If you’re used to flying in and out of a dreary airport with subpar food options where the most interesting thing to look at is parked planes, this one will blow it out of the water.
Five years ago, Singapore’s Changi Airport — which makes a cameo in Crazy Rich Asians — announced plans for a new addition called the “Jewel Changi Airport,” and now, the airport is finally ready to open the complex to the world, CNN reports.
Beginning on April 17, travelers flying through this international transportation hub will find an addition to the airport that is reportedly over 1.4 million square feet, and cost a reported $1.25 billion to build, according to CNN.
The area is complete with a breathtaking “Rain Vortex,” that is essentially a towering round water feature, according to architect Moshe Safdie, who conceptualized and built the space.
Safdie told CNN the vortex will stand over 130 feet high, making it the world’s tallest indoor waterfall. Based on video renderings of the space (above), it will also feature a light show that changes color and illuminates the soaring room.
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Overall, the space will be a total of ten stories and be outfitted with a mall, featuring 280 retail and food-and-beverage outposts, and a hotel with 130 rooms. The airport also boasts Jewel’s Forest Valley, which is a four-story garden full of walking trails. It will be one of the largest indoor plant collections in all of Singapore, which is already known for over-the-top displays of flora.
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“I wanted to explore a new kind of urban space, a space you go to as a matter of course, because you need to shop, because you’re flying out somewhere, and yet it’s a garden — somewhere that says ‘let’s rethink what the public realm is, let’s rethink what it is to shop,’” Safdie told CNN Travel in 2018.
In mid 2019, the airport plans to roll out some other features, including canopy mazes, sky nets and a 50-meter canopy bridge.
Changi Airport, which is touted as the seventh busiest airport for international traffic with 65.6 million passengers passing through in 2018, has been voted the World’s Best Airport by Skytrax for six years in a row.
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And while the hub has plenty of new attractions coming, the property also has become a destination in itself, with more than two dozen airport lounges, two 24-hour free movie theaters, a rooftop swimming pool and a sunflower garden.
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