This garden home in Singapore is designed as a plant paradise
Realized by Brewin Design Office, this show flat inside Thomas Heatherwick's residential Eden condominium has plenty of green energy

Commonstudio - Photography
For Bobby Cheng, the Singapore-based founder and lead architect at Brewin Design Office, dream projects tend to be the ones that allow him to ‘operate “end to end”, and to design the interior architecture, especially, right through to selecting artworks and creating bespoke furniture pieces for the project.’
His latest work – the 20-storey show suite in the new 20-unit Eden condominium designed by Thomas Heatherwick – fits the bill precisely.
Channeling the idea of a ‘home in a garden’, the 3,000 sq ft apartment is flanked by bulbous balcony pods, each festooned with thick tropical plants. Every view, as a result, is layered by a foreground of lush greenery.
‘We really wanted to show that interior design should be connected to the building envelope, to be contextual,’ says Cheng. To that end, the show suite’s non-linear interiors, a result of Heatherwick’s unusual spatial elevation, are set off by organic forms and natural materials.
Rattan, hemp and rough silk frame acres of timber panels, travertine and marble, alongside bespoke pieces created by a global Rolodex of artists and designers, including the Oregon-based sculptor Julian Watts, who contributed a striking wall piece carved from a single Mapletree trunk.
The low-slung profiles of light furnishings, many of which were custom designed by Cheng, allow the spaces to quietly expand, especially in the central living space where large bi-folding windows open up to connect interior with the green-fringed balconies and views beyond. ‘We took down pre-existing partition walls to add ventilation and light, and to create unobstructed views.’
For Cheng, a Harvard alum who cut his teeth at Tsao & McKown, and later at Atelier Jean Nouvel, Heatherwick’s work on Eden is unique for its sensitivity to nature and its quiet references to traditional colonial typologies. ‘It was important for us to create an interior that complimented his detailing but without replicating his language.’ We’re sold.
INFORMATION
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Daven Wu is the Singapore Editor at Wallpaper*. A former corporate lawyer, he has been covering Singapore and the neighbouring South-East Asian region since 1999, writing extensively about architecture, design, and travel for both the magazine and website. He is also the City Editor for the Phaidon Wallpaper* City Guide to Singapore.
- Commonstudio - PhotographyPhotographer
-
Sun-soaked European destinations to visit in spring
Dreaming of Florentine palazzos and Greek islands now that the weather is starting to turn? Check into one of these beautiful European hotels and holiday homes
By Anna Solomon
-
Inspired by the French Riviera, Été Celine heralds the arrival of summer
Celine’s new summer collection, capturing the ‘freedom and lightness’ of Saint-Tropez escapes, arrives at The Selfridges Corner Shop in a transporting pop-up
By Jack Moss
-
Seven things not to miss on your sunny escape to Palm Springs
It’s a prime time for Angelenos, and others, to head out to Palm Springs; here’s where to have fun on your getaway
By Carole Dixon
-
Lego fan commissions cuboid micro-apartment in Singapore
A tiny public housing flat in Singapore is transformed into a modern micro-apartment thanks to clever storage and spatial arrangements by local architecture studio Spacedge
By Daven Wu
-
Singapore architects WOHA to debut furniture collection at Maison et Objet
By Daven Wu
-
Knock on wood: Snøhetta-designed Aesop ION store opens in Singapore
By Sam Rogers
-
Singapore Airlines unveils next generation of cabin interiors
By Apphia Michael