High-profile UK firm Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) has been commissioned to create a new science center in Singapore. The building will take the form of five interlocking rectangular volumes and will reduce its grid-based power use with solar panels and a focus on natural ventilation and optimum use of daylight.
The Singapore Science Centre is designed in collaboration with Architects 61 and Atelier Ten, and will replace an existing science hub. Its overall form is inspired by the city state's Jurong Lake Gardens, says the firm, and is meant to look like it's floating above the landscape.
The building will feature large windows that will be strategically placed to offer views over an adjacent lake. The interior will host exhibition galleries, interactive labs and event spaces, as well as facilities for visitors, administrative offices, archives and a service area. It's envisioned as a place for locals to access science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, with a particular focus on sparking scientific curiosity in school children.
"The new Science Centre will feature a Children's Gallery that is more than twice the size of the existing gallery and include its own interactive outdoor waterplay area, discovery trails in the secondary forest as well as a sensory trail on the roof garden," said ZHA. "Older students can look forward to entering specialized labs and workshops that encourage hands-on learning of scientific concepts."
The building is designed to be very energy efficient and its overall shape will create several outdoor areas which are filled with native greenery and shaded from the sun but exposed to the prevailing breeze. By employing natural ventilation and carefully optimizing the daylight permeating within, energy requirements will be reduced, helped by a mixture of solar panels and green roof areas. Additionally, an energy efficient heating and cooling system and a building management system will significantly reduce energy consumption, says ZHA.
Considering its relatively small size, Singapore really punches above its weight when it comes to architecture and, alongside this building by ZHA, the city state has received major projects by architecture's finest, including BIG, SOM, and Heatherwick Studio.
Source: ZHA