72 Chris Hudson
controlled-climate mini-rainforest and from which they can watch flights come and
go in one of the busiest airports in the world. Indeed, Terminal 3—and Terminals 1
and 2 to a lesser extent—is an immense green space that belies its industrial purpose.
The most obvious signs of this are the “vertical gardens”, extensive walls covered
in creeping vines and flowers (Figure 5.2), that impart the sense that Terminal 3 is a
microcosm of Singapore itself in the way it combines a tropical rainforest safe from
mosquitoes and snakes with shopping and eating (see Figure 5.3).
Terminal 3 is promoted locally as a mall and a weekend destination for
family fun and for the purposes of eating and shopping in the Asian bazaar–like
public spaces outside the immigration hall. Shopping and eating are the standard
practices of those waiting for flights and for those locals who make the weekend
expedition. The sweat-free rainforest experience is perhaps the first indication for
the visitor that in Singapore nature will be packaged along with other consumer
goods to provide a controlled experience of the environment in which the
boundaries between nature and culture are blurred. For the citizen on a weekend
quest for the excitement of shopping and eating, it is a reminder that the city state
is also a “comfort zone”, an “air-conditioned nation” where habitats are centrally
controlled (George 2000) and where one need never get sweaty. Part of Terminal
2’s multi-sensory experience is an extensive indoor garden where flowers bloom
and birds chirp. Known as The Enchanted Garden, it is complete with sensors that
activate the sounds of the rainforests of Borneo as passengers walk through it.
One traveller commented that it was “great to see nature where you least expect
it” (Cheong 2013, p. B5) even though some of the flowers that spring into bloom,
such as the anthuriums, are mechanical, and driven by sensors.
Figure 5.2 Passport Control, Terminal 3