New Zealand Commercial Design Trends Series NZ Commercial Design Trends Vol. 35/01C | Page 70

Project
SDE4, School of Design and
Environment
Location
Singapore
Architects:
Serie + Multiply Architects with
Surbana Jurong
NET ZERO
An innovative cooling system,1225 solar photovoltaics and the sheer cleverness
of the architecture make this the first new net-zero energy building in Singapore
When the School of Design and Environment
at the National University of Singapore required
a new building, it made logical, pedagogical,
and financial sense to design one that walks the
talk in terms of green architecture. The result? A
living laboratory that demonstrates human-centric
approaches for integrated sustainable development.
Standing six-storeys tall, SDE4 makes an apt
awareness project for the School, an institutional
organization that promotes design, sustainability
and education in Southeast Asia. And that’s partly
because SDE4 is the first new-build, net-zero
energy building in Singapore. The modern build-
ing presents a 8500m 2 , multidisciplinary space,
designed by Serie + Multiply Architects with
Surbana Jurong.
Located on a hillside along Clementi Road near
the southern coastline of Singapore, SDE4 is a
new addition to the Design & Environment precinct
and part of a wider campus redevelopment. The
climate-responsive building includes more than
1500m 2 of design studio space; a 500m 2 open
plaza; a wide variety of public and social spaces;
workshops and research centres; as well as a new
cafe and library.
The building’s flexible design and high efficiency
reflect the School’s ambition of promoting new
forms of teaching spaces as a scaffold for research.
Rooms are designed in a variety of sizes to allow
flexible rearrangement of layout for exhibitions,
school installations and future change of use.
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SDE4 now forms an integral part of the campus,
says Lam Khee Poh, dean of the School of Design
and Environment.
“Buildings are not isolated entities – grouped,
they form a neighbourhood, supporting community
activities that are crucial for all educational institu-
tions,” says Lam. “Our students and faculty get the
opportunity to learn both inside and outside the
classroom, being engaged in an integrated process
of designing, developing, constructing, and operat-
ing ultra modern buildings that in turn, influence the
students’ own behaviour when they occupy them.”
Awarded to Serie + Multiply Architects with
Surbana Jurong through an international design
competition launched in 2013, the building was
envisioned as porous architecture structured in a
juxtaposition of ‘platforms and boxes’ that express
its programmatic content.
Christopher Lee, principal of Serie Architects,
says that one of the firm’s aims when it started the
project was to challenge the idea that a high energy
efficient building has to also be an opaque one.
“Instead, we envisioned a very transparent
volume in which the outside and the inside spaces
are ambiguous; where nature and landscape play
an important part as a backdrop to the building.”
To an extent responding to this, the design revisits
the principles of everyday tropical architecture in
Southeast Asia. More than 50% of the total area is
naturally ventilated and most of the rooms can be
opened to prevailing breezes. Air-conditioning is
Below:A shady overhanging roof
and giant platforms that open to
the air are two natural ways SDE4
building keeps its students cool.