Ground was broken early this month in Singapore for the new Yale-NUS College campus, designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects in collaboration with Forum Architects of Singapore. Jointly created by Yale University and the National University of Singapore, Yale-NUS College is the first college campus established by Yale outside of New Haven, Connecticut. The campus opens in 2015 and is designed to achieve the highest rating under the Green Mark, Singapore’s benchmark for sustainable design Comprising three residential colleges for 1,000 students, the campus balances the traditions of Yale with the cultural and climatic influences of Southeast Asia. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects developed a contemporary architectural language of clear and inviting processional entrances, sun and rain-screened colonnades and roof forms with generous eaves. “Much like the educational mission of the college, the architecture of Yale-NUS is keenly attuned to its antecedents and committed to the ideas and responsibilities of today,” explains Fred Clarke, senior principal of Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. “In this way, it is also a vision for the future.”
Set in a lush landscape, the 62,000-square-meter campus is comprised of courtyards punctuated by residential towers and a community of learning and social spaces. At its heart is a campus green flanked by academic and administrative buildings, including the learning commons, auditorium, sports hall, and an open-air, sheltered gathering place – the Agora. The residential colleges, each home to 330 students plus faculty, form nested academic communities. Tower floors are grouped into neighborhoods around skygardens. The tower designs and those of the courtyards, dining halls, and common rooms will differ in each residential college.
The new campus design is based on original programming, a master plan and early architectural plans developed by KieranTimberlake and Pfeiffer Partners Architects.
