Surbana Jurong, an urban, infrastructure and managed services consulting firm, recently opened its new headquarters in Singapore. Surbana Jurong Campus inaugurates the Jurong Innovation District, a business park set in a tropical rainforest.
On the 742,000-sf campus, 10 five- and seven-story pavilions are grouped along a central pedestrian corridor connecting indoor and open-air courtyards, communal spaces, and amenities.
The design by Safdie Architects—with Surbana Jurong Group as the architect of record and KTP Consultants as the structural engineer—lifts up the pavilions like treehouses. As a result, the terrain below can grow and surround the lower-level public spaces and upper-level offices.
This approach brings together Surbana Jurong’s 4,000 employees with the surrounding landscape and community—creating an alternative to traditional buildings that are inwardly focused. The design provides employees access to light, air, and green space, along with publicly accessible clinic and fitness areas, nursing rooms, and childcare facilities.
“With the Surbana Jurong Campus, our latest project in Singapore, we are introducing a new workplace typology that responds to the pressing need for connection to nature and community,” Moshe Safdie, founding partner, Safdie Architects, said in a statement.
The project provides private, semi-private, and public work environments, including closed offices with expansive views, dedicated spaces for research, a sunken courtyard, and shaded seating alcoves. The campus also includes event spaces and a 1,000-seat multipurpose hall.
The passive design project is the first building to achieve Green Mark Platinum Super Low Energy status, the highest rating awarded by the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore for environmentally sustainable design. To achieve this, the campus:
- Preserves more than half of the site’s existing green space
- Replaces built-on green areas with rooftop gardens, interior gardens, and exterior landscaping
- Uses rooftop solar panels
- Features climate-controlled interior courtyards with native tropical plants
- Provides abundant natural light on all floors
- Minimizes solar heat gain through techniques such as light shelves and louvers
- Uses an underfloor air distribution system
- Incorporates rain gardens and bioswales
- Integrates EV charging stations
- Implements smart building control systems
Related Stories
Office Buildings | Jan 26, 2015
Seattle gets a peek at Amazon’s latest plans for its downtown complex
The online retailer is seeking permits to build on a fourth city block that would include 835,200 sf of office space.
| Jan 14, 2015
10 change management practices that can ease workplace moves
No matter the level of complexity, workplace change can be a challenge for your client's employees. VOA's Angie Lee breaks down the process of moving offices as efficiently as possible, from creating a "change team" to hosting hard-hat tours.
| Jan 13, 2015
SOM-designed Broadgate Exchange House wins Twenty-five Year Award
Exchange House, an elegant 10-story office building that spans over the merging tracks of London’s Liverpool Street Station, is located in London’s Broadgate Development.
| Jan 9, 2015
10 surprising lessons Perkins+Will has learned about workplace projects
P+W's Janice Barnes shares some of most unexpected lessons from her firm's work on office design projects, including the importance of post-occupancy evaluations and having a cohesive transition strategy for workers.
| Jan 9, 2015
Technology and media tenants, not financial companies, fill up One World Trade Center
The financial sector has almost no presence in the new tower, with creative and media companies, such as magazine publisher Conde Nast, dominating the vast majority of leased space.
| Jan 8, 2015
The future of alternative work spaces: open-access markets, co-working, and in-between spaces
During the past five years, people have begun to actively seek out third places not just to get a day’s work done, but to develop businesses of a new kind and establish themselves as part of a real-time conversation of diverse entrepreneurs, writes Gensler's Shawn Gehle.
Smart Buildings | Jan 7, 2015
Best practices for urban infill development: Embrace the region's character, master the pedestrian experience
If an urban building isn’t grounded in the local region’s character, it will end up feeling generic and out-of-place. To do urban infill the right way, it’s essential to slow down and pay proper attention to the context of an urban environment, writes GS&P's Joe Bucher.
| Jan 6, 2015
Construction permits exceeded $2 billion in Minneapolis in 2014
Two major projects—a new stadium for the Minnesota Vikings NFL team and the city’s Downtown East redevelopment—accounted for about half of the total worth of the permits issued.
| Jan 2, 2015
Construction put in place enjoyed healthy gains in 2014
Construction consultant FMI foresees—with some caveats—continuing growth in the office, lodging, and manufacturing sectors. But funding uncertainties raise red flags in education and healthcare.
| Dec 28, 2014
Robots, drones, and printed buildings: The promise of automated construction
Building Teams across the globe are employing advanced robotics to simplify what is inherently a complex, messy process—construction.
