Guests are greeted by a 100-metre walkway built to blend seamlessly with the natural topography. This wooden walkway, which connects the entire campus, serves as an organic demarcation between AIR CCCC’s Lawn and Garden, and links to the two-storey modernist building that houses the Restaurant, Research Space and Cooking Club.

The 45-seat “casual” restaurant on the ground floor faces the Lawn, offering greenery as far as the eye can see. On cool, balmy days, the glass walls slide open to create a semi-outdoor dining space with extended terrace that connect to the Lawn. Set behind the dining area, the open kitchen provides diners with a view of their food being prepaired by AIR’s team of chefs. On the second floor, is what we refer to as studio, the research space and cooking club, is a more intimate 45-seat dining area overlooking the lawn. During operational hours, diners can wander around the adjoining Research Space to catch a glimpse of and talk to chefs about the delicious works in progress. This may even inspire them to participate in a cooking class or talk at the Cooking Club located at the back of this space. Throughout AIR, the vibe is set by a music playlist put together by Chef Matt, filled with easy, mood-lifting instrumental hip-hop beats.

AIR CCCC’s was designed by OMA’s team led by David Gianotten and Shinji Takagi. OMA is the leading international partnership practising architecture, urbanism and cultural analysis. OMA’s buildings and masterplans around the world insist on intelligent forms while inventing new possibilities and content for everyday use. All the fixtures and furnishings have been designed by award-winning Spanish product designer Andreu Carulla exclusively for AIR CCCC using recycled timber and plastic bottles (HDPE) sourced from a former art installation, as well as Styrofoam — commonly used in disposable food containers. These elements allude to AIR’s ethos of discovering potential and beauty in forgotten materials and ingredients.

That’s what our Research Space is to AIR’s team of chefs. It is a space of discovery and experimentation, where they dabble then wait to find out what happens when one anaerobically ferments mulberries under low temperatures, or if minced wormwood stems from the garden will make for a tasty infusion or vinaigrette. A space like this, after all, is where Chef Matt figured out how to turn fish bones into lavash. Visitors to AIR are welcome to wander around this Research Space and discover all the wild and wonderful possibilities of what we can do to make real, good food.

Visitors, young and young at heart, may come to learn how to cook or delve into the medicinal qualities of certain ingredients from the Garden.

For a start, AIR’s Cooking Club will host talks by farmers and producers who are telling their own stories through food. Spreading awareness and creating communities among the public and these dynamic producers and creators is something the AIR team is passionate about. Cooking classes and programmes will follow in the later months.

It’s our little farm, a place where guests can learn about how food grows, taste what grows out of our earth, and realise their effects on the final dishes. Our Garden is ground zero for AIR’s farming programme run by urban farming social enterprise, City Sprouts. Each variety of produce that grows here was chosen by our team for their flavour, texture, aroma, colour, or some combination of all the above. Planting began in August 2023, and like all good things, the plants will take time to blossom and grow to their full potential. Among our plant species are lantern chillies, starfruit, jambu air, rambutan, bananas, worm wood, turmeric, borage, moringa, belimbing, even buah keluak, among many, many more. Every harvest is destined for the restaurant, with dishes tweaked to absorb the bounty on any given day. “In that way, diners can have one dish today and come back two weeks later to find that the flavours of that same dish may have changed. It keeps our dishes dynamic,” explained Chef Matt.

Yawning green spaces are rare in land-scarce Singapore and we are deeply aware of how fortunate we are to enjoy this lawn that spills across the front of AIR’s campus. Our Lawn is for kicking back, enjoying the balmy day, and grazing on a menu of easy eats.

Mornings are the most beautiful time of day at our Lawn, where guests can sit amongst the shade and enjoy pastries and a well-made cup of coffee. Our lawn is also a haven for events and happenings, the nature of which is only limited by the imagination.