Heatherwick's 12-towered university building opens in Singapore

Whenever I get invited to give a talk at a university I have a pang of jealousy about people spending their days doing creative things (and their evenings drinking in subsidised bars). But it’s fair to say that architecturally speaking, higher education tends to be pretty functional, unless you go to the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore that is. They have just opened their new Learning Hub building designed by Thomas Heatherwick, which comprises 12 tapered towers and an interlocking network of social spaces. The architect says he was motivated by exactly the kind of underwhelming university structures I mentioned above – “unappealing spaces with endless corridors, no natural daylight and only hints of other people’s presence.”

The solution was to begin with the way he wanted people to interact, and so to “redefine the aspiration of a university building” to “foster togetherness and sociability…in a space that encourages collaboration.” The first thing to do was to get rid of corridors in the traditional sense and instead bring the 56 rooms together in welcoming communal areas such as gardens (there’s one on each floor).

Thomas and his team also rethought the classrooms themselves, creating cornerless spaces with less sense of teacher/student hierarchy. Each of these new rooms faces in on the shared spaces, “allowing students to continually feel connected to all the other activities going on in the building.”

It’s nice to celebrate architecture that not only looks great, but has been carefully considered to work for the people who use it every day (and not just look snazzy on a design blog).