SINGAPORE – Curious squirrels and peacocks have been sneaking peeks at Sentosa Sensoryscape ever since construction on the immersive pathway began four years ago.
Ms Chiong Gee Khoon, deputy director of planning and architecture at Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC), says the island’s wildlife appeared at the construction site, especially when the project was close to completion in 2023.
“I like to think that this is nature’s way of letting us know that the project is blending in well with the surroundings and that Sentosa’s creatures are just as excited to explore the new space,” she quips, in an interview with The Straits Times.
Sentosa Sensoryscape, which is opening on March 14 during the one-week school break, is one of the biggest new attractions on the island since the launch of Resorts World Sentosa in 2010.
The 350m linkway is designed to be a “phygital” celebration of the senses.
It treats visitors to the island’s varied facets from daybreak to night-time through an Instagram-worthy experience that includes large-scale outdoor interactive light art, nature-inspired soundscape and augmented reality (AR).
Covering an area of about 5½ football fields or 30,000 sq m, the two-tier walkway links Resorts World Sentosa in the north and Sentosa’s beaches in the south for a ridge-to-reef experience that includes the island’s lush interior and its beachfronts.
Work on the $90 million pathway started in late 2019, soon after the Sentosa-Brani Master Plan was announced in September that year.
The plan is to redevelop Sentosa and Pulau Brani as choice leisure and tourist destinations over the next decades.
The island’s other attractions include Raffles Sentosa Singapore, the second Raffles Hotel in Singapore, which is opening in 2024; and The Palawan@Sentosa, a lifestyle and entertainment precinct by the Shangri-La Group, which opened in 2023.
Among the experiential highlights of Sensoryscape are three vessels framing the sensory gardens in the middle of the walk, each measuring about 13m in height and 25m wide, designed by international architects Serie + Multiply.
Visitors entering from the link bridge at Resorts World Sentosa will be greeted with a cooling prelude to the Sensoryscape in the form of a dry mist that evaporates on the skin upon contact.
They will then get glimpses of the three sensory gardens, alliteratively tagged Tactile Trellis, Scented Sphere and Symphony Streams.
The first two semi-enclosed spherical spaces showcase an array of textured and scented plants, while the third is an immersive sound experience with trickling water from blue-hued pods.
Design architect Christopher Lee of Serie + Multiply tells ST that Sensoryscape transcends the conventional boundaries between architectural and landscape design.
The design allows visitors to experience nature in two ways, he says.
First, plants of the same species as those in the existing environment are included, creating a natural flow of fauna from ridge to reef. As visitors move along the walkways, they pass through these bands of landscape.
Second, the sensory gardens are designed almost like a porous woven basket, allowing guests to appreciate the curated landscape up close. This way, the experience of a particular type of flora and fauna is intensified.
“The sensory gardens, framed by three intricate diagrid structures, encapsulates an immersive experience of Sentosa’s flora and fauna,” says Mr Lee, the London-based principal of Serie Architects and part of the multidisciplinary team that won the tender bid for this project in 2017.
A diagrid is a framework made up of diagonally intersecting beams.
“These delicate woven structures are akin to flower baskets, holding a space for contemplation and bringing a sense of fun in the enjoyment of nature,” he adds.
The design for Sensoryscape seeks to strike a balance between nature and structure, and openness and closure, he says.
The lightness and leanness of the structures, made of precast concrete and steel, allow nature and light to permeate the sensory gardens, while using the least amount of material necessary for construction. The follies are cladded in exposed aggregate concrete for a more textured look and feel.
The concept also allows for more changes in the future, so Sensoryscape can evolve by including new experiences.
“Sensoryscape is a wonderful concrete expression of our ideas at a moment in time, and this includes more iterations and other expressions in time to come,” adds Mr Lee.
SDC’s Ms Chiong, one of the main team members overseeing the project, says the planning process for the Sensoryscape precinct started as early as 2014, since there was a strategic need to revitalise the central north-south precinct.
This will ensure Sentosa continues to be attractive in a highly competitive tourism climate.
“Besides the five senses, we introduced a ‘sixth sense’ which is imagination, through a night-time experience with digital light art projection with AR called the ImagiNite,” says Ms Chiong, who started her architectural career in private practice, before joining SDC in 2006.
“We hope to create an immersive and enchanting sensory journey, where guests can discover more of Sentosa and awaken their senses. This experience will be refreshed over time, with new surprises introduced along the way.”
Delights of an island getaway
1. ImagiNite AR-powered experience
Each garden has its own story to tell, says Mr Erwin Martohudojo, the creative director of 1-10, the firm that worked closely with SDC to curate, design and implement the interactive digital experience ImagiNite for Sentosa Sensoryscape.
SDC also commissioned 1-10, together with consortium partner Hexogon Solution, to design the experience for visitors. Both parties worked closely with the SDC team, who directed the creative process and shaped the overall experience.
Founded in 1997 in Kyoto by chief executive Yoshiaki Sawabe, Japanese branding and creative studio 1-10 employs more than 100 designers and artists. Of these, 15 are working on the Sentosa Sensoryscape ImagiNite project.
Hexogon Solution specialises in cutting-edge, high-lumen digital projectors which are integral to the ImagiNite experience.
The building blocks for the ImagiNite content, which is driven by augmented reality (AR), comes from Sentosa’s natural bounty: the ridge (forests) and reef (sea).
“In Tactile Trellis, which is close to Mount Imbiah, the ridge is the dominant theme and the visuals are centred on the lush tropical forest and the many animals that make the location their home,” says Mr Martohudojo.
In Scented Sphere, where the scent of flowers is the distinctive feature, the light projection and AR content mainly feature butterflies, flower petals and pollen particles.
At the Symphony Streams sensory garden – which is close to the sea (reef), and where the sound of water permeates the space – the visuals show marine life biodiversity such as the spotted eagle ray, jellyfish, sea turtle and coral.
Mr Martohudojo says it took several months to conceptualise the 3D visuals, which combine the “rawness” of hand-drawn sketches of Sentosa’s fauna and high-tech digital art.
“In addition to the five senses, we present Imagination as the sixth sense, and this is what drives ImagiNite at Sensoryscape,” he says.
Besides AR, interactive video projections let visitors interact with the spaces within Sensoryscape.
All these goodies are accessible through the free ImagiNite app, which guides users through ImagiNite’s various features. These include AR-enhanced experiences of digital butterflies in Scented Sphere and marine life in Symphony Streams, says 1-10’s technical director Harry Kitajima.
There is also a dynamic soundscape created with up to 50 acoustic channels that immerse visitors in the gardens, he adds.
“While the Sensoryscape itself functions as public art, it also incorporates technical innovations that allow the two layers – the individual experience and the public experience – to cross over in the same environment,” says Mr Kitajima.
“This is one of the new challenges we have undertaken in recent years to stay on the cutting edge of designing phygital experiences.”
2. Tactile Trellis
This petal-like architectural feature greets visitors with its semi-porous diagrid design made from precast granolithic concrete.
Granolithic concrete is a type of construction material composed of cement and fine aggregate such as granite.
The sensory garden offers intriguing textures such as the velvety Chinese Wormwood, the feathery Asparagus plant and the spiky Juniperus species.
Tactile plants add interest by turning touch into a dynamic experience.
The interior of this garden can be viewed from the ground level as well as from the upper deck.
At nightfall, the structure becomes a projection-mapping backdrop for a narrative about how light and fire sparked imagination in humanity’s predecessors in the forest.
3. Scented Sphere
Natural fragrances from flowering plants create a year-round scent palette. The plants thriving in this garden include ylang ylang, cape jasmine and white champaca.
The choice of plants in this aromatic landscape reflects the island’s rich natural heritage. It is also a big draw for biodiversity such as birds and butterflies.
The basket-weave steel design features cantilevered armatures supporting pods of scented plants. This alters one’s visual perspective of the garden by encouraging guests on the ground level to look up and explore the planters placed at different heights.
4. Symphony Streams
This spherical garden focuses on the sense of sound with curved bowls painted in a soothing shade of blue and spouts where water trickles down, creating a polyphonic effect.
The Symphony Streams sensory garden is designed as a haven of tranquillity, where visitors can unwind and enjoy the coastal breeze. Guests can also roll out their exercise mats for yoga, pilates or a spot of quiet contemplation.
5. Lookout Loop, Palate Playground and Glow Garden
The Lookout Loop is Sensoryscape’s visual epicentre, an open-entry plaza from the north near Resorts World Sentosa where visitors get panoramic views of the landscape as well as glimpses of the sea to the south.
Guests will find themselves walking into an ethereal canopy created by dry mist. This is designed to be a cooling meeting point by day and an Instagram-worthy setting by night, when coloured lights hidden in the mist are activated.
The verdant zone includes trees which are protected due to their high ecological value, while additional greenery offers passive cooling and shade along the linkway.
There is also the Palate Playground, which is home to diverse edible plants. These include fragrant pandan, ginger and the curry tree, which all represent Singapore’s rich variety of local flavours.
At the other end of the area is the Glow Garden. This is the entry plaza from the south near Beach Station, which features towering flower stalks with pre-programmed lighting effects using energy-efficient LED lights in myriad hues.
