I've been wanting to write about Orchard Central, since my last visit a couple of weeks ago, but still haven't got round to actually did it. But now my long awaited holiday is here, so I guess I can spare sometime to write a story about my visit to this Singapore's first
"Vertical Mall", as how they put it in all of the publication about this particular mall.
Pardon my ignorance, but this is the first time I heard of that term. And my first reaction was, huh? I thought most buildings nowadays are built to be vertical? But turns out that this "Vertical" terms are referring to the 11 floors entirely dedicated for this mall. Quite impressive, considering walking around a 4th storey mall all day has worn me out, let alone this one with 11 floors?! Geez..
Anyway, I decided to like this mall. Because :
1. It has a very generous set cozy seatings, practically everywhere within the lower levels (from ground floor up to the 3rd floor, CMIIW). No picture here, sorry, you just have to go and see for yourself then. :)
2. I love the design for their 8th level (the High Life cluster); designed to look very industrial, and looked very much like Super Potato design. But I still haven't found further info on who's the designer for this 8th floor. But the entire mall was designed by DP Architects of Singapore.
3. The variety of shops. It's definitely planned for young people (
modern working urbanites as they put it, sounds so cool is it? :D) in middle to middle-high range market (ME. Yay! :D).
4. Contemporary art sculptures seems to be scattered along the mall, which is a real feast for my sore eyes.
The downside is, most of the corridors leading to the stores are maze-like, and amazingly narrow for a mall (less than 2m wide). But being an open-minded-middle-ranged-28-yo-woman, I didn't mind at all. I'm used to it. Have I not scouring the narrow corridors of Bugis Village, Chatuchak Market, Mustafa Centre, even the crowded and sometimes wet corridors of Melawai with joy? :D It's part of the excitement I should say. To find some hidden treasures along the narrow corridors. :D
Another interesting thing to point out is the variety of design. Is it supposed to reflect the joyful mix of the urban life? Maybe. See the sample below on the ceiling design.
But all in all, it's a nice experience. And I would definitely pick this mall (and Plaza Singapura) as my ultimate destination whenever I went to Orchard. :)
