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 | Aug 17, 2017
Toyota’s new North American HQ opens in Plano
Toyota invested $1 billion in the project, which was designed by Corgan.
Lighting | Aug 2, 2017
Dynamic white lighting mimics daylighting
By varying an LED luminaire’s color temperature, it is possible to mimic daylighting, to some extent, and the natural circadian rhythms that accompany it, writes DLR Group’s Sean Avery.
Office Buildings | Aug 1, 2017
Corporate values as workplace drivers
Connecting personal values to company values is important to millennial workers.
K-12 Schools | Aug 1, 2017
This new high school is the first to be built on a tech company’s campus
Design Tech High School, located on Oracle Corporation’s Headquarters campus, will span 64,000 sf across two stories and have a capacity of 550 students.
Reconstruction & Renovation | Jul 31, 2017
New Jersey office building will undergo ‘live-work-play’ renovation
The 100,000-sf building is part of a three-building, 30-acre campus.
Office Buildings | Jul 27, 2017
*UPDATED* This will be the largest flight training center in Europe and the Middle East
The center will cover about 30,000 sm and feature 18 simulators.
Office Buildings | Jul 26, 2017
Meeting space leads to innovation
PDR Principal Larry Lander explains how to design for workplaces where four generations are working together.
Office Buildings | Jul 20, 2017
SGA uses virtual design and construction technology to redevelop N.Y. building into modern offices
287 Park Avenue South is a nine-story Classical Revival building previously known as the United Charities Building.
Office Buildings | Jul 19, 2017
James Corner Field Operations, designers of the High Line, creates rooftop amenity spaces for three Dumbo office buildings
The new spaces range from about 8,500 to 11,000 sf and were added to Two Trees Management’s anchor office buildings.
Reconstruction & Renovation | Jul 18, 2017
Mortenson Construction incorporates 100-year-old barn into new Portland office space
Mortenson deconstructed the barn and repurposed it for the new space.