Stepping out of the van, its the humidity hits you first, not as an oppression, but as a fragrant embrace of damp earth, and the distinct, green scent of nature working overtime. With speckles of rain and heavy cloud coverage, the different weather system makes for a welcome delight from Riyadh.
We are less than thirty minutes from the manicured gloss of Orchard Road and about the same from Changi Airport, yet the city’s hum has been entirely swallowed by the cacophony of wildlife of the vast and very green, protected Mandai Wildlife Reserve.
Here, at the newly unveiled Mandai Rainforest Resort by Banyan Tree, the arrival experience doesn't involve a velvet rope or a piano playing in the corner. Instead, you are greeted by two towering sentinels of nature: a giant Rain Tree (Samanea saman) and a hardy Indian Beech (Millettia pinnata). They were here long before the excavators arrived, and thanks to a design philosophy (by WOW Architects Singapore) that borders on the obsessive, they remain; anchoring a resort that feels less like it was built on the land, and more like it grew out of it, or around the nature already there.
Marking the official launch of the Banyan Group's 100th destination, the question on every eco-traveller’s lips is simple: in a metropolitan city known for its moniker of "the Garden City", is this finally the stay that lets the garden win?
The Architecture
The 338-room resort has been designed to eventually become one with its natural surroundings. Designed to recede into the natural, jungle-esque landscape; every room has a distinct perspective, that either hide away in the dense foliage or look out across the Upper Seletar Reservoir.
If traditional luxury hotels are monolithic skyscrapers or blocks dominating the skyline, Mandai Rainforest Resort by Banyan Tree is a study in submission. Curated and designed by the visionaries at WOW Architects, the main structure refuses to impose a geometry on the forest. Instead, it mimics the behaviour of a vine, "creeping" through the jungle in an undulating, low-rise formation that weaves around existing tree lines.
The Jungle Pods & Accommodation
While the main hotel houses 314 rooms, including family rooms featuring bunk beds and dedicated "kids' corners." Other room categories such as the Retreat, Rainforest and Sanctuary rooms are focussed on conscience design and openness, whilst also maintaining the high sustainability standards of the resort and the Banyan brand.
However, the resort's true pièce de résistance for the design and Insta-obsessed traveller is the collection of 24 seed pods or tree houses: 12 on either end of the main hotel.
Possibly the most defining and intriguing elements of the resort, are the collection of twelve Mandai Sanctuary Treehouses on the east side, matched by twelve more on the west side. These standalone treehouse structures are a feat of architectural bio-mimicry at its finest; each has been meticulously modelled after the hard shell of the Callerya atropurpurea (Purple Millettia). These pods are suspended in the canopy, offering guests a private, pod-like retreat with views over the lush canopy, or offering glimpses of the reservoir.
Inside, the layout is an exercise in efficient and paired back luxury; a plush king-sized bed faces floor-to-ceiling glass that opens out onto an expansive balcony area. With a netting acting as a physical barrier, this seamless indoor-outdoor flow is a lesson in blurring the line between your duvet and the dense foliage outside. The bathroom deepens the immersion, with foliage pressing so close to the window framing the standalone bathtub, further enhancing the pod's cocoon-like feel.
The Sanctuary Treehouses offer views of the shimmering Upper Seletar Reservoir, while the Rainforest Treehouses turn their gaze inward to the dense jungle. Each pod is angled to ensure the utmost privacy, which is ideal as each comes with a private patio, allowing you to sip your morning coffee whilst possibly catching glimpses of the tribe of long-tailed macaque monkeys. These accommodations are intimate, slightly wild, and entirely unforgettable.
Available to only Treehouse guests, the private treehouse pool has been specifically designed to evoke the image and feel of being within a nest overlooking the jungle canopy. Reinforcing the natural and nature immersed feeling of sanctuary and seclusion, this uniquely designed pool allows guests to take in the views of the Mandai Rainforest from above the foliage, whilst curving, geometric design of the woven shell allows the pool pod to naturally settle into the landscape.
Materiality & Design
The interior design narrative here is "forest floor to canopy," but thankfully, it avoids the easy option to flood the rooms with the kitsch of tropical prints. Instead, the aesthetic is sophisticated and tactile, relying on a palette of sustainable timber and muted earth tones. Pops of colours are seen in the rich, teal sinks and the wall prints depicting
The most striking design element and innovation lies in the resort's "skin." The exterior concrete facades are textured and impressed with the actual bark of trees felled during the necessary clearing of trees to develop the resort. It is a ghostly, beautiful tribute, the memory of the forest stamped permanently into the resort's architecture.
Inside, materials are chosen for low impact and high tactility. You’ll find Accoya and OneWood, these are sustainably sourced timbers that resist the tropical damp without leaching chemicals. Various design elements and details speak to local sourcing and the local environment, with some pieces thorughout the rooms such as bathroom bins and amenities boxes has been crafted from up-cycled wood. The walls, in turn, serve as a curated gallery, featuring refined lithographs of native species like the White-collared Kingfisher and the Asian Fairy Bluebird, expertly grounding the contemporary design aesthetic in Singapore's biodiversity.
Solar panels harvest the equatorial sun, while passive displacement ventilation cools the air using chilled water rather than energy-guzzling compressors, keeping the temperature at a balmy, natural cool rather than a refrigerated chill. Natural stone flooring ensures the rooms stay cool to the foot throughout the year, and reduces the overall temperature of the room. Making the most of the tropical environment, rainwater is collected through specially designed funnels dotted throughout the resort; this water is then redistributed through the supply line of the toilet system.
Flora & The Surrounding Lands
The landscaping is not decorative; it is reparative. The resort’s footprint was previously the "back of house" for the Singapore Zoo and the location of the zoo's veterinary clinic. The resort's planting strategy focuses heavily on native species to support local biodiversity. A rooftop garden features a bee conservation programme in partnership with local apiarists Nutrinest, buzzing with pollinators that are vital to the health of the surrounding reserve. Whilst a well-managed re-wilding program creates a corridor for nature to eventually envelope the hotel's structures.
Just steps away from the resort, guests can visit the Singapore Zoo, Night Safari experience and the newly opened Bird Paradise. To the north, the calm waters of the Upper Seletar Reservoir provide a mirror to the sky, offering a tranquil counterpoint to the dense green. The location offers a duality rare in Singapore: the ability to access world-class zoological parks within minutes.
The buildings are elevated several meters off the forest floor — not just for the drama of tree-top views, but to allow the local wildlife and fauna flow as naturally as possible throughout the protected area. The Mandai Rainforest Resort by Banyan Tree is the first resort in Singapore to achieve the Green Mark Platinum Super Low Energy certification, a bureaucratic title that translates to a more succinct description of: this building breathes.
Mandai Rainforest Resort by Banyan Tree,
60 Mandai Lake Road, Mandai Wildlife Reserve, Singapore 729979
Rainforest Festival, from November 27 - December 3,
General Admission tickets are S$10 on weekdays and S$15 on weekends.
Admission is free for children under the age of four with an accompanying adult, and in-house hotel guests.
Get your tickets here
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@mandaiwildlifereserve
