Background Building: A Net Zero Energy and Super-Low Carbon Adaptive Reuse at the National University of Singapore

Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

• Background BuildingA Net Zero Energy and Super-Low Carbon Adaptive Reuse at the National University of Singapore
• Jennifer Ferng (bio) and Erik L’Heureux (bio)

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Adaptive reuse, super-low embodied carbon, and net-zero energy retrofit of SDE1. West elevation features a deep veil of horizontal light shelves and gradient filigree panels to allow for daylighting, glare mitigation, and ventilation. Photo: Ong Chan Hao.

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On the National University of Singapore campus, the super-low carbon, net-zero adaptive reuse of two institutional, four-story buildings housing the Department of Architecture are known as SDE 1 and SDE 3. Their reinvention reconfigures the legacy of the 1970s S. J. van Embden master plan by creating a scaffold and pedagogical tool for design learning, teaching, and research for the twenty-first century. The architecture is founded on design excellence and sustainability, calibrated to the specifics of the urban equator while repurposing the embodied carbon from generations earlier.

The design, led by Erik L’Heureux FAIA from 2015 to 2023, creates a new identity, interfaces with the equatorial context and climate of two conjoined blocks, and enwraps them with a performative, deep-veil envelope. A series of light shelves drive daylight deep into the floor plate, while an ascending succession of screens folds to filter solar radiation while providing views and natural ventilation. Within, careful removals allow the introduction of productive social spaces and a verdant jungle that centers the architecture on the equator.

The south block renovation involves internal reorganization of faculty office spaces while two temperate-looking lawns from the original building are replaced with a jungle courtyard and brise soleil golden crown. The north block inserts a new circulatory promenade, strategic openings, and renovated theater spaces to improve the facilities for design education. Together the architecture serves as background buildings on the campus, creating a subtle but dignified identity for the university. Within, the interiors are retrofitted with careful subtractions and removals to improve the spatial quality of the buildings. Smart building sensors monitor and modulate the high quality, high comfort indoor air environment. Fans and cutting-edge hybrid cooling systems calibrate the air to life in the tropics. The high-efficiency buildings have integrated photovoltaics and a solar roof to meet the operational energy demands. Holistically, the renovation showcases sustainable design that infuses the campus with architectural quality and environmental stewardship, repurposing the embodied carbon of the original structures while serving the future of architectural education in Singapore. [End Page 69]

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The retrofitted covered entryway portal at SDE3 serves as the front door for the architecture department, leading to a gallery space, design studios, and a circulatory promenade beyond. Photo: Ong Chan Hao.

Interview

The following is a conversation between Jennifer Ferng and Erik L’Heureux that took place between January and February 2023. This discussion on carbon heritage, energy, adaptive reuse, and architecture was conducted via Zoom. Jennifer and Erik speak about his recent completion of the net-zero adaptive reuse of SDE 1 and SDE 3, two Department of Architecture buildings on the National University of Singapore campus.

jennifer ferng:

When architects and heritage experts conceptualize low-carbon futures for buildings, what are some key approaches that come to mind?

erik l’heureux:

Scholarship and policy guiding architectural heritage have primarily originated from the Global North. For the Global South, in comparison, new forms of situated knowledge are needed. From my vantage point, at the intersection of the equator and Asia, massive developments have occurred over the past few decades, but most often at the expense of heritage, climate, and the planet. The most sustainable approach is not to build new buildings but to reuse the ones we have. This is not so easy in Asia as modernization has typically been associated with the novel and the new by erasing the past. But architects in Asia urgently need to establish values around reuse that expand beyond conservation of historical or cultural buildings alone. Our common “carbon heritage” is largely in lackluster and banal buildings that make up the vast majority of cities in Asia. Once...