When completed in 2014, Singapore’s 4th publicly funded university will be able to adapt to the shifting paradigms of education, writes Janice Seow.
February 8th, 2011
New realities brought on by globalisation and stiffer economic competition have led to discernable shifts in Singapore’s education system in the past few years.
One of the more recent developments taking shape is a university that is being designed to facilitate a new flexible, interactive mode of learning.
The Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) – the country’s 4th publicly funded university when completed in 2014 – aims to offer a forward-looking, multidisciplinary education with strong emphasis on creativity and innovation.
From a shortlist of 5 leading firms, Singapore practice DP Architects, in collaboration with Dutch outfit UNStudio, were picked to undertake Phase 1 of the academic plot.
“The pedagogy of today is non-linear; the way we broadcast and receive information is constantly shifting. We of course realise that the traditional model of innovative institutional buildings has to be able to adapt to its ever-changing needs,” say DP Architects and UNStudio in their joint statement.
“We sought to remove constraints on both instruction and student development, and create a building that not only supports the need for flexibility on an institutional level, but which also celebrates the broader community of the campus,” they add.
The university will blur boundaries by doing away with individual buildings for different disciplines; classrooms, laboratories and meeting rooms – which can adapt to ever-evolving school requirements – will be distributed and overlapped across 4 blocks.
Academic facilities will connect through a seamless non-linear network of organised spaces and paths, facilitating multidisciplinary collaboration and incidental interaction, and will converge at a highly visible multipurpose space at the centre of the campus.
The school, which will boast environmentally sustainable features such as passive solar design, aims to achieve the highest BCA Green Mark (Platinum rating) in Singapore.
The new campus will be located in Upper Changi. The interim campus will be at the former ITE Dover campus with the first student intake to take place in 2012.
Images courtesy of DP Architects and UNStudio
DP Architects
dpa.com.sg
UNStudio
unstudio.com
Singapore University of Technology and Design
sutd.edu.sg
INDESIGN is on instagram
Follow @indesignlive
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
Gaggenau’s understated appliance fuses a carefully calibrated aesthetic of deliberate subtraction with an intuitive dynamism of culinary fluidity, unveiling a delightfully unrestricted spectrum of high-performing creativity.
Schneider Electric’s new range are making bulky outlets a thing of the past with the new UNICA X collection.
Woods Bagot, Architectus and Hassell were among the big recipients at the Western Australian Architecture Awards 2025.
We talk a lot about the importance of a the globalism of contemporary design, but one of Australia’s leading brands is working toward building an international design community. Here we look at the global growth of Schiavello in recent years.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
The Melbourne-based artist works at the intersection of art and architecture. In a new exhibition at MAGMA Galleries, he turns his focus on urban space and agency to a smaller scale.
ReLove has celebrated the official opening of ReStory by ReLove, a social enterprise giving beautifully curated, preloved furniture a second life.