SMU Connextion, Singapore

Good climate for learning

The Singapore Management University (SMU) was only founded in 2000, but is already one of the world’s best universities in the field of business studies.

SMU’s urban campus is nestled between the National Museum and the historic Fort Canning Park. The new SMU Connexion Building, SMU-C for short, connects two existing faculty buildings across a main throughfare, but also makes it easier for passersby to access to the popular green space.

The five-storey building in solid wood construction with a floor space of around 8500 sqm is designed as an experimental learning space. There are extensive informal learning zones and open floor plans for teamwork as well as classic seminar rooms, learning 24/7 including sleeping accommodations, use of new technologies, creative furniture systems everything is possible.

But above all, the SMU-C for Singapore is a pilot project in passive displacement cooling in an institutional building. GraviVent® – the silent gravity cooling contributes to the optimal climate in the building. To dissipate sensitive and latent cooling loads via guided free convection, 661 high-performance cooling units were installed in the false ceilings.

GraviVent® is a cooling system of short distances and without long pipes Developed in the 1980s by Siegfried Timmler, the system is based on the simple law of nature that warm air rises. When it is discharged and cooled, it falls down the shaft and reenters the room through air outlets energy-neutral and sustainable. Up to 60 % of the energy otherwise used can be saved compared to split air-conditioning units.

Thanks to the additional use of solaren energy, the SMU-C is a net-zero energy building, awarded GreenMark Platinum certification and the WELL Building Standard®.

A true smart building whrer everything is designed for the health and well-being of learners, teachers and the environment.