Read the third part of this series with Gareth Low, our lead interior designer.

Director of greenscaping studio Compound Collaborative, Ng Sze Oun believes that our city will never stop developing, but we can choose how we develop – and that the hybrid experience of city and nature should always be a part of our urban landscaping efforts today.

Watch the feature below on how Ng and his team seeks for TMW Maxwell to be a stimulator of even greater urban sustainability and green living efforts within our dense metropolitan city.

The following feature has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Hi Sze Oun! Tell us about some of the green infrastructure concepts behind TMW Maxwell.
Sze Oun: TMW Maxwell is located at the junction between the old and the new. We can't ignore the term urban landscape, because urban contextual experiences should [always] be a part of the "landscape" we create.

In this case, what we want to bring to dwellers leans towards the hybridised experience of city and nature: the dynamic lifestyle of what the city offers, with gardens weaved in between.

Sze Oun: Every part of your life is going to happen in this one place. Gardens and parks are crucial such that they become the last puzzle piece in linking up all the spaces. Using our desire to live with nature, something that has been called the sense of biophilia, we've blended the outdoors with flexible rooms to express a tropical space in an urban area.

We understand that a key highlight of TMW Maxwell is its series of vertical gardens called Park On Park. Could you elaborate more on the concept?
Sze Oun: It's greenery that's folded up vertically from levels 4 to 20. Though accessible to our residents only, it ultimately forms a collection of botanical galleries in both the macro and micro context of our urban landscape. 

The comprehensive vertical landscape offers us the chance to really weave in a series of flexible, versatile rooms within these sky gardens that in turn become the facade of TMW Maxwell. Such rooms include an outdoor living room, a community library, and a sky bar.

Much of TMW Maxwell is covered in lush foliage, from its public amphitheatre to the residential terraces. Are there any strategies in the planting of specific flora types?
Sze Oun: The notion has always been to try to link up all the greenery so that there's a better chance of it forming a micro ecosystem. What we're looking at is how even a compacted landscape can evolve to become stable, and take on the [urban, high-rise] challenges of strong wind conditions at high altitudes, harsh and dry conditions, or even shaded conditions when it's surrounded by high-rise buildings.

Ultimately, we wish for the landscape to be self-sustaining with minimal intervention.

Why is sustainability important for today's urban developments? And how does TMW Maxwell contribute to this global conversation?
Sze Oun: The city will never stop developing, but we can choose how we develop. Greening a building isn't simply about planting more trees or flora, but more so on how energy is spent. On a macro-planning scale, Singapore responded with the OneMillionTrees movement and the 30 by 30 food sustainability goal, amongst many others.

Sze Oun: On a micro-building basis, one of the efforts we try to contribute with TMW Maxwell is that we hope to create a symbiosis situation for both our gardens and our residents. The flora gets the sunlight at higher ground to thrive within the city, while dwellers become encouraged to move outdoors owing to the well-shaded spaces. 

We are aware one building contributes little, but we wish for our efforts to be a stimulator in encouraging more efforts in forming a larger sky garden within the city.

All in all, what kind of a lifestyle do you envision for the TMW Maxwell homeowner?
Sze Oun: A multi-hyphenate, hybrid lifestyle, where the cityscape becomes their wallpaper. They go outdoors, spill into the sky terraces, meet strangers, and blend themselves within the city.

TMW Maxwell is a collection of multi-hyphenate spaces creating a new iteration of city living. View the possibilities of spaces made for one and for all at our gallery. Preview opens 29 July.