Cara Kwok, Deputy GM, Marketing at Keppel Land, collecting the Award at the recent gala dinner.
Contributor Feature
By Nadia Willan
An elevated, 180-metre park, plus sky terraces and incredible ground-level facilities, define a modern interpretation of recreation, lifestyle and community at the sold-out Highline Residences in Singapore’s coveted District 3 location. High-profile developer Keppel Land brings to the fore nearly 130 years of experience to developing such award-winning sustainable urbanisation solutions, with inspired landscape architecture that creates a seamless, green sensory trail for residents.
The 500 well-appointed one- to four-bedroom units, which include penthouses, are located in three towers within the stylish and hip Tiong Bahru. Highline Residences reflects the chic modernity of the area with its clean lines, whilst utilising landscaping and softscaping to tap into the roots of the area’s strong sense of heritage.
The design, influenced by the High Line linear park in Manhattan, has paid off, with Highline Residences scooping a Best Private Condo Landscape Architectural Design win at the 8th annual PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards (Singapore) in October 2018. Coen Design International, which seeks to discover a site’s ‘hidden essence’ was at the helm of the landscape design, with the support of the award-winning Mok Wei Wei from W Architects and interiors by Design Basis.
The green-ridged linear deck, with its cascading water feature, boasts a variety of activity nodes, with the emphasis on creating communal spaces where residents can relax, exercise, dine and socialise. As well as pathways to jog or the reflexology walk to take a stroll along, there is a terrace garden, play area, art lounge and butterfly garden. Other features include barbeque and fitness pavilions, a dreamcatcher hammock, and swing garden, plus an aqua spring.
The landscaping at Highline Residences is all about lifestyle experiences, with an urban farm as well as sky terraces, set high up on levels 12 and 13, in addition to green areas, a gym with magnificent views and cocoon day beds.
Minkqee ‘Mink’ Tan, one of this year’s judges and the head of last year’s judging panel, has a reputation for injecting innovative design principles into his award-winning architectural and design practice, MINKKE. For him, the Keppel project was a clear winner.
“The success of Highline Residences is due to the attention paid to the architecture and landscape design that respects its setting amongst one of Singapore’s oldest residential neighbourhoods,” he shared.
“Inspired by similar raised landscape concepts in Paris and New York, the feature of the Highline Residences is a lush ribbon of landscape that weaves through the development. This unique communal space contains shared amenities, affords views of the pool and surrounding neighbourhood, and provides passive shading and cooling for spaces below.”
On the ground level there are decks, lawns, pavilions and gardens, with an Olympic-length grand pool, kids’ pool, playground, fitness stations, and even a spice garden.
With a LEAF Award Certificate of Recognition from the National Parks Board and BCA Gold Plus Green Mark Award, plus concierge and special-privilege memberships, Highline Residences proves that Keppel Land’s success is about staying true to quality and the integrity of contemporary, resident-focused landscape design.
This article is contributed by PropertyGuru Property Report, the official publication of the PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards.
