Working as design consultants, our first sketch was scribbled in January 2014 in response to the fundamental design challenge - how to create a playful scheme that would make a very large building feel small and intimate for its users, namely pre-school children?
The design was developed in our London studio, with weekly video conferences with the local team and monthly meetings in Singapore. Using sketch models to explore the form and layouts the final design emerged after a lengthy consultation process with all the relevant stakeholders allowing construction to commence 18 months after that initial sketch.
The site is bounded by an existing school, an inner-city highway, and woodland with the design being subject to strict Singaporean planning conditions and defined by requirements for generous external play-space per child.
Methods of modular construction were investigated, but as untested in Singapore, we reverted to a traditional concrete frame with cantilevered balconies. Facades are GRC rain-screens with alternating window heights (for small children) while the external balconies have full height glass balustrades. The weather protecting canopies are steel frame trees with ETFE infill panels.
The ELV is unique. A new model in high-density education design. The innovative use of elevated external play-space becomes an inherent feature of the architecture with the stacked 'clusters' and projecting canopies creating a playful environment that breaks the overall scale. Greenery, like many of our projects, plays an integral role in the design.
Opened in August 2017, our delight has been the positive response from children, parents, teachers and the operators.
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