About this mall
Nex is a suburban shopping mall in Serangoon, within the North-East Region of Singapore. The largest mall in the Northeast region and one of the largest suburban malls in the country. NEX offers a dazzling mix of retail, entertainment, lifestyle and food & beverage with over 360 premium tenants and brands. Tenant line-up include Isetan, FairPrice Xtra, Shaw Theatres nex, Serangoon Public Library (opening first quarter 2011), Cold Storage, Courts, Challenger, Kiddy Palace, Party World KTV, Virtualand, King & King Wong, The Pet Safari, G2000, Esprit, Cotton On, Charles & Keith and STUDIOTANGS. Shoppers can indulge in a gastronomic adventure with over 90 choices in dinning, from 2 food courts to thematic Japanese restaurants, and familiar favourites, such as Crystal Jade Kitchen, Soup Restaurant, PUTIEN, Paradise Inn and The Ship Restaurant.
Description of the location and accessibility
Access: car:
From the City:
Via CTE – Exit 10 – Braddell Road, turn right into Braddell Road, then turn left to Upper Serangoon Road.
From the East:
Via PIE to CTE – Exit 10 – Braddell Road, turn right into Braddell Road, then turn left to Upper Serangoon Road. Via TPE to CTE – Exit 11 – Ang Mo Kio Ave 1, turn left to Boundary Road, then turn right into Serangoon Central.
From the West:
Via PIE – Exit 20B – Lornie Road, take flyover to Braddell, then turn left to Upper Serangoon Road.
From the Woodlands:
Via SLE to CTE – Exit 11 – Ang Mo Kio Ave 1, turn left to Boundary Road, then turn right into Serangoon Central.
Bus: 22, 43, 45, 53, 53A, 53B, 58, 70, 70M, 81, 82, 100, 101, 103, 105, 107, 107M, 109, 133, 135, 147, 153, 158, 315, 317, 853, NR6
MRT:
Serangoon MRT station (NE12), North East Line
Entertainment zone
Dream Stage
Party World KTV
Shaw Theatres nex
Virtualand
KidzPlay
Features mall architecture
The ‘green necklace’ is made up of a series of landscaped public spaces with changing atmospheres and characters to inject interest and highlights throughout the mall. The Sunken Plaza, Urban Walk, Gateway Plaza, Sky Terrace, Roof Terrace, Roof Garden, Courtyard Garden and a vertical green wall are strung together to provide both ecological sustainability and an ever-changing retail landscape as one traverses through the mall.
The effect of the ‘green necklace’ is evident in both the interior and exterior of the building. While this green link serves to unify the building, it also introduces a feature to every shopping floor. Externally, the facade design takes on an articulated form which is derived from the economics of retail planning and functionality. Here, a good understanding and interpretation of the nature and demands of the client’s business have given birth to the aesthetics of the architecture.
Planning
NEX Central Shopping Mall was conceived as a confluence of excitement and recreation, incorporating 80,000 sqm of retail spaces housed together with the Serangoon MRT Interchange and the new Serangoon bus interchange. Due to its sheer size, the mall has a tremendous urban impact, and will directly affect a large working and visitor population.
Serangoon Central is currently a dense residential estate with limited greenery. Hence the mall is also an opportunity to introduce a substantial amount of landscaped spaces throughout the shopping mall. Not only will they provide a respite for the shoppers, they will also act as a green lung to the region. With about a million square feet of built up area spread over a long site, the building inevitably tends towards unpleasant massiveness or inconsistency. To avoid these pitfalls, the concept of a ‘green necklace’ was used to both break down its urban scale as well as to provide a datum to various parts of the mall.
