Inside: Jewel Changi Airport | National Geographic

singapore changi airport

the best ranked airport in the world

has reached a game-changing stage in its

development

with its mammoth lifestyle hub

set to be a new tourism landmark for the

nation

for many people as a game changer

this

is jewel

but two created one team has charted an

ambitious step into the unknown okay

slowly down

how do you even make something stand

that practically has no support

advanced technology harnessed to create

record-breaking features

what you want to put a hole in the

middle of a building in the middle of

singapore

impressive attractions housed within a

massive garden

it is very daunting it is going to be a

massive landscaping works never

undertaken in a scale at this level

a daring evolution heating up

competition in the aviation industry

that's going to be a major move in the

chess game for supremacy

[Music]

changi is the best ranked airport in the

world

and one of the world's busiest

but located between terminals where an

open-air car park once stood a team are

constructing its latest tradition

jewel

this joint venture between changi

airport grew and retail estate group

capitaland is set to become a lifestyle

destination that will serve as a giant

hub for the airport and a new landmark

for singapore

it's a bold vision and the team have

appointed a world famous architect to

lead the project i thought that the most

timeless would be a kind of a magical

garden

a kind of a metaphor of paradise

marcia safti's designs are globally

renowned

and he's no stranger to singapore

the world famous marina bay sands is his

creation

the role of the architect is to observe

to listen

to understand to interpret and bring it

all together into a three-dimensional

proposition and that uplifts your spirit

and makes you feel good

changi have high design expectations for

jaw

for many people as a game changer we

think it is

rather than wait for tourism destination

to pop up in singapore why don't we get

our hands dirty and try to create one as

well

we needed architecture expression and

manifestation of our dreams streams that

we're already chasing in our current

terminals interacting with our customers

and passengers and meeting airline needs

jewel was just a natural extension

creation of a new canvas

it would be nice if jewel is one day an

international icon synonymous with

singapore so if you think of sydney you

think of the opera house

and if you think of singapore jewel

springs to mine

to deliver the world's newest iconic

building safety had to work with some

strict regulations

the height could only be a maximum of

37.5 meters above street level to avoid

obstructing the radar and sight lines of

the control tower i thought the dome is

somewhat simplistic

it's the expected solution

safti went about creating a design

solution

now this looks to you like a funny

doodle but if i send that if i take a

picture with my iphone send it to the

office they'll understand it and they'll

immediately put this into the computer

and they'll start seeing what kind of

geometries this is generating

[Music]

the eventual design became a 10 story

doughnut-like shape called a toroid

the notion of making it a toroid which

comes back on itself

came in

as an ocean also of collecting rainfall

and having it come through the building

the iconic structure was designed with a

massive hole in the roof planned to

shower tens of thousands of gallons of

water through a 10 meter opening called

the oculus

on site teams have worked to create the

superstructure of the building

the next milestone is crucial to

construct the more than 23 000 square

meter roof

and there's a deadline looming

construction of the interior cannot

begin until the roof is in place for

head of projects and engineering ashith

alva turning the architect's centerpiece

into a reality is the biggest challenge

of his career for us this roof is what

makes jewel and gives it his identity

how do you even make something stand

that practically has no supports

the answer

a network of close to eighteen thousand

steel beams and over six thousand

junctions called nodes pieced together

by the main contractor

with a colossal weight of

3500 tons the equivalent of six a380

planes the roof passad and its nine

thousand glass panels puts the structure

under immense pressure as you move

towards the middle of the whole roof

that's where we have the biggest nodes

and this is where the maximum supports

take place

the team have the last remaining panels

to fit before the architect will visit

the site

[Music]

fiona cha from projects and engineering

is overseeing these final pieces

so today we'll move on to bay 8 focusing

on the oculus area

the oculus is actually the whole water

feature which is a focal point and it's

one of the key features of our project

each of the 9 000 triangular shaped

glass panels is unique

it's like laying a giant jigsaw puzzle

45 meters above the ground

if they pick up the wrong glass the

glass can never fit it in place because

every piece of glass is of different

size

to keep work on track digital tech

provides a solution

each of this bus has its own identity we

have a qr code packed onto the glass and

then the guys can use a headphone to

click it on

and then they know basically where is it

going to be placed at

hey

okay nice

professionally trained teams work from

ropes secured to the roof frame

they are the absolute known as the

spiderman

special climbing equipment enables them

to maneuver both horizontally and

vertically across the structure

but at all times they need to be

connected to a work rope and a safety

rope

once the spiderman are in position

triangular pieces of glass each weighing

nearly 300 kilograms are connected to

hydraulic suction cups

the glass is hold by two things here one

is the suction pump and it's also hold

by this belt safety belt

this double safety device is to prevent

a potential disaster

it's 45 meters up to the spiderman on

the roof

[Applause]

the team secure the panel by drilling it

into the grid

we need to make sure that the roof is

properly sealed and there's no leakages

that will flow through

the spiderman apply waterproof sealant

around the edges of the glass

to complete the installation

[Music]

when i look at every piece of glass you

know being installed i think it's

amazing

so for us to actually put this whole

roof together is something that we are

extremely uh proud of

with the final pieces of glass in place

the roof is completed in time

lead architect masha safti

gets to see his vision

well you're walking here and it's like

miraculous

this extraordinary light roof hovering

over you

as if there is no gravity

as if it's just floating out there

[Music]

with the roof in place work on dual

moves into the next phase

filling the massive space below with

more than 2 000 fully grown trees

[Music]

singapore changi airport is building a

gigantic new lifestyle destination

called jewel

with the roof completed it's time to

turn it green

to fill a 21 000 square meter space the

team had to curate and grow

120 species of plants and trees in a

dedicated nursery on the outskirts of

the city

horticulturist irina park oversees the

nursery

one of the special things about this

project is that we get to

plant trees indoors so because there's

no rubins here we get to plant really

large ones without worry of it being

toppled over by wind

with over 100 000 plants coming from all

over the world

some need acclimatization to singapore's

humid hot climate

and the prize of jewel is this 150 year

old olive tree imported from spain

i'm so happy that these guys managed to

survive the trip

here this tree will have a prime

position on level five canopy park

[Music]

when you're coming up in the glass lift

this is the view you get okay we were

gonna rotate this a little bit so you

can get a good photo from the path but

also a good view from the lift

today a team of over 40 people will help

move it to its new home

one of the main challenges that we have

today is to make sure that we hoist this

and plant them without damaging them

changi's four terminals have close to

twenty thousand square meters of green

spaces already

in tune with singapore's identity as the

garden city

but jewel will have more plants and

trees than all the terminals combined

becoming one of the largest indoor plant

collections in the country it is very

daunting it is going to be a

massive landscaping works never

undertaken in a scale at this level in

an airport environment

but the design of the immense glass roof

has given lead horticulturist kaja

nasumuddin a huge challenge

the problem was the heat heat can be

uncomfortable for people but it also can

be uncomfortable for you the plants too

temperatures in tropical singapore

regularly hover between 32 to 34 degrees

celsius

dual as a giant greenhouse needed a

sustainable solution

a web of pipes under the floor will

recycle water to help cool the building

and in turn reduce the energy needed for

air conditioning

but a solution was also needed to reduce

the amount of sunlight

and one of the things we did is we got

this special glass fitted in which has

got a very high vlt level that allows

maximum sunlight to come in

but in a way cuts off a lot of the

radiation heat

vlt stands for visible light

transmission

a special coating on the glass blocks up

to 70 percent of the ambient solar

energy without compromising the light

levels or transparency

so what you get is good grow light for

the plants almost naturally

[Music]

with the conditions for plants now ready

the olive tree can begin the journey to

its new home

right now we're waiting for the olive

tree to be hoisted over about 20 meters

excited and nervous at the same time

we had it in the nursery for a couple of

months and then we have to move this

tree to its final location in the jewel

it's almost 150 year old life form that

is dangling two cables so you just want

to have it done quickly but you know

with these things you can't rush

the 4 000 kilogram olive tree is hanging

25 meters in the air

the orientation is correct

but as the tree is lifted into the hole

they realize it isn't in the optimal

position

not the best

[Music]

we wanted the longer branches to fit

onto the left side but because of the

columns we need to reverse the 180

degrees

paying attention to this kind of detail

that once done well really brings out

the beautiful character of that tree

final hurdle just half a meter up and

then we're gonna do a 180 degree turn

slowly yeah slowly slowly

[Music]

the tree is finally set into its new

home

good

two thousand plus trees and every tree

is a challenge and this one is even more

challenging

and i'm just glad that they got it

through

even with technology there's still the

human touch that's needed for plants

because at the end of it

technology is machine

plants are live

[Music]

from butterfly gardens to art

installations singapore changi airport

is famed for its award-winning

attractions

as the airport's new hub dual takes

shape

attention has turned to the canopy park

on level five this 14 000 square meter

space is being transformed into a

wonderland

we went around the world and we looked

for attractions that

embodies the timeless elements of play

the things that we want to do in jewel

are beyond

what anybody in the world

would have imagined to be done in an

airport

[Music]

today head of attractions g-lay is

visiting a factory assembling one of the

key attractions the discovery slides a

feature set to become singapore's first

large-scale interactive structure the

discovery slides are meant to be this

giant play structure

and on the underneath is meant to have

this stainless steel finish because of

the complexity the different parts of

the slide are actually fabricated in

different parts of the world

the 6.5 meter tall skeleton is being

assembled in singapore

while the skin is manufactured in china

it's a little bit tricky because you

know steel structures are very stiff and

they are actually uh rigid membranes

whereas the one that we are trying to

create as the end product is actually

curvy and more organic in shape

today the team are scanning the

structure of the slide to check designs

are on target

the 3d laser measures the points within

the skeleton structure the scan will

then be sent to the team in china and

plotted against the slide's mirror

finish to check for accuracy if the

dimensions are inaccurate the entire

slide structure will need to be rebuilt

back on site and it's a huge day for the

project

work on the centerpiece attraction the

rain vortex has reached a major

milestone

towering 40 meters high the structure is

built to become the tallest indoor

waterfall in the world

and today it will be tested for the

first time

the team helping deliver it have created

over 220 fountains and water features

around the world

in 2013 planning began for the rain

vortex and how to control the vast

volumes of falling water

my first reaction was what

you want to put a hole in the middle of

a building in the middle of singapore

and then you know a half a second later

i thought cool

singapore experiences rain on an average

of

167 days a year and this wet climate was

the inspiration for the design we've

done a lot of mock-ups and tests and

simulations so we have a pretty good

idea of what the water is going to do

but there's certainly going to be

moments like

you know what really happens when you

have a 10 meter diameter circle of water

coming into an interior space

that's 40 meters in the air

on the roof along with fins to guide the

water there are other design elements

integral to its success

one element of this design that became

critically important is the what we call

the weir edge or the oculus this is

where the canopy of the glass stops

and the water continues its movement

into the space the weirs control the

flow speed to guide thousands of gallons

to the edge

water will then fall at a velocity of

about

liters per minute

into a purpose-built acrylic structure

any miscalculation in engineering could

set back the approaching deadline

water's funny it has a personality we

over the years have learned

incredible ways to control and

manipulate water but as soon as that

water leaves its nozzle or manifold or

weir

it has its life of its own

before the first test the team head down

to the pump room

this is where stored rain water will be

recycled and sent to the roof to create

the waterfall it's time to check if all

systems are ready to go

today is quite a momentous occasion on

the whole journey of jewel because today

is the day we finally turn the water

pumps on and see where the vortex

works jose heads the pump room

he ensures the valves which act like

doors direct the water to the right

pumps

what could go wrong

if the valves are closed you're

basically running the pump dry

and obviously you need that flow

to pull the pump so if you don't pull

these pumps then you can blow up the

motor or something

all right so what's the startup plan

what's solar plan uh we get a look make

sure that all the butterfly valves are

open good makes it all good jose will

need to make sure readings for the

voltage current and pressure are all

optimal

yeah we're good

go for it yeah we can do this

the team is in position

final calibrations are made

the first test for 1

500 gallons per minute commences

[Music]

it takes a little while

[Music]

finally the water is released

wow

oh this is a great moment even how the

sun is is coming through the the center

oculus

i think words can't express what you can

actually

feel when you saw it for the first time

because it's just so emotional you know

tim and ashit are ready to take the rain

vortex test to the next level

will it be able to handle higher volumes

of water

so right now we're looking at about

1 500 gpm gallons per minute and we're

going to increase that now to about 10

000 gpm

[Music]

okay jose give us a hundred percent

please

copy that

[Music]

uh full power now tim

[Music]

now at 10 000 gallons per minute the

rain vortex is releasing approximately

as much water to fill an olympic-sized

pool every hour

we're looking good here tim other pumps

are performing as expected

the waterfall test has been a success

the years of mock-ups and simulations

have finally paid off

this has turned out even better than we

expected

six years ago when i saw the pictures

for the first time i wondered whether we

would ever get to this date where i'm

standing here today

but the work is not over

the easy parts turning it on now we need

to create the choreography and the shows

that will really transform this yet

again from a water feature into a

performance piece

[Music]

the race to finish singapore's latest

iconic landmark jewel is shifting gears

the teams are fine-tuning visitor

experiences within the 10-level

lifestyle hub

this includes a new interactive

multimedia space on level four

this is really a place that changing

airport group has come together to

conceive

to build a very unique digital

entertainment center

the visitors can learn about changi

airport the history of the last 30 over

years

the works behind the scene that keeps

its airport ticking

the 2

500 square meter changi experience

studio has 10 content zones and over 20

touch points

visitors will use special interactive

guide boards to learn about the history

and operations of this world famous

airport

the sky deck station reveals the network

of flight paths connecting changi to

roughly 400 cities in 100 countries and

territories worldwide as you place the

seat board over the various time zone

with singapore being centered actually

it brings up the information or

interesting facts about the city that

you are now flying over

the system detects radio optical

infrared markers on the travel guide to

display the content

the projectors will beam the necessary

information and images onto the board

through this we hope to allow our

visitors to learn more about changi

airport's connectivity to the world

another part of the studio is the garden

of harmony

this is just where we're testing and

calibrating so that we know that all the

travel guys

maximum for each space are really

functioning well

and do what they should

here up to 16 people can play music

together using the interactive boards

when you move up and down so there are

like four steps or thresholds and if i

just go over one threshold there is one

tone so i can just change notes like a

lower one or a higher one so this is why

like strings on a guitar i can play

an instrument try to get it together you

can make some music but you just can

make your music by your own it's about

making music together so being like an

orchestra

[Music]

overhead cameras track each user's

movements by picking up optical infrared

markers on the travel guide

the level of movement triggers different

sounds and projections

the technology links 60 projectors and

30 speakers to the movement of the cards

[Music]

if you hear the music

you feel the music and

you can actually see the music because

the tones you're creating here

are actually sent to the real-life

rendered background and the plants you

see there like the yellow ones and the

red ones they react to your music

the collaborative effort of playing

music together peaks and eventually

triggers the final show

the more you play the more they actually

start to bloom and come up and learn the

butterflies until actually all the

butterflies come in and do the changi

symphony

for changi airport the garden of harmony

represents the 50 000 strong airport

community working together every day

because people connect to each other and

this is something where we try to have a

manifestation of that spirit

the garden of harmony is about building

a symphony

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

up on level five the canopy park is

taking shape

the discovery slides are standing tall

with the polished steel skin fitting

perfectly around the core structure

but the slides are not the only

attractions the team are developing

i believe in level 5 needs to have

something different

it needs certain key features key

attractions item to really punch high

work is underway on features that will

allow visitors to explore dual from

above

there was a lot of void spaces that we

felt would have been a missed

opportunity we left them as white spaces

in the brainstorming of ideas

one of the things that came up was the

concept of nets

walking nets and bouncing nets will

allow visitors to walk 25 meters above

the ground level

when they found this next poser that

says bouncing frameless and everything

the magic yes this is what i want this

is a trail that we want

work on the bouncing nets is now in the

critical final stage

a team of french installation artists

are the designers of the project

[Music]

[Music]

the team come from the small french

island of quoi

they are specialists in rope and net

making

it's a skill company founder cedric

developed as a master rigger on ocean

racing yachts

is

creating nets in jewel though is no easy

task

the team typically work in forests

securing their huge net structures on

trees

all the trees are already in all the

most of the infrastructure already in

but when they came

it was amazing they tied the rope

without much difficulty they know where

to go where to get the resources their

professional climbers regions

the team spent four months preparing 20

kilometers of rope

so everything is prepared in advance you

got the vertical net walls

with the floor with a safety net putting

all together

on site a seven-man team is now turning

that into 150 meters of walkway

secured to steel columns the nets have a

loading capacity of about

130 people

it's a kind of giant spider web

we

are walking like spiders

we want the people to jump around

weightlessly get a feeling day and night

lie down there see the moon

today the team finally gets to test the

fruits of their labour

i'm doing the final check to make sure

that all the bits are correctly as per

what we design

this is the fun part of doing

attractions at level 5 you can actually

enjoy all the attractions that we have

built here first hand

so i'm just testing all the bounciness

of ndp individual nets to make sure that

it's complies and it's not too bouncy so

if it's too bouncy actually you can

bounce off another children off so we're

testing different aspects make sure that

it's all well taken care of and all the

knots are actually packed properly

before we hand over

the fun factor is high

[Music]

the canopy park is coming together

the countdown to opening day begins

[Music]

at last

after years of planning and construction

singapore changi airport's latest

edition is nearly ready to open its

doors to the public

while a skytrain connecting terminals 2

and 3 runs through the building

visitors can access dual via the

terminal 1 arrival hall and via

terminals 2 and 3 through purpose-built

link bridges

the team hope this new lifestyle space

will draw tourists and locals alike

one of the secrets of changi was that we

have a generation of singaporeans

interacting with this space even when

they're not traveling and their

expectations give us the extra energy to

make sure that every day we try to make

this place a special place for them

[Music]

but enhancing the airport's hub status

for traveling passengers is also key

the team are preparing a new lounge and

early check-in facilities

geographically

at the heart of changi airport and at

dual early check-in lounge passengers

from all terminals can check in here

more than 30 airlines will allow

passengers to check in at dual up to 24

hours before their flights

no matter what the world is we got to

keep adapting and making ourselves

relevant to it

and in some sense that was the dream

for jewel as well it was the extension

of everything we felt was needed for

successful air hub

bags will be transferred through a

special tunnel to a central baggage

control area hidden behind the walls of

terminal 1

there they will be re-routed to the

other terminals

to prepare for opening the team are

pushing the system to its limits

[Music]

stress test means that we are going to

induct a high structure of bags to make

sure that our system can perform as per

design

at maximum capacity the system will need

to be able to handle 1 800 bags per hour

during each testing we load about 7 000

to 8 000 bags into the system and see

how the system reacts

during our inspection

we look out for any defects and the

installation quality these do ensure

when we run the system in a live

environment there are no failures at the

same time we also look out for any

foreign objects or anything that is left

behind that may damage the equipment and

cause our equipment to stop

the race is truly on to prepare for

opening

tonight tim and the team from wet are

back

they are preparing to conduct a test of

the first light and sound show of the

rain vortex

once joule is open this daily experience

will allow visitors to see the world's

largest indoor waterfall brought to life

if you start matching some of their

colors now okay i think it's just gonna

work

i think one of the best ways to describe

this feature is like we've invented a

new musical instrument

and so tonight is the beginning of the

process of learning how to play that

musical instrument

the team members are choreographing 12

projectors with color-changing leds to

show custom-made animations

it's both a kind of narrative medium

that tells the story but it's also a

really interesting kind of light

sculpture

hidden in the forest valley the

projectors are mapped around the vortex

together with 52 speakers ultimately we

are searching for those harmonious

moments

where the rain

the light the color the movement and the

music all just perfectly and seamlessly

merge together

the team lab installation will darken

first

and then our show will begin

[Music]

this is nice how the rain stops and then

it becomes the

movement of the music

[Music]

i love these just like spots of color

too

it's really beautiful

[Music]

one really interesting thing about the

way that light interacts with water is

that each little droplet is like a tiny

prism so it splits white light into a

rainbow so as you move your head

the color shifts slightly which is

really fantastical it's really

interesting

to finally see it

materialize right before my eyes

is is really a moment of joy

[Music]

more than four years since the start of

construction the dual team have

completed the journey

it's opening day

during its first week of operations over

half a million visitors are expected

through the doors to explore more than

280 shops and restaurants

they'll step into a garden of wonder

over two thousand trees and one hundred

thousand shrubs

it has been a fantastic team effort

so many people have been involved right

down to the gardeners who do the work a

lot of blood and sweat

but i think for any healthy culture is

this is a once in a lifetime work i'm

actually very honored

very pleased and very happy to have been

part of this

[Music]

the world record breaking indoor

waterfall

is a hit

we've created this really phenomenal

space that i'm looking forward to

bringing my own kids to come enjoy and i

know they're going to bring their kids

to come and enjoy and so generation

after generation is going to enjoy

this kind of space and that's a very

satisfying feeling to have been a part

of that

the nine canopy park features have come

alive

including a final hidden attraction

we realized that the everlasting

elements of play are the ones that will

really resonate with generations so what

else could we do to create surprises a

little bit of the maze experience is

about finding surprises around the

corners

there is a mirror maze

[Music]

and a hedge mace

you can actually spend a lot of time

taking pictures

experiencing the walk

taking in the greenery and

feeling like you are in another world

we don't want you to get too lost

after all we are located in the airport

it seems every aspect has come together

like a symphony

jewel is a very good example

of what happens when people work

together you need to have a platform you

need to have the environment for people

to put their best foot forward and that

could only happen if people believe

and they have the environment that

nurtured such a thing

jewels lead architect is also on site

in jewel we've discovered a new kind of

space a new kind of scale

it almost transcends the familiar scale

that we have in buildings and i think

the jewel becomes a new prototype of

nature and the marketplace being a

singular integrated experience and i can

see

derivatives of joules springing up in

different cities in the center of cities

as a kind of a way to respond to the

kind of public space that we so thirst

for

each year changi airport hosts more than

66 million passengers now

jewel is going to be at the center of

the journey every project we do is a

labor of love so whenever you deliver

the baby that's just immense joy a joy

that is not easy for anyone who is not

involved in the project to fully

understand

so that's a joy that keeps us going

it would be really rewarding for jewel

to not just be a place that you have to

visit

but a one of its kind never before

experience

that creates an indelible mark in the

hearts and minds of our guests for us we

want jewel to be the place where the

world meets singapore and singapore

meets the world

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

you