Singapore’s most gorgeous looking condos

When you’re buying a condo, the most important things to consider are your personal comfort, the location, the rental prospects, and sheer style, because bad taste leads to crime. After much deliberation, it’s clear that the following are the best looking condos in Singapore. Beauty may only be in the eye of the beholder, but it’s more important when the beholder has to pay $1.5 million over 25 years.

1. Ardmore Residence

This 36 storey tower makes a dramatic break with Singapore’s blocky landscape – it’s not often we see developers that dare to be so different. Notice how the entire building seems to end in curves instead of 90 degree angles; it almost seems as if everyone there resides in one giant, futuristic home.

If you go up to the entrance, you’ll see they managed to blend a lot of greenery into it. The driveway (which curves like the rest of the building) is punctuated with spots of grass and trees, so it’s almost like you got drunk at three in the morning and drove into someone’s backyard, which is an experience I’m sure everyone shares.

My point is, the driveway blends futuristic elements with a lot of space and greenery. Despite being basically one giant tower, this condo feels more spacious than much bigger developments we’ve been to. Consider it an effect of organic looking turns, coupled with a design that lets in a lot of natural light – the large bay windows, along with double height balconies, are joined to look like a single, seamless line; an aesthetic feature that also brightens the interior.

Ardmore Residence is a freehold unit completed in 2013, located in Ardmore Park (District 10). It’s close to the Orchard MRT station, and of course Orchard Road itself. There are no current listings for sale (who would sell a work of art like that?) but you can rent…at a whopping price of around $18,000 per month. Hey, it’s on Orchard Road.

2. The Oliv

If you could stack a bunch of tropical islands on top of one another, you’d get something that resembles The Oliv. It’s not often that you see literal tropical trees growing out of balconies. There’s only two units on each floor, so those oversized balconies act as a sort of mini landscaped park between them.

It’s also cool how the ledges of the balconies fold like crumpled paper, giving the whole frontage a a natural look. It doesn’t feel contrived, like the perfectly straight planes that characterise most of our developments. As an interesting effect, one of the intentions of the architects (W Architects) is that when you look up from just below the condo, it will resemble a snaking path going up a mountain.

In terms of the interior, units are super large and spacious: the entire development has only 23 units. Clearly, cramping in as many apartments as possible wasn’t the intent. If you’re the sort who needs a lot of personal space, you’ve got to see these units.

The Oliv is a freehold development that was completed in 2013. It’s along Balmoral Road in District 10, and hence close to Orchard Road. It’s kind of far from the Orchard MRT station to be honest; but if you can afford to live here you probably drive.

Listings for this development start at $7.3 million, with rentals starting at $16,000 a month.

3. Tree House

This condo is in the Guinness Book of World Records, for having the largest ever vertical garden. That’s when you plant a garden up a wall, instead of along the ground. I don’t know why this is considered a feat, given that my entire bathroom wall turns green with 11 types of mould without the slightest effort. But I’m told the Tree House’s vertical garden measures 2,289 square metres, and is expected to save up to $500,000 in water and energy costs every year.

The entire development is built with an emphasis on sustainable design (it’s eco-friendly), and the giant wall-garden filters pollution and carbon dioxide out of the air. It also absorbs a lot of heat, so your air-conditioning will drain less energy.

The important thing is it all looks gorgeous. The condo is a wall of green in a sea of glass and concrete, and it’s elegant how it curves at the bottom to form a big shelter. I don’t care if you spend weekends fist fighting Japanese whale hunters with Greenpeace, this is still one of the most environmentally responsible things you’ll ever see.

This is a 99 year leasehold development at Chestnut Avenue in District 23 (the Bukit Timah area), close to Hillview MRT.  It was completed in 2013.

Listings start at $800,000, and you can find some of the better ones on 99.co.

4. Ferrell Residences

Okay, so the name is terrible, and if you don’t know it’s spelled it implies some kind of a zoo (feral residences). But put that aside.

It’s a series of ascending curved plates, which gives the impression of motion. If you look at it from the bottom up, the building seems to be twisting. From afar, it manages to look like a human ribcage. There’s a kind of anatomical beauty to it; like you’re staring at a living thing.

The interior is luxurious, and some units have their own swimming pool on their level. Imagine that Infinity pool at Marina Bay Sands, except it’s private. The public pool on the ground floor is also beautiful – a long strip of water adjacent to a line of palm trees, like a private oasis.

The interior spaces are built to accommodate as much natural light as possible, with some units featuring gigantic floor to ceiling windows. But most of us won’t have a chance to see it, given there are just 34 units.

Ferrell Residences is a freehold development along Bukit Timah Road, near Newton MRT station in District 10. It was completed in 2013, and is less than 10 minutes from Orchard Road by car. Listings start at $3.58 million.

5. The Colonnade

This is the oldest condo on this list. The Colonnade was designed by architect Paul Rudolph, who based it off the initial design for the Graphic Arts Center of Manhattan (never constructed).

Now most of time we find blocky buildings ugly, but this one is the exception. It looks like a prop for the Borg cube in Star Trek, and there’s an odd appeal to the (deliberately) disjointed, staggered structure. From some angles, it can seem almost incomplete – like a perpetual work in progress. But there’s a method to the weirdness.

Rudolph referred to the replicated apartments (those little boxes) as 21st century brick – the development is composed of sticking these various, replicated apartments onto a common frame. Notice that each apartment sticks out over the common areas: that means the view from each apartment is uninterrupted – nothing blocks the scenery. It’s not like a typical condo where the view may include a pudgy neighbour snoring on a deckchair.

The interior is magnificent. Units have two storeys, with interior balconies that overlook the living and dining area. It feels like a landed property on the inside. And due to the unusual gaps and spaces in the structure, it lets in a lot of light.

The Colonnade is a freehold unit completed in 1986. It’s along Grange Road in District 10, and is within walking distance of ION Orchard. It is also close to Wheelock Place, a building that was once relevant (when it still had Borders bookstore).

There are no units for sale, and there haven’t been for a long time (because sell a freehold unit near ION Orchard? Are you kidding?) Rentals are available at upwards of $7,000 a month.

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