GIVEN how busy and cosmopolitan Orchard Road is today, it is hard to imagine that it was once a fruit orchard. In the 1840s, that was precisely what it was - a home to nutmeg, pepper and fruit trees that used to line both sides of the street.

Although it is a fact that few people remember, much less pay attention to, it did catch the eye of the architects behind the new Ion Orchard who decided to take the road less travelled and pay homage to the garden history of the shopping district.

'Elements of the design reflect the cultural history of what Orchard Road used to be like,' reveals Graham Cartledge, chairman of Benoy, the architectural firm in charge of Ion Orchard.

'The building's design is based on the concept of a sprouting seed. The seed and skin of a fruit form the facade of the building, while the residential tower is the stem.'

The 'germinating plant' theme continues inside the building. A spectacular ceiling was constructed to encourage shoppers to move upwards within the mall. The design is an artistic expression inspired by the spines of a palm leaf.

Elsewhere inside the building though, the mantra was to remain clean and unfussy.

'We had to make sure that the interior of the mall was simple without too many elements to overshadow the retailers,' explains Mr Cartledge. 'Imagine the mall to be a stage and the retailers the actors. The building is merely a shell created for the actors to shine because they are the ones that will bring the crowd in.'

Mr Cartledge goes on to add that on top of respecting the history of 'the most prime location in town', he was also highly impressed by the amount of respect that the developers - Orchard Turn Developments Pte Ltd (a joint venture between Singapore's CapitaLand Limited and Hong Kong's Sun Hung Kai Properties) - paid to the other malls in the vicinity.

'It would have been so very easy to build a mall that is simply a retail box,' he says.

'Despite the fact that Ion Orchard is fortunate to be right smack on top of a train station, it is also doing its part to promote the retail flow on Orchard Road by playing the role of a connecting point.'

As a result, Ion Orchard is not only connected to malls such as Wisma Atria, Shaw Centre and CK Tang through Orchard MRT Station, a linkway called Ion Paterson Link was also constructed to connect Ion Orchard and Wheelock Place.

'Such connectivity is key for the integration of Ion Orchard into Orchard Road,' he muses.

'At the same time it allows Ion Orchard to play the role of an obvious iconic landmark, not unlike Trafalgar Square in London that is a vastly popular meeting point for everyone visiting the area surrounding it.'

This article was first published in The Business Times