Inside Singapore's airport, there is a 40-meter tall waterfall surrounded by 2,000 trees, 5 floors of gardens, and the largest indoor plant collection in the world, all under a glass and steel roof.

Inside Singapore’s airport, there is a 40-meter tall waterfall surrounded by 2,000 trees, 5 floors of gardens, and the largest indoor plant collection in the world, all under a glass and steel roof.

Written by Flavia Marinho

Published on 22/04/2026 at 20:09

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The Rain Vortex is the largest indoor waterfall in the world, 40 meters of water fall within a complex of 135,000 square meters that is literally inside the airport

Imagine disembarking from a 12-hour flight and, instead of gray corridors and immigration lines, finding a tropical forest with a 40-meter waterfall. This is Jewel Changi, in Singapore.

Opened in April 2019, the complex is located in the heart of Changi Airport, connecting three terminals.

It spans 135,700 square meters distributed over 5 floors above ground and 5 below.

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A forest of 2,000 trees inside an airport

Surrounding the waterfall, the Forest Valley houses over 2,000 trees and palms.

These are species from tropical forests in Asia, South America, and Africa.

Visitors walk along trails among the trees, climb stairs between the canopies, and cross suspended bridges.

Forget that you are in an airport. It feels like a national park with air conditioning.

On the top floor, Canopy Park offers suspended nets among the trees, slides, mirror mazes, and a topiary garden.

Children play. Connecting passengers rest on the grass. Singapore residents visit the airport just to stroll.

Indoor tropical garden of Jewel Changi with trails among trees — *Tropical garden of Jewel Changi with paths among trees and dense vegetation.*

The engineering behind the 40-meter waterfall

The Rain Vortex is not just decorative. It is part of the building’s rainwater collection system.

The ring-shaped ceiling, with a 200-meter diameter, directs all the rainwater to the center.

The water is filtered and reused to irrigate the gardens and cool the building.

On days of heavy rain, the flow of the waterfall naturally increases.

The glass and steel dome was manufactured with 9 thousand individual panels, each with a unique shape.

The structure is self-supporting, with no internal columns supporting the ceiling.

Why Singapore put a forest inside the airport

Singapore is a tiny city-state: 733 square kilometers, smaller than many Brazilian municipalities.

Space for parks and forests is scarce.

The solution was to integrate nature into urban infrastructure.

The Jewel is not just an airport with plants. It is a public park that just happens to have boarding gates.

Residents go there to dine, shop, and play with their children.

Changi Airport has consistently been voted the best in the world for over a decade.

The Jewel is the reason passengers choose to connect in Singapore even when it is not the shortest route.

More than 280 stores, restaurants, and an IMAX cinema

The Jewel is not just about nature.

There are 280 stores and restaurants spread across 5 floors.

It has everything from luxury brands to Singaporean street food.

There is an IMAX cinema, a hotel within the complex, and a 24-hour supermarket.

The concept is that no one needs to leave the airport for anything.

Passengers with a 6-hour layover do not get bored. They are too busy.

What the Jewel teaches other airports

Airports are often synonymous with boredom, lines, and expensive food.

Singapore proved it doesn’t have to be that way.

The $1.7 billion investment pays off in tourism, commerce, and reputation.

Other airports are trying to copy: Istanbul has gardens, Doha has sculptures, Tokyo has onsens.

But none have a 40-meter waterfall in the middle of a tropical forest.

Singapore transformed the most boring experience in the world, waiting for a flight, into the most beautiful.

Inside Singapore’s airport, there is a 40-meter tall waterfall surrounded by 2,000 trees, 5 floors of gardens, and the largest indoor plant collection in the world, all under a glass and steel roof.

The Rain Vortex is the largest indoor waterfall in the world, 40 meters of water fall within a complex of 135,000 square meters that is literally inside the airport

A forest of 2,000 trees inside an airport

The engineering behind the 40-meter waterfall

Why Singapore put a forest inside the airport

More than 280 stores, restaurants, and an IMAX cinema

What the Jewel teaches other airports

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Inside Singapore’s airport, there is a 40-meter tall waterfall surrounded by 2,000 trees, 5 floors of gardens, and the largest indoor plant collection in the world, all under a glass and steel roof.

The Rain Vortex is the largest indoor waterfall in the world, 40 meters of water fall within a complex of 135,000 square meters that is literally inside the airport

A forest of 2,000 trees inside an airport

The engineering behind the 40-meter waterfall

Why Singapore put a forest inside the airport

More than 280 stores, restaurants, and an IMAX cinema

What the Jewel teaches other airports

While a traditional school may take several days just to raise walls, in Malawi a 3D-printed school had its structure ready in 18 hours, welcomed children in June, and showed a new solution to the lack of classrooms.

Goodbye traditional washing machine: Panasonic surprises housewives with the NA-G5 featuring four drums, a 13 kg washer and dryer, a 12 kg dryer, independent mini washers, a heat pump, and a 4-in-1 system awarded at the German Design Award.

With a diameter of 15.08 meters, a length of 182 meters, and weighing 3900 tons, the world’s largest tunnel boring machine for drilling super hard rock made a 9 km tunnel in Georgia and impresses with its excavation power.

Material once seen as a poor man’s choice returns as a climate bet, with red clay replacing part of the gray concrete in modern buildings, hospitals, houses, and a cultural center that transforms tradition into a solution against urban heat.

Study solves great ancient mystery: remains of Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, are identified in Vergina and resolves the enigma of the Macedonian royal tombs that had lasted half a century.

Larger than the Toyota Hilux and with a towing capacity of 3.5 tons, the new MG U9 2026 features a 2.5 turbodiesel engine, 520 Nm, 4×4 traction with three locks, and an almost full-size build.

The Soviet Union designed a tank to fight after the nuclear apocalypse, the Object 279, a nearly 60-ton machine with a flying saucer shape and four tracks, capable of not overturning even in the face of the shockwave of an atomic bomb.

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