SJ Campus

CHARU KOKATE (CK): The site’s location played a key role in shaping the direction of the project. Since it’s quite far from the city centre and sits close to the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) campus, surrounded mostly by mid-rise buildings of six to seven storeys, a high-rise like those downtown didn’t feel appropriate.

The client’s vision was to create a home base for their various companies, so a more spread-out, campus-style development made sense. Once we introduced the idea of a campus layout – both in terms of the building and its programme – it influenced the way the client perceived the entire project.

CK: As designers, we always aim to look beyond the brief. When we study a site closely – observe it, document it, understand what surrounds it – we often discover opportunities that go further than what the client initially asked for.

In this case, the most significant advantage of the site was the planned MRT station at its southern edge. That meant that the site would eventually become a thoroughfare, with people constantly moving through and around it. The project had to offer more than just the programme.

What would this site need to be if everybody converged towards the MRT station? We realised it needed to be more than an office building. We asked ourselves: How can we integrate the community with the property? How can we integrate the neighbourhood with our site? How can we connect to them? Our thinking was thus also focused on how we could design public spaces, and how SJ Group could benefit from the community.

There are many NTU labs and learning centres around our site, raising the possibilities of exchange and interaction. That’s why the entire first floor of the SJ Campus was designed to be interactive spaces with gardens as well as services that would attract people: cafes, a gym, a children’s centre, nursing rooms, bookable meeting rooms, and gathering spaces, for example.

CK: It was a greenfield site that was overgrown and not maintained. It was one of those sites in the Jurong area that was to be developed in the future. We had to understand where the good tree specimens were. We mapped the trees that could be uprooted and stored away so we could bring them back to the site after completing construction.

We also needed to understand the topography of the land. The site slopes very dramatically from the west to the east. It really made sense to integrate our project with the Jurong Eco-Garden, to which it sits immediately adjacent. We wanted to have a seamless connection.

Even though the steep slope seemed disadvantageous, we turned it into an advantage. It allowed us to have spaces on the lower levels that could get a lot of natural light and be integrated fully with the existing garden. We used the stepped, cantilevered profiles for the blocks facing the Jurong Eco- Garden to create small building footprints below. This allowed the landscape to come right in and have space to grow upwards.

CK: Once we established the primary goals of the project, in addition to the client’s requirements, we knew that this would be a dynamic public commons. You can’t design a public space in a dark area. We knew it was going to be almost like an outdoor space: a seamless indoor-outdoor space. With the Jurong Eco-Garden sitting alongside the site, it was clear that we needed to bring the gardens into our building.

The integration of nature is very important to us. Singapore is considered to be a very green city, but it doesn’t have many gardens within buildings. Jewel Changi Airport, for example, is one of a kind.

The idea was, “How do you bring natural light and landscape inside?” We were thinking about how people were going to be sitting and working at the SJ Campus for eight hours, or more, each day. How could we connect them with nature instead of taking them away from nature? So everywhere you look in the campus, from no matter where you are, you can see beautiful green spaces. It’s not like being in a concrete jungle.

It was so important to preserve the existing slope, to replace all the landscape area that was lost to our building, and to merge office and garden. Somebody who’s tired can sit in the garden, have a cup of coffee, and talk to other people. These ad hoc spaces support collaboration between SJ Group’s various teams. A structural engineer might meet with an architect in the garden. The garden is so well-used now. It’s a very popular space.

CK: The MRT station is not open yet, but when it is, you will enter the SJ Group building as soon as you exit the station. It’s right there. We located the public amenities close to where people would access the building. Like I said, we envisioned it as a space for all: much like how people feel very comfortable walking along the public thoroughfare within Marina Bay Sands, even if they are not staying in the hotel.

Once the MRT station opens, the whole SJ Group space will be very different. I foresee the public using it a lot. I think it will also be a place where students come to study. We haven’t really uncovered its full potential because the MRT station is not open yet. So, right now, it’s mainly being used by Surbana Jurong staff.

CK: We see the staff using the garden space for meetings, for presentations, for celebrations, and for evening drinks. We’ve seen them using it in so many different ways. The whole spine was used during Chinese New Year. They had a lo hei (celebratory salad dish) stretching four or five blocks. All 3,000–4,000 employees were invited.

There is something very special about that space. It’s peaceful and calming. It’s also air conditioned in a very nice way. Only the areas where people walk and sit are cooled, not all the way up to the fifth level. It’s a more sustainable approach.

CK: The certification proves that both the mechanical and technical systems have been considered. SJ Campus has one of the largest underfloor air-distribution systems that we’ve ever used. This underfloor cooling system is very flexible because you’re not just blasting cold air from the top. Other considerations, like photovoltaic panels and electric vehicle (EV) charging, made a difference too.

In addition to that, the integration of the shading system with the facade makes a big difference to energy use. Having a fritted ETFE (ethylene tetrafluoroethylene) roof over the garden space also helped a lot.

Even though things like the quality of the space, natural light, and the connection to nature through rain gardens and bioswales are not mentioned in the Super Low Energy certification category, they make a significant difference to both the building’s performance and people’s experience of it.

CK: Natural light filtering through the building, seamless connection between indoor and outdoor spaces, access to nature, smaller building footprints at level one that encourage visibility and interaction – all of this directly contributes to people’s overall wellbeing. It’s a completely different experience from working in a typical downtown tower, where large office floors can feel isolating and impersonal, shared by a hundred people.

Here, the narrower footprint allows light to filter in from three sides, and no matter where you’re sitting, you have a view of greenery. You can see colleagues walking across bridges, feel connected visually, and give your eyes a break from staring at a screen all day.

At level one, you are surrounded by trees; it feels almost like being in a treehouse. And we believe that meeting someone in a garden setting changes the dynamic – people tend to be more open, more relaxed, and positive. In contrast, dim, enclosed environments often bring out a sense of disconnection. We aimed to create a space that naturally encourages openness, interaction, and a supportive culture.

CK: Safdie Architects has used precast in the past, in many different countries. What we pioneered here was its use for the structural system of the whole building. Here, the government is pushing for increased productivity. Precast is more efficient in many ways, because you’re not pouring concrete on site and waiting for it to cure. The precast components are made off-site, brought in, and simply hoisted into place. Using precast also allows you to control the quality of construction.

We used precast concrete truss frames instead of conventional diagonal beams for the east facade. They were used for the inverted cantilevered blocks, and created self-shading terracing structures. A precast system was also used on the west facade, where it helped us derive an optimal window-to-wall ratio for energy efficiency.

CK: The new campus has changed how the company thinks and made it much easier to collaborate. The workplace has become a more nurturing space, one that is more aligned with learning and wellbeing.

SJ Group was interested in creating a workplace that would be exemplary for their clients, their future employees, and others by demonstrating their care for their staff. They wanted to provide a workspace that is unlike your typical office building. When I think about the SJ Campus, I think of the legacy of a timeless design and the belief that architecture can shape a company’s trajectory.