller conservatory, Cloud Fest, also in the South Garden, is no less impressive. Its centerpiece is the Cloud Mountain - a 135-foot tangle of vegetation! Visitors descend by a circular winding path strung through the trees, passing an enchanting 115-foot waterfall designed to help cool the air. The path pauses at different levels, each with a distinct theme, including “Lost World”, “Earth Check”, and “+5 Degrees”, which demonstrates the dire environmental consequences of climate change.