First photos inside the nearly completed Jewel Changi Airport addition

With features like an indoor forest, the world’s tallest indoor waterfall, treetop walking trails, retail (a retail galleria will feature more than 280 retail and food and beverage outlets and a 130-room hotel), and gathering spaces, the 1.4 million-sf Jewel Changi Airport addition will create a new model for airports as a destination for community activity, entertainment, and shopping.

The core of Jewel is the Forest Valley, a terraced indoor landscape that will feature walking trails and seating areas among more than 200 species of plants. The Forest Valley will also feature the world’s tallest indoor rain-fed waterfall, dubbed The Rain Vortex. The Rain Vortex will shower water down seven stories from a central open oculus in the domed roof. The waterfall will have nightly light shows that integrate sound and projections from 360 degrees around the Vortex.

Interior garden space in the Jewel Courtesy Charu Kokate, Safdie Architects.

The steel and glass structure of the roof spans more than 650 feet at its widest point and uses only intermittent supports in the garden, which results in a nearly column-free interior. The roof’s geometry is based on a semi-inverted toroid (think of a donut) with the waterfall at its center.

Jewel Domed roof Courtesy Charu Kokate, Safdie Architects.

Canopy Park will be located on the fifth level and include 150,000 sf of attractions within the garden spaces, such as net structures suspended within the trees, a suspended catenary glass-bottomed bridge walk, a planted hedge maze, a topiary walk, horticultural displays, and an event plaza for 1,000 people.

The Jewel is slated to open in spring 2019. Safdie Architects designed the project. BuroHappold Engineering handled the building structure and facades and Mott MacDonald handled MEP duties.

Courtesy Charu Kokate, Safdie Architects.

Advances in glazing materials and glass building systems offer a seemingly unlimited horizon for not only glass performance, but also for the size and extent of these light, transparent forms. Both for enclosures and for indoor environments, novel products and assemblies allow for more glass and less opaque structure—often in places that previously limited their use.

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