Safdie Architects has just announced the completion of their Surbana Jurong Campus project in Singapore. The 742,000-square-foot design for the Surbana Jurong corporation aims to establish a better work-life balance for employees while connecting to its natural rainforest setting.

The design brief calls for elevating ten pavilions of five and seven stories apiece along a linear arch to allow plantings to grow up from beneath and eventually envelop the offices, creating a "treehouse" effect for its users. Architects say this provides an alternative to "traditional, internally focused buildings." Charu Kokate, a Senior Partner at Safdie Architects, said the design "was guided most essentially by the people whose work and lives intersect there."

As such, the project features a selection of workplace wellness considerations meant to stimulate socialization, increase creativity, reduce stress, and increase access to natural light, air, and the scheme's Eco Garden tropical surroundings. Office spaces are bolstered by many shaded seating alcoves, special research areas, a sunken courtyard, a health clinic that's accessible to the public, a 1,000-seat multipurpose space, fitness centers, rooftop garden, and a childcare facility. 

"Our design interweaves interior and exterior landscapes, allowing the parkland to permeate the campus and create a network of workspaces immersed in nature. This merging of office and garden encourages a more autonomous experience — one where work isn’t confined to a desk or cubicle, but instead, workspaces are open and agile to promote collaboration and exchange of ideas," Senior Partner Jeffrey Huggins described in a project announcement.

Once the office design for the project was established, Safdie's team got to work creating a landscaping program that preserved over half of the existing greenery on-site while installing EV panels to reduce energy consumption and creating a vital connection from the development to a new MRT public transit station nearby.

This campus is part of the larger Jurong district, which includes parts of Nanyang Technological University and added approximately seven miles of cycling and pedestrian trails to complete its design. The project follows Safdie's other work around the city-state, including the iconic Marina Bay Sands, Sky Habitat, and Jewel Changi Airport, and follows the completion of the chinese Raffles City Chongqing development in June of 2020. 

Another residential development for developer Uribe Schwarzkopf was completed recently in Ecuador, along with a neighboring design by BIG. 

Safdie Architects will next look to complete the first residences included in its master plan for a new mountainside village in Killington, Vermont, by the end of this year. The firm was recently featured in our roundup of featured job opportunities in the Boston market, where it has maintained an office for over 40 years.