The NUS College of Design and Engineering at the National University of Singapore is aiming to launch a sustainability movement in Asia. The program advocates for environmental education, sustainable practices and creating on-campus design prototypes in order to transform designs across the tropics to net-zero low carbon via adaptive energy reuse.
SDE1 and 3 are super-low carbon and net-zero energy adaptive-reuse programs designed to operate through a physical building on campus. They will show strategies for urban sustainability that really work. Through optimizing operational performance of built assets and incorporating intentional sustainable design, this building offers a unique new opportunity to serve as a case study for redeveloping existing infrastructure across Asia to be more energy efficient.
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It is also a new building for the College of Design and Engineering, but it’s also part of a campus redevelopment aiming at 2030 net-zero carbon emissions for the National University of Singapore. The climate-responsive building incorporates 23,000 square meters of design studio space, workshops and research facilities. Plus, there’s a 1,000-square-meters open loggia, galleries, faculty offices and a number of public social spaces.
The building design integrates principles of tropical architecture in Southeast Asia. The west façade is designed as an equatorial envelope that screens the building from tropical heat gain by creating a deep veil over the building. The structure integrates light shelves to allow daylight into the interior space through clerestory windows.
Furthermore, the building was redesigned over an original 1976 structural frame. The project gave the team an opportunity to develop design prototypes in a tropical climate to achieve cost efficiency, high environmental and sustainability performance and design quality.
Air-conditioning is used as needed, but the building consumes one-third of the total energy that it did before the remodel. Over 65% of the building areas are hybrid cooled with natural ventilation and air-conditioning, and most rooms open to the outside breeze. The system creates a net-positive energy performance over time, making it carbon net-zero over its lifecycle.
Additionally, native species were planted outside as part of research programs being conducted by faculty of landscape architecture. The central courtyard that used to be concealed by the building is now redesigned to capture the tropical landscape. They did so with jungle-type plantings, creating a biophilic design that brings nature into the offices surrounding the courtyard.
The SDE1 and 3 building will likely be one of the earliest developments in Singapore to achieve WELL certification for adaptive reuse. More than 2,000 solar photovoltaic panels are installed on the roof to help with energy efficiency.
+ The College of Design and Engineering at the National University of Singapore
Photography by Finbarr Fallon
