Behold, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU)'s newest academic building is set to be Asia’s largest wooden building at 40,000 gross square metres.
To be completed in 2021, the university’s flagship infrastructure development will cost S$180 million.
The six-storey building will be the new home for Nanyang Business School and for the activities of several other colleges and schools. It is designed by RSP Architects Planners Engineers, team behind Changi Airport Terminal 4.
The material for the new infrastructure will be procured from renewable forests and prefabricated for installation on site. This makes it less polluting and requiring less manpower than traditional construction methods.
“NTU’s new academic building will be our most ambitious sustainable construction project to date," said Professor Subra Suresh, President of NTU, speaking at a university town hall meeting on Aug 27. "Ninety-five per cent of our buildings are already certified Green Mark Platinum, and we are seeking to be the greenest university campus in the world."
The building will feature 25 smart classrooms equipped with the latest technologies to support NTU’s flipped classroom pedagogy. Students will learn course content online, and devote face time with professors, classmates and industry partners to collaborative learning.
Other major infrastructure projects include doubling the solar energy harnessed to power NTU to 9.9 mega-watts by 2019, said Prof Suresh. This will supply between 7 and 10 per cent of the university’s electricity needs.