The Interlace - a complex of 31 buildings in Singapore

The Interlace is a residential complex in Singapore, whose construction was designed jointly by OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture) and German architect Ole Scheeren.

Construction lasted three years from 2010 to 2013. The aim of the complex was to create a housing estate where you can live together, know your neighbors, spend time with them and relax. It was decided to carry out the project in the middle of a city inhabited by nearly 6 million people.

The Interlace stands out from typical vertical blocks of flats in Singapore. The structure consists of 31 six-storey residential buildings arranged diagonally and connected to each other.

The dimensions of each building are 70.5 x 22 x 16.5 meters and the number of floors of each building is 6. The total height of the complex is 24 floors, which are served by a total of 43 elevators.

The complex has 1040 residential units of different sizes, residents' club, stores, parking for 2600 cars, public spaces and roof gardens.

The sliding buildings are stacked on top of each other and form an unusual composition. This solution made it possible to obtain additional public space, as well as to create numerous terraces, platforms, a water complex with 8 pools, sports facilities, basketball fields, tennis courts, walking alleys and seating places.

The complex has been designed so that all apartments receive enough daylight during the day and the unique body of the design provides enough shade in the courtyards to help maintain comfortable outdoor spaces for common use throughout the year.

Extensive balconies and protruding terraces form a cascading vertical landscape across the façade and additionally connect green roofs and common public terraces between the volumes of the building. All this makes the project seem not only to be surrounded by tropical vegetation but also embedded in it.

The water reservoirs located here have been strategically located within specific air corridors. This allows for steam cooling along the wind paths, lowering the local air temperature and improving the thermal comfort of outdoor recreation spaces in strategic microclimatic zones.

The Interlace project is the future of modern housing estates. It has now become one of the most photographed places in Singapore and a tourist attraction.

At the World Festival of Architecture (WAF) in 2015, the complex was voted Best Building of the Year 2015. A year earlier, the building received the Urban Habitat Award from the Tall Building Awards (CTBUH Awards).