National University Centre for Oral Health, Singapore (NUCOHS)

Situated at the eastern gateway to the National University of Singapore Kent Ridge Campus, the new National University Centre for Oral Health, Singapore (NUCOHS) is the newest addition to the National University Health System medical precinct. Co-located with the National University Hospital, the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and Saw Swee Hok School of Public Health, the new NUCOHS is designed to support the vision and mission of the National University of Singapore Faculty of Dentistry as a “dental institution of international distinction…improving oral health through academic excellence, high impact research and quality clinical service”. Master Plan Integration • COH/NUHS is part of a network of medical buildings on a campus. Immediate Connectivity to NUH and medical school • Located at the end of the academic green axis proposed in the overall master plan • Convenient Connectivity to MRT, buses, and network of covered walkways though campus • Extension of the academic green • Strategic node for services and public access Program The NUCOHS will house clinical services, education and research facilities in a new eight storey tower built over a four storey podium structure on the site of the current two storey NUH Service Block. To accommodate construction of the new 34,304 m2 podium / tower structure on the eastern portion of the Service Block site will also require construction of a new utility plant as well as temporary and permanent relocations of existing campus support services. Program areas are allocated to each of the tower floors : Dental service clinics and their attendant high patient volumes are located at the base of the tower on Level 5 and Level 6. Undergraduate teaching clinics are located on Level 7 and Level 8 above the dental service / post grad clinical teaching floors, consolidating all clinical teaching facilities on the lower four floors of the tower. Lecture theatres, seminar / tutorial rooms and the simulation lab are co-located on Level 9 and Level10 with academic and administration office space. Research education laboratories occupy Level 11. Access to NUCOHS Approaching the building, patient and visitors are directed to a curbside drop-off area and across an open-air plaza to the east tower lift lobby. Four high speed lifts provide transport to reception areas at each tower floor. Students and staff will access the building via the west tower lift lobby similarly equipped with high speed lifts. Staff and visitor parking is provided on podium floors L2, L3 and L4 accessed from Lower Kent Ridge Road. Building Typology The tower floor plans are standardized in overall area and configuration as either Type 1 full floor plates or Type 2 courtyard floor plates. Type 1 floor plates – consisting of a north wing, south wing and central support core - extend from Level 5 to Level 8. Type 2 courtyard floor plates – with north wing, south wing, but minus the central core element – extend from Level 9 through to Level 12. In addition to the eight passenger lifts and two service lifts, strategically located stairways facilitate staff and student movement between adjacent floors in the tower. The standardization of the floor plates and their principal elements is a key feature of a robust building infrastructure that can easily adapt to changing program requirements without compromising functionality. The standardization ethos extends to the right-sizing and location of program components common to all or most floors: staff / student lounge and collaborative space (located adjacent to the west lift lobby); public reception / waiting areas (located adjacent to east public lift lobby); and building service / washroom facilities (vertically aligned with lift cores and fire stairs. The basic building block of the design concept is the dental operatory. Numbering 297 individual open and enclosed units, the dental operatory is the most replicated element of the program and, in aggregate, the largest single component. Operatories occupy the bulk of the space in the north and south wings of the L5 to L8 clinical teaching floors. The requirement for instructional groupings of 6 operatories per module establishes a minimum dimension across the depth of the north and south wings as well as the overall area required to support the current and future complement of clinical operatory modules on each floor. Tutorial rooms are also provided within the north and south wing operatory areas as part of an objective to distribute small group classroom space throughout the clinical teaching environment. A long span concrete column and slab structural system optimizes flexibility to accommodate a broad range of clinical configurations. The CSD (central sterilization department) located in the central core area of Level 5 is a key element in the infection control strategy that replaces smaller separate dental sterile supply units (DSSU) with one consolidated facility. Façade Composition & Systems The façade overall composition expresses the program with “framed” components stacked above each other. The frames allow breaking the massing of the building but also creating cantilevers to increase sun shading. For cost efficiency, the podium adopted precast elements (vertical thins to dress up the car park) versus the upper floors adopted aluminum cladding and horizontal thins.