Yale-NUS College Singapore, Southeast Asian Campus Design

Yale-NUS College : Singapore

Education Building in Southeast Asia – design by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects

12 Jul 2012

Yale-NUS College Singapore

Design: Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects

Ground broken in Singapore for new Yale-NUS campus by Pelli Clarke

Pelli Architects New Haven, Conn. – Ground was broken July 6th for the Yale-NUS College campus, designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects in collaboration with Forum Architects of Singapore.

Jointly created by Yale University and the National University of Singapore, Yale-NUS College is the first college campus established by Yale outside of New Haven, Conn. The campus opens in 2015 and is designed to achieve the highest rating under the Green Mark, Singapore’s benchmark for sustainable design.

images from Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects

Comprising three residential colleges for 1,000 students, the campus balances the traditions of Yale with the cultural and climatic influences of Southeast Asia. Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects developed a contemporary architectural language of clear and inviting processional entrances, sun and rain-screened colonnades and roof forms with generous eaves.

“Much like the educational mission of the college, the architecture of Yale-NUS is keenly attuned to its antecedents and committed to the ideas and responsibilities of today,” explains Fred Clarke, senior principal of Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. “In this way, it is also a vision for the future.”

Set in a lush landscape, the 62,000-square-meter campus is comprised of courtyards punctuated by residential towers and a community of learning and social spaces. At its heart is a campus green flanked by academic and administrative buildings, including the learning commons, auditorium, sports hall, and an open-air, sheltered gathering place – the Agora.

The residential colleges, each home to 330 students plus faculty, form nested academic communities. Tower floors are grouped into neighborhoods around skygardens. The tower designs and those of the courtyards, dining halls, and common rooms will differ in each residential college.

The new campus design is based on original programming, a master plan and early architectural plans developed by KieranTimberlake and Pfeiffer Partners Architects.

Yale-NUS College – Project Description

Yale-NUS College will be first liberal arts college in Singapore, offering four-year undergraduate degrees on a campus that integrates learning and living. This new institution, jointly created by Yale University and the National University of Singapore, will enroll up to 1,000 students. Adjacent to NUS’s University Town, the Yale-NUS campus comprises a central campus green flanked by academic and administrative buildings as well as three residential colleges, each arranged around its own courtyard.

Balancing the traditions of Yale with the cultures of Southeast Asia, the campus is designed in a contemporary architectural language influenced by the climate of Singapore. Sun– and rain-screened colonnades and roofs with generous eaves are used throughout the campus. Five-foot ways, the shaded walkways found alongside traditional Singapore shop houses, further tie the buildings together. For clear and inviting processional entrances, the signature gates of the Yale campus are reinterpreted with metalwork patterns inspired by Southeast Asian textiles. At the main entrance, glass-enclosed stairwells and a colonnade are topped by an inward-sloping roof of grand scale. At the center of the roof is a square oculus, which sends a dramatic cascade of rainwater into a large circular reflecting pool below.

images from Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects

The heart of the campus is a lush garden and arboretum with six heritage trees and an eco-pond that will capture and filter rainwater. At opposite sides of the central green space will be academic and administrative buildings to include a library, performance complex, science labs and sports center. The Learning Commons, which contains the library and a multi-media center, will be set on a slope to symbolize the pinnacle of knowledge. Outside the Commons is the Agora, an open-air, sheltered gathering place.

The residential colleges will be central to campus life. Students will expand their social and leadership skills while enjoying the support of “nested academic communities.” These small-scale communities are arranged vertically in residential towers, which contain both student suites and faculty apartments.

Floors will be grouped into neighborhoods, each with its own skygarden, a landscaped outdoor space for high-rise buildings that was pioneered in Singapore. In addition to residential towers, the colleges will have their own dining halls and butteries, the informal student-run eateries that are a Yale tradition. As an extension of the academic environment, the colleges will also have classrooms, seminar rooms, faculty offices, and study spaces. To reinforce the distinct identities of the residential colleges, the design of the buildings within each will vary.

The campus is being designed to achieve the highest rating under the Building and Construction Authority’s Green Mark, Singapore’s benchmark for sustainable design. In addition to visible sustainable design strategies such as the eco-pond and the frequent use of natural ventilation, the campus will integrate advanced building systems for energy efficiency.