Asia's largest wooden building

Singapore The timber building at Nanyang Technological University has an impressive green design, including solar panels that produce more electricity than needed.

The Gaia building is built mainly from mass timber. Photo: NTU — The Gaia building is built mainly from mass timber. Photo: *NTU*

Gaia, Asia's largest wooden building, was designed by Toyo Ito & Associates and built in partnership with RSP, New Atlas reported on May 19. The building is located on the campus of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore, next to Heatherwick Studio's Learning Center and near Wave, also designed by Ito. The building is only six stories high but is 220 meters long and has a floor area of 43,500 square meters. For comparison, the world's tallest wooden building, Mjøstårnet, has 18 floors.

Gaia is shaped like two slightly curved rectangular blocks that are separated and intersect at several points. Structurally, the building is primarily composed of mass timber, made from equal parts of CLT (cross-laminated timber) and Glulam (glue-laminated timber). However, like many modern timber projects, the building also has some concrete reinforcement. In this case, concrete is used for the stairs, toilets, and floor slabs.

The building will serve the Nanyang Business School with a 170-seat auditorium, 12 lecture theatres, 13 seminar rooms and classrooms. The interior design uses natural wood, glazing and skylights to ensure light flows into the interior.

Gaia has been awarded Singapore’s Green Mark Platinum (Zero Energy) green building award for buildings that generate more energy than they consume. Rooftop solar panels produce 516,000 kWh of electricity annually. Sunshades on the building’s exterior help reduce solar heat gain. The building also has plenty of open spaces, terraces and skylights for ventilation.

According to NTU, Gaia's energy-efficient design means the building produces 2,500 tonnes less CO2 per year than a standard building of the same type and size.

An Khang (According to New Atlas )

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