LONDON.- Cooled Conservatories, Gardens by the Bay in Singapore by architects Wilkinson Eyre has won the Royal Institute of British Architects’ (RIBA) 2013 Lubetkin Prize for the best new international building. This is the second year running that Wilkinson Eyre have won the prize, with their Guangzhou International Finance Centre in China winning in 2012.

Cooled Conservatories, Gardens by the Bay are the biggest climate-controlled greenhouses in the world and a key project in the Singapore Government’s vision of transforming it into a ‘City in a Garden’. The project had the tough brief of creating cool growing environments in a pair of glasshouses, which are more commonly associated with creating warm conditions. The architects worked with structural designers, environmental engineers, landscape architects and horticulturalists to create an elegant and integrated solution to an unusual design brief.

biggest climate-controlled greenhouses in the world and a key project in the Singapore Government’s vision of transforming it into a ‘City in a Garden’.　 The project had the tough brief of creating cool growing environments in a pair of glasshouses, which are more commonly associated with creating warm conditions. The architects worked with structural designers, environmental engineers, landscape architects and horticulturalists to create an elegant and integrated solution to an unusual design brief.

The two other outstanding buildings competing with Cooled Conservatories, Gardens by the Bay were for the 2013 RIBA Lubetkin Prize were:

• Galaxy Soho, Beijing, China by Zaha Hadid Architects

•Via Verde – The Green Way, Bronx, New York City by Grimshaw with Dattner Architects
.
Speaking about Cooled Conservatories, Gardens by the Bay, RIBA President and judge, Stephen Hodder said: "There have been a number of attempts to design greenhouses to show people unable to travel widely what the natural world has to offer. The UK led the way with Kew and latterly the Eden Project. What Wilkinson Eyre have done in Singapore is much harder and an even more impressive achievement, in that cooling plants in a sub-tropical climate is necessarily less energy efficient than keeping hot-house plants warm in a temperate climate. Yet here they have produced greenhouses covering two hectares that are carbon-positive. What’s more they have pushed the boundaries not only environmentally but also structurally, giving the city a new and public landmark. I am delighted to award Wilkinson Eyre the 2013 Lubetkin Prize. "