![]() The feel (at least during non-class time) is calm and focused, with ocular windows framing views both inside and out. Lower floors are organised into a network of corridors and large rooms for flexible programming. ![]() There is, likewise, an interesting shift of spatial experience as one moves vertically through the building. A complex of interlinked masses gives rise to many incidental spaces, which Bogle Architects uses to insert picturesque nooks into the plan – and to fight an over-rational repetition that could have made the campus far less compelling. While the materiality may be corporate, the massing is anything but. The irregular terraces that surround its three towers become visible, as well as the high, cathedral-like play spaces between the blocks and under ETFE awnings. Once past this gauntlet, however, the building opens in interesting ways. In keeping with the trend of international schools, the Early Learning Village is also highly secure – hidden behind its green verge is a tightly controlled perimeter, limiting access to the campus. The material vocabulary strikes one as corporate above all else: composite cladding panels, large windows and steel railings, which are more commonly associated, in Singapore, with commercial projects. It could easily be a sustainably designed office block, or one of Singapore’s many ‘flatted factories’ that combine light industrial and commercial facilities. Instead, it looks like a hybrid of existing mid-rise types – a jumble of stepped bars (called ‘towers’ here), terraced patios, translucent awnings and tropical greenery. From the exterior, it does not project a clear formal or tectonic resolution. The achievements of this new building are not immediately apparent. The schools are united under a common parent company, Cognita, a prominent global private schooling group. The new facility consolidates the pre-school and kindergarten facilities of two schools – Stamford American School and Australian International School – into a single mid-rise super-block that houses 2,100 children. The Early Learning Village, by Bogle Architects, is one of the largest and most accomplished of such experiments. Singapore’s Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) has begun commissioning ‘megacentres’ – facilities that cater for hundreds, even thousands, of children under one roof. Most recently, the model has also been adopted for early learning facilities. There are also integrated community and lifestyle centres – such as Our Tampines Hub – which integrate sports, education and leisure facilities into megastructures that cater to large population catchments. As many as 82 per cent of Singaporeans live in high-rise blocks that grow ever higher, more efficient and more spatially daring. Singaporeans are continually reminded that their nation is ‘land-scarce’, requiring buildings that are ever larger and more adaptive in the diversity of their programming.
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