Gardens by the Bay
IMI ensures optimal indoor climate for award-winning Gardens by the Bay, Singapore.
The Project
Gardens by the Bay in Singapore is made up of Bay South, Bay East and Bay Central, that occupy 101 hectares of prime land. Bay South Garden, the largest of the three at 54 hectares, is home to two cooled conservatories housing over 93,000 plants of more than 1,160 species. The whole complex required very accurate temperature control to stimulate plant growth, without compromising on energy efficiency. As such, an expert HVAC provider with the know-how and capability to meet the indoor climate requirements was called upon.
Set to fulfill Singapore’s ambitious plan to become a ‘City within a Garden’, the National Park’s Board commissioned the Gardens by the Bay Park, set in 101 hectares of reclaimed land in the heart of Singapore’s new downtown. The award-winning, £477 million horticultural attraction has become one of the city’s top attractions since it opened in 2012, and has won the World Architecture Festival’s World Building of the Year 2012 and the BCA Green Mark for Parks Platinum Award 2013. Gardens by the Bay received over 5 million visitors in its first year of operation.
The Hydronic Challenge
The conservatory complex comprises two cooled conservatories, which enclose an area of approximately two hectares and reach a height of 58 meters above the shore of the bay. Built with sustainable engineering and energy efficiency in mind, the Flower Dome (one of the world’s largest columnless greenhouse) and the Cloud Forest each contain thousands of rare plants as well as a wide range of habitats and environments.
The National Parks Board required a system where temperature can be controlled accurately to three different temperature levels – summer daytime, winter daytime and night time, imitating the natural surroundings of the plants and thereby optimising their growth conditions and maximizing lifetime without compromising on energy efficiency. This was no simple feat.
This called for the expertise of an experienced HVAC solutions provider to see the project through from the initial design stage to completion.
The Solution
Thanks to its vast experience and expertise, IMI was handpicked as the ideal provider for specialist hydronics components to meet the project’s indoor climate requirements. Following detailed analyses of the chilled water systems and leveraging of the capabilities of TA Select, for selecting and sizing balancing valves and differential pressure controllers, IMI devised the optimum solution to ensure hydronic system control.
The solution comprises a combination of STAD and STAF balancing valves, STAP differential pressure controllers and DA516 district differential pressure controllers.
IMI also provided installation support to ensure that all components were installed successfully and assisted in the commissioning phase, ensuring that the solution would deliver from the outset and provide the fine degree of temperature control the project required.