Can Your High-Rise Cool the City Instead of Heating It?

In 2022 we designed a 91,100sqm, 18-story building to be carbon neutral. How did we do it?

Cities worldwide are trapped in vicious cycles of unsustainable development, with Singapore facing projected daily highs of 40°C by 2045. But what if large buildings could reverse this trend instead of accelerating it?

While low-rise commercial campuses can fairly easily achieve carbon neutrality, inner-city high-rise sites present unique challenges. Through our MSE headquarters design in Singapore, WOHA proved that high-density commercial projects can be both carbon neutral and exceptional workplaces.

In 2022, we tackled this challenge in a design competition for Singapore’s Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment headquarters in Jurong Lake District. Our proposal created an architectural solution that achieves Zero Energy and Carbon Neutrality through intelligent form following integrated systems thinking. The development transcends sustainability—it’s Nature Positive, delivering twice its site area in landscape replacement that supports urban biodiversity while creating a compelling workplace environment.

Our approach maximized rooftop and façade photovoltaic area through a highly productive building envelope. Following urban design guidelines for a Courtyard-Tower typology, we created 4 uniform-height office towers supporting a PV canopy across the entire development, complemented by vertical BIPV fins, solar glass windows, and solar glass blocks optimized for each façade.

Strategic breezeways between towers facilitate cross-ventilation and elevated wind speeds, with micro wind turbines positioned to harness wind energy. By elevating the building mass, we introduced a public park below and a Forest Courtyard within—creating space for landscape that performs as well as it is beautiful and biophilic.

The results demonstrate both architectural and environmental success: GreenA Consultants’ simulations prove this tropical environment with its multi-volume landscapes, water gardens, and passive cooling systems effectively lowers ambient temperatures by 3-5°C. Combined, our passive and active strategies achieve 72% energy savings versus baseline buildings, with 100% on-site energy production.

Though not selected, this buildable prototype using current technologies demonstrates that ambitious environmental targets are both realistic and achievable today. We’re now discussing this model with several interested parties who recognize its potential to catalyze the sustainable, cooler urban future we need.

Our built projects, like the Oasia Hotel Downtown and Parkroyal Collection Pickering, show that these types of buildings can be constructed within commercial budgets. This unbuilt example demonstrates that we can avoid urban heating through design.

Who will be the first developer to achieve this milestone?