If art school was in our future we might opt to study under, or on top of, the amazing green roof at the School of Art, Design and Media
at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. This 5 story facility
sweeps a wooded corner of the campus with an organic, vegetated form
that blends landscape and structure, nature and high-tech and
symbolizes the creativity it houses.
The glass façade provides a high performance building envelope that
reduces solar gain and heat load while allowing the benefits of natural
views and daylight into creative spaces. The glass walls provide a
visual exchange between indoors and out allowing students and teachers
to experience the building, the surrounding landscape and the interior
plaza as fluid spaces. Diffused natural daylight is abundant throughout
studios and classrooms, filtered through the surrounding foliage.
The curving green roofs distinguish the building from among the
other structures on campus but the line between landscape and building
is blurred. The roofs serve as informal gathering spaces challenging
linear ideas and stirring perception. The roofs create open space,
insulate the building, cool the surrounding air and harvest rainwater
for landscaping irrigation. Planted grasses mix with native greenery to
colonize the building and bond it to the setting.
Finishes are intentionally raw to act as a backdrop for the art,
media and design projects. Concrete walls and columns, cement-sand
screeded floors, timber railings and a neutral palette define the
interior spaces which vary in shape and size. This amazing design seems
to offer a new experience at every elevation or perspective fulfilling
the intent that a school for art should inspire creativity.
+ CPG Consultants
+ Nanyang Technical University
+ Design Share Honor Award 2007
Via DesignFlute
