The School of Design & Environment 4 at the National University of Singapore is conceived as an academic building in which architectural form, environmental performance, and daily use are inseparable, positioning the campus architecture as both an educational framework and an operational testbed in a tropical climate.
School of Design & Environment 4 Technical Information
- Architects: Serie Architects + Multiply Architects
- Location: Clementi Road, Singapore
- Gross Area: 8,500 m2 | ~91,500 Sq. Ft.
- Project Years: 2013 – 2019
- Photographs: © Rory Gardiner
From the outset, we wanted a building that remains open and porous while still meeting demanding energy targets, allowing architecture and climate to be experienced directly rather than concealed behind sealed envelopes.
– Christopher Lee
Architecture as Pedagogy: The Building as a Teaching Instrument
The building is structured around the premise that architectural education benefits from direct exposure to spatial, climatic, and technological systems. Rather than concealing environmental infrastructure, many of the building’s components are intentionally legible, allowing students to engage with performance-driven architecture in their daily routines. This pedagogical stance aligns the spatial organization of studios, circulation routes, and social spaces with academic inquiry.
Visual connectivity across floors and between programs reinforces the idea of learning as a collective enterprise. Circulation routes cut through studios, plazas, and shared spaces, transforming movement into an act of observation and exchange. The building itself becomes a sustained teaching instrument, where comfort, airflow, daylight, and energy use are continuously experienced, discussed, and evaluated.
The concept of a living laboratory is embedded in both planning and construction. Portions of the façade and environmental systems are demountable, allowing for modification and testing over time. This adaptability ensures that the building remains relevant as pedagogical priorities and environmental technologies evolve.
Reinterpreting Vernacular Tropical Architecture
The architectural language draws from the spatial grammar of traditional Southeast Asian tropical architecture, particularly the Malay house. Elevated platforms, open plans, and deep over-sailing roofs respond directly to sun, rain, and prevailing winds. These elements are not reproduced as stylistic references but are reinterpreted through contemporary construction methods and institutional scale.
Permeability is prioritized over enclosure. More than half of the building is naturally ventilated, and many spaces are designed to open directly to breezes and the landscape. Layers of thresholds, terraces, and verandah-like spaces mediate between interior and exterior, creating microclimatic transitions rather than abrupt separations.
This approach challenges common assumptions that high-performance buildings must rely on thick, sealed envelopes. Instead, environmental performance is achieved through spatial configuration and orientation, reinforcing climate responsiveness as a formative architectural principle rather than an applied technical solution.
Spatial Framework and Social Infrastructure
The building is organized as a sequence of stacked platforms and enclosed volumes arranged to accommodate a range of learning modes. Large open studios support collaborative work and visual exchange, while smaller, more contained rooms provide quieter environments for research and focused study. These different spatial typologies are distributed across the building rather than segregated by floor or wing.
A central social plaza anchors the plan, serving as a shared ground where circulation paths intersect. Stairs and corridors are deliberately straight and open, enabling visual connections across levels and disciplines. This spatial strategy positions movement and encounter as integral to academic life rather than residual functions.
Terraces, landscaped balconies, and informal seating areas further blur distinctions between work, study, and social space. The absence of rigid boundaries reflects contemporary shifts toward collaborative pedagogy, while also aligning with climatic strategies that favor openness and shaded outdoor occupation.
Climate, Energy, and Environmental Systems as Architecture
Net-zero energy performance is pursued through a combination of reduced demand, passive design strategies, and on-site energy generation. A large over-sailing roof not only shades the building but also supports more than 1,200 photovoltaic panels, integrating energy production directly into the architectural form.
Thermal comfort is achieved through a hybrid cooling strategy that combines natural ventilation, tempered air supply, and elevated air movement from ceiling fans. This system allows interior temperatures and humidity levels to remain higher than in conventional air-conditioned buildings while maintaining comfort, significantly reducing energy consumption.
Façades and landscapes function as active environmental systems. Perforated aluminum screens on the east and west elevations moderate solar exposure while remaining adjustable for research purposes. Rainwater is managed through landscaped gardens that filter runoff and support native planting, reinforcing the building’s role as a site where environmental systems, spatial experience, and architectural education are inseparable.
About Serie + Multiply Architects
Serie + Multiply Architects is an international architectural collaboration between London-based Serie Architects, led by Christopher Lee, and Singapore-based Multiply Architects, founded in 2007 by Yap Mong Lin. Working together since 2013, the two practices specialize in architecture, urban design, and research, with a strong focus on public, civic, and educational projects. Their work emphasizes climate-responsive design, openness, and the integration of environmental performance with spatial and social ambitions, particularly within dense urban and tropical contexts.
Credits and Additional Notes
- Client: School of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore
- Structural engineers: Surbana-Jurong Consultants Pte Ltd (Civil & Structural team)
- MEP consultants: Transsolar KlimaEngineering; Surbana-Jurong Consultants Pte Ltd (M&E)
- Landscape designers: Surbana-Jurong Consultants Pte Ltd (Landscape Architecture)
- Construction company: Kajima Overseas Asia (Singapore) Pte Ltd
