US firm behind Dubai’s Burj Khalifa to design Singapore’s tallest building

It will work with local architects to redevelop former AXA Tower site in Shenton Way into 305m-tall development

- Joyce Lim

The American architecture firm behind Dubai’s famed Burj Khalifa tower will design what will be Singapore’s tallest skyscraper.

The Straits Times understands that Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) has been engaged by Chinese technology giant Alibaba Group Holding and a Perennial Holdings-led consortium to redevelop the former AXA Tower site at 8 Shenton Way into a 63-storey office, retail, residential and hotel project.

SOM, which has a reputation for creating ultra-tall structures, will partner Singapore’s DCA Architects for the 305m-tall development, which will dethrone Guoco Tower as the city’s tallest building once completed by 2026.

SOM designed New York’s One World Trade Center – the seventh-tallest building in the world – and Tianjin CTF Finance Centre, the eighth-tallest.

The firm was also engaged by Alibaba to design its new headquarters in Shanghai’s Xuhui district.

SOM, DCA Architects and Perennial declined to comment on the new project. DCA Architects worked with SOM on One George Street in Raffles Place and is partnering the firm on the Elementum project in Biopolis.