NUHS Center for Oral Health (Un-Built)
Year: 2013
Region: SINGAPORE
Stage: Invitation to Tender
Category: Healthcare
The building comprises the Centre for Oral Health and NUH support services along with supporting infrastructure. Occupying a highly visible corner of the campus, the building’s striking form offers a strong visual identity. Accommodation is arranged in two towers with a connecting ‘open’ atrium set above a podium base. The towers incorporate passive mode sustainable features through their orientation, with floorplates optimised for daylight penetration and natural ventilation. This is further enhanced by the stepping form in section and reducing plan width. Simple horizontal shading reduces heat gain to north and south facing facades.
The building’s public face to Lower Kent Ridge road is characterised by a series of gardens of varying scale that serve as social meeting, breakout and relaxation spaces integrated with the clinical and teaching areas. These gardens are connected vertically by the strategically placed public/student lifts and open staircases. Simply circulating through the building becomes a chance for meeting and exchanging of ideas. This activity can be clearly viewed from the street and promotes logical, intuitive wayfinding. Vertical circulation cores for staff/clinical use are located on the west facade. Their location allows clear separation of public and clinical flows and environmentally they act as buffer zones protecting the clinical/teaching spaces from the effects of the western sun.