A precision-controlled environment for scientific progress

Lab & research facilities require precision-controlled environments, making them more expensive. Through integrating smart building technologies with building services, we’ve created a building that allows NUS to maximise their wet sciences program.

Standing 16 floors tall and covering 30,000 m2 of floor space, the new Wet Science Building at NUS (National University of Singapore) includes state-of-the-art research and teaching wet laboratories, as well as extensive seminar and administrative spaces.

Beca was engaged by NUS as the Mechanical and Electrical services engineers for this building which was constructed between 2017 to 2019. Given the greater expense of constructing and operating laboratory and research buildings and the need to maximise the utilisation of this high value space, integrating a network of high-density building sensors was central to our design.

Covering a total 11,000m2 of covered floor area and evenly spaced ever 4m2, these sensors are placed within the ceiling and lighting fixtures, communicating with each other via an Internet of Things (IoT) network.

They gather valuable information on everything from movement, space utilisation and temperature, providing a highly economical way for the NUS facilities team to obtain high quality data on how the building is being used in real-time.

Armed with this data, classes and other activities can be scheduled to optimise energy efficiency, whilst building systems such as lighting and air conditioning can be dialled up or down on a room by room basis, based on how many people are using it at any one time.

Now in regular use, the NUS Wet Sciences Building is serving as a world-class, sustainable environment in which scientific progress can be made!

Image credit: NUS