Artist’s impression of the BCA SkyLab. Source: Building and Construction Authority
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Wednesday (20 July) officially opened the world’s first high-rise rotatable laboratory for the tropics.
Boasting a 360-degree rotatable capability, the BCA Skylab is developed by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) in collaboration with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.
The 132 sq m facility features a full plug-and-play configurability, and is equipped with a network of over 200 sensors with high accuracy and granularity, across two identical cells for comparison testing.
The BCA Skylab allows for test-bedding of multiple technologies and interactions between technologies, which will provide new insights to building sciences research, said Assistant Professor Wan Man Pun, Principal Investigator from Nanyang Technological University, who was involved in the first research project at the BCA SkyLab.
Over the last decade, Singapore has made significant strides in the development of green buildings. In fact, 31 percent of the city-state’s entire building stock has been certified under the Green Mark scheme.
“Our medium term aspiration is to have ‘Positive-energy Low-rise, Zero-energy Medium-rise, Super Low-energy High-rise buildings in the tropics’,” said BCA CEO Dr John Keung.
“To realise this, we need to achieve breakthroughs with innovation as part of our green building agenda going forward. The BCA SkyLab is one such initiative – it is one of the most innovative projects we have undertaken and one of our proudest accomplishments.”
The BCA SkyLab was built on the rooftop of the recently completed Academic Tower at the BCA Academy.
The facility will transform the BCA Academy into a living lab, which enhances the learning experience of students as well as built environment professionals.
Some of its features include a rooftop education deck with a functional energy efficient chiller plant, life-size graphics on Universal Design, and a dedicated outdoor air dual wheel system.
“Our built environment sector is not just about the hardware, the technologies and facilities. Building capability in our people forms the core in changing the way we build, and we have to innovate to position our built environment practitioners and future talents ahead of the game,” said Keung.
“The transformation of BCA Academy is a reflection and microcosm of BCA’s initiatives driven by our vision for a future-ready built environment that is safe, high quality, sustainable and friendly.”
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
