Rochester Commons

Overview

Opportunity

Solution

Impact

Team

Singapore’s first campus-style integrated development in one-north business park, Rochester Commons features Grade A offices, heritage bungalows, a hotel, and Catapult — Southeast Asia’s first immersive executive learning centre.

Location

Singapore

Client

CapitaLand

Expertise

Mixed Use & Retail Centers Office Developers Hospitality Cities & Urban Design Building Transformation & Adaptive Reuse [FPO] Retail

Opportunity

As cities evolve, business districts are being reimagined as mixed-use places where work, learning, hospitality, and public life share the same ground. This shift creates communities that are more livable and economically resilient.

Rochester Commons applies that mixed-use thinking to its 2.4 hectare site in one-north, an established R&D and business park in Singapore. The site carried its own inheritance of mature trees and conserved 1950s bungalows — Singapore’s traditional “black-and-whites”. The challenge was not only to give the district new energy by bringing several uses into one campus, but also to keep its cultural and natural heritage intact and in daily use.

Why This Matters

01
Anchoring a Business District
One-north business park is home to many R&D, technology and media players. The precinct needed a workplace with learning, hospitality and social space built into it, not bolted on.
02
Heritage as Working Space
Twelve conserved black-and-white bungalows from the 1950s sit across the 2.4-hectare site. Keeping them in daily use as offices and F&B shaped how the tower and grounds were planned and designed.
03
Learning Inside the Workday
Executive education had to sit within the working day rather than off-site, which placed Catapult, an executive learning centre, in the same tower as the offices and hotel.

FPO Quote

Solution

Gensler, working with DCA Architects, set a 17-storey tower against conserved bungalows and tied both together with an elevated Knowledge Trail.

The design took cross-pollination as its organizing idea: people meet, exchange ideas, and the ideas travel. A raised landscape deck runs above the retained trees, forming the Knowledge Trail that links the bungalows to the main tower through pavilions, meeting pods, and viewing decks. Inside, Catapult Learning Centre occupies levels 2 and 3, the 135-room Citadines Connect hotel sits above it, and Grade A office floors run to level 17, broken by sky terraces.

From brief to build: how a raised Knowledge Trail connects conserved bungalows, mature landscape, and a mixed-use tower.

The design process began with the site’s strongest constraints: steep level changes, protected trees, and conserved black-and-white bungalows. Rather than flatten the landscape, the team used a lightweight elevated deck to work with the terrain, creating an accessible spine between old and new. That move shaped the tower’s porous base, sky terraces, and vertical garden facade, turning circulation into a sequence of learning, gathering, and viewing moments across the campus.

Impact

Rochester Commons opened in 2023 as Singapore's first campus-style integrated development, with work, learning, hospitality, and heritage on one set of grounds.

Occupants move between office, training rooms, and hotel in minutes, while restaurants and retail outlets in the conserved bungalows draw people onto the grounds after hours.

What Changed Because of This

01
Mixed-Use in One Tower
Offices, executive learning, and hotel rooms stack in a single 17-storey tower, putting a full working day within one lift ride.
02
Outdoor Amenities
Covered walkways and pavilions link the tower to F&B and retail in the heritage bungalows, opening the site to the outdoor space in Rochester Park.
03
Retained Heritage Elements
The site plan preserves iconic black-and-white bungalows, existing tree clusters, roads, and pathways.

Recognition

01

Education Snapshots

Describes Catapult at Rochester Commons as an “eye catching architectural installation.”

02

The Straits Times

The article covers JTC's leasing of heritage bungalows at Rochester Park for adaptive reuse and includes Gensler's view that repurposing existing buildings can preserve heritage while avoiding some of the carbon impact of new construction.

Team

Project Leadership

Carlos Gerhard

Carlos is a Principal and Design Director in Gensler’s Riyadh office, bringing over 30 years of architectural experience. His expertise spans mixed-use, commercial office, headquarters, cultural, hospitality, and large-scale master planning projects across the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and beyond.

[FPO] Joan Capdevila

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FAQ

01

Where is Rochester Commons located?

Rochester Commons is located in one-north business park in Singapore.

02

Who designed Rochester Commons?

Gensler designed the development in collaboration with DCA Architects.

03

What does the development include?

It includes a17-storey tower with Grade A offices, an executive learning centre, a 135-room hotel, and heritage bungalows. Twelve 1950s black-and-white bungalows were conserved and converted: seven into workspaces, five into F&B and retail.

04

Is the project certified for sustainability?

The development achieved BCA Green Mark Platinum, the highest environmental award from Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority, for its eco-centric urban design.

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Related Expertise

Mixed Use & Retail Centers Office Developers Hospitality Cities & Urban Design Building Transformation & Adaptive Reuse Retail