Built Expressions Bangalore :: Sota School Of The Arts, Singapore

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SOTA- School of the Arts

Green Art of Singapore

School of The Arts (SOTA) was incepted in 2004 at Zubir, Singapore. It is recognized as the first independent pre-tertiary arts school to nurture youth’s talents in the field of arts to give a proper path for creative minds at an early age to reach their passionate destination. The structural building style of SOTA itself sets an artistic feature which wakes up creative talents.

The school for young can play an important part in the long-term development of Singapore's distinctive arts scene and talent pool. An arts school can also play a major role in providing a strong foundation in our young artistic talents. Such a foundation will be crucial not only for students interested in pursuing careers in the arts but also for those who wish to pursue careers as creative professionals in the fields of design and media.

A facility and platform of an art school in the nation can serve best needs of Singapore in nurturing future artistic talents and recognizing creative achievements. It can produce many talents in the broader framework for the arts and creativity to contribute in remaking Singapore.

The Art School

The School of the Arts is brilliantly designed not only to provide a safe and stimulating environment for learning but also places of delight for the public too. The building contains a music auditorium, drama theatre, black box theatre and several informal performing structures in a same outer land surface. To enhance the vibrancy of the city, shops are provided along the external covered walkway and a large civic amphitheatre is created under the canopy of large conserved trees. The sectional relationship between gathering spaces on different levels allows for easy ventilation and a comfortable microclimate with barrier free access incorporated throughout the building. The academic blocks are designed for natural ventilation with breezeways in-between the blocks. Gardens on the top of decks cut out heat gain, absorb carbon, and provide shady outdoor break-out spaces and play areas, while green facades cut out glare and dust, keep classrooms cool and dampen traffic noise. These seamless indoor-outdoor spaces with comfortable microclimates allow different sized groups to interact and relax without leaving the secure environment of the school.

Pre-Planned Design

The design strategy for the inner city school creates two visually connected horizontal strategies; a space for public communication below and a space for safety. The strategy solved the twin objectives of porosity and communication with the public and wider arts community on the one hand and a secure safe learning environment on the other. The two parts were called the ‘Backdrop and the Blank Canvas’.

While the Blank Canvas is a simple and flexible space allows for student activities and their works to take centre stage. The Backdrop is envisioned as a performance venue creates a sense of freedom from our regular world of geometry. This was inspired by Michelangelo’s sculpture, Captive Slave series and his quote: “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” The Blank Canvas is the secured school area and is a simple and flexible space. The metaphor suggests the open possibilities and focus on the educational content rather than the architectural frame. Three long rectangular blocks have a secured point of access are visually connected from all the circulation spaces to the public areas below. This environment is simple, practical, bright, and airy and is designed for maximum flexibility and sustainability.

Its single room thick design allows cross ventilation to every classroom it can function with or without air-conditioning. The building facade is also lined with walls of green capers to help cut out glare, dust, and dampen traffic noise to keep the rooms cool. On the roof of SOTA is a large recreation park in the sky that also has a 400m running track.

WOHA’s words

To incorporate a school and arts venue two functions of extremely different design and construction complexity. WOHA Architect Pte Ltd, a Singapore based architect firm took a “club sandwich” approach to its design on the very tight site. Two visually connected horizontal levels demarcate the building’s different functions. The six storey’s of academic blocks are a safe and secure learning environment known as the ‘Blank Canvas’ and they sit above a pedestal of performance venues named the ‘Backdrop’.

The Backdrop is the podium contains a concert hall, drama theatre, black box theatre and several small informal performing spaces. Against this backdrop the school communicates with the public realm. The natural ventilated informal spaces in between the performance spaces are designed around an urban short-cut thereby allowing the public to see the activities of the school. A civic amphitheatre has been created under conserved trees and is very popular. Architecturally the Backdrop is designed as a faceted sculptural space, which frames the surrounding city views in new and interesting ways.

Classrooms studios and circulation are all naturally ventilated with dynamic visual and physical links between blocks. The green facades are environmental filters cutting out glare and dust keeping the rooms cool and in combination with the acoustic ceilings absorb traffic noise. The breezeways in-between the blocks is designed for maximum comfort and interaction providing spaces for different sized groups to interact and relax. The wind-directing design has proved to be successful and extremely comfortable with constant cooling breezes even in Singapore’s low wind environment. The rooftop is designed as a large recreation park in the sky and incorporates a 400m running track. The rooftop is designed as a large recreation park in the sky complete with a running track and shady trees. It allows the students to take full advantage of the views afforded by the Arts School’s unique positioning within the Civic District and provides a substantial play area in the built-up neighborhood.

The palette of off-form coloured precast and in-situ concrete, painted walls and metal railings is robust and cost-effective. Walls of living creepers bring softness and carbon-friendly life to the inner city neighbourhood. The design of the creeper screens was inspired by a musical score.

Ar. Wong Mun Summ says “The Backdrop was envisioned as a heavy pedestal, a gargantuan mass of stone carved out and chiselled to reveal dynamic and unexpected volumes of various proportions. It gives students and visitors a stimulating entry into the building and entices passers-by to explore the public areas.”

The Risk Factor

Another challenging issue faced by WOHA was to tackle the Ministry of Education of Singapore requirements on the design of the school’s academic blocks. The design was to be the greatest mark for ‘Art world’ in the town. These have to follow closely the specifications and budget guidelines similar to other government schools in Singapore that have non air-conditioned classrooms and generous ground level fields. However SOTA is situated in the city where there is more traffic, noise and dust and also less social spaces and play areas. WOHA’s design solution was to create the building as a “Machine for the Wind”.

“SOTA demonstrated the possibility of creating a sustainable design that meets the challenges and objectives of the brief through passive design strategies, vertical greenery and a simple palette of materials,” says Ar. Wong. “These results in a robust aesthetics that at the same time is cost-effective and requires minimal maintenance, he adds”

The design of SOTA came about through WOHA’s regular feedback sessions with the school’s principal and the various Heads of Department. Besides focus group sessions at the initial stages to figure out the needs to accumulate their classes and infrastructure. WOHA also got its client to attend on-site viewings of visual mock-ups, samples and prototypes. The client gave the preferences on colours and textures as well as comments on safety and general maintenance. Wong says it helped us to give the client a greater sense of involvement, appreciation, and ownership of the decision-making process gone into the design and construction of SOTA.

The project continues WOHA’s explorations on tropical building designs. Ar. Wong says the studio has been able to pursue in Singapore because of the government’s active promotion of design and the city’s reputation as an effective and efficient business port helping WOHA win projects both in Singapore and overseas. He also adds that city gives the studio the chance to work with a pool of good designers and talents from around the world.

It is these features that make Singapore the leading city in the tropical belt says Ar. Wong creating an ideal place to incubate test and explore innovation, sustainability and design. “Designing is about continuity and does not stop with one project. Each project we undertake is the test bed for one or more ideas about how to live more sustainably in the future but always framed in the context of architecture providing daily delight to the end-user.”

WOHA has also been recognised at every President’s Design Award since the first edition was held in 2006. It was the recipient of Design of the Year for its Church of St Mary of the Angels, No. 1 Moulmein Rise, The Met, Genexis Theatre and Stadium MRT station. In 2008, it was also awarded the Designer of the Year.

Advice for emerging designers

“You need to work in a firm, company, or environment that believes in doing well when you are starting a career. Do not be wrapped up over your salary and remuneration in your early years. Your very first job will set your career path for you. You need drive passion and perseverance - without these, you are not suited to a design career.”

Not a Child’s Play

Setting the stage to thrill and inspire their audience’s performing arts venues are all buildings informed by performance. The technically challenging structures are unlike in terms of their design requirements and are certainly no child’s play. The space and facilities must perform as well as the artists themselves striking a delicate balance between architecture, acoustics and theatrical functionality.

“The first step was refining the design brief and WOHA’s competition entry from an acoustical and theatrical perspective,” explains Andrew Nicol, Arup’s regional acoustics and theatre consulting leader. The team and client toured comparable facilities around the world, “paying particular attention to the scale of performance spaces that would meet the needs of students and professionals alike.”Overall acoustically-intimate environment was engineered in the performance venues to give confidence to young performers. Of equal importance was the sharing of knowledge and skills that would help SOTA manage their design vision, construction costs and future maintenance of the building.

Drama Theatre

423 seats furnished with a bright full colour contrast cover seats. Shaped to ensure closeness between the spectator and performers sound diffusing surfaces are used to evenly distribute sound energy from the stage to the audience area. The space’s balcony slope was also designed in such a way that it would curve and create a greater performer-audience relation.

Studio Theatre

200 seats designed to be highly-configurable so closely proximity between the performers and audience always is maintained and regardless of the scale of a performance or production. An innovative tension wire grid system made of thin cables stretched to create a walk-on surface provides technicians and students unfettered access to any part of the ceiling without the risk of falling.

Concert Hall

708 seats are arranged at the hall. An innovative motorized choir stall allows the stage depth to be adapted to accommodate both large orchestral and small ensembles. The application of visual elements such as the acoustic banners also serves to reduce aberrance while maintaining high clarity in all configurations and room formats.

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