Feature

Temasek Vs Republic
Architecture and the student

Mahreen Mahmud & Rezwana Manjur

OVER the years universities have had massive impacts on student life. It has become a household commodity. A degree has now become a necessity. It paves the way for the youth to successfully emerge himself into the adult workforce and enable him to heighten his understanding in his desired educational sphere. Most often we tend to focus our attention on the academic aspect of tertiary education and forget other factors which help make the individual who he is. Tertiary education is where one is molded to reach the point of individuality and excellence of personal grooming. It is not only with the help of teachers and peers but the structure of the institution itself. With this we turn our focus to campus life and its architecture. Singapore holds a great variety when it comes to tertiary education. For the youth population, academic certificates range from a levels to diplomas to degrees. In our exploration of the various structures of academics we were introduced to the diverse campus lives present. In this article we have chosen to look closely at 2 polytechnic institutions. The first being Temasek Polytechnic and the second being Republic Polytechnic. Both with a mass student population aged 16-20, both blessed with a skillful blend of nature and architecture, both designed by world famous foreign architects.

Temasek Polytechnic was built on the East of Singapore in 1995 by world renowned Scottish architect James Stirling. It started with an initial enrolment of 735 students and has now a current student body of 15,000. After an hour long journey from one end of the island to the other, we were thankfully greeted by monumental structure splashed with a spectrum of colours. Our initial response was pure awe. We stood there taking in the overwhelming composition of beauty, nature and of course the student population. This area was the plaza. Both of us being students under fields of creativity, it was no surprise that our first stop was at the design wing of the polytechnic. Unlike other faculties, the students of the design school were spread across fields with their photography tools and easels. We roamed through inter twining hallways, little to our knowledge that we had climbed 3 flights of stairs. With this, we were back to the plaza. On to our next destination we headed. From the arts we roamed to the science. We entered the building of applied science and made our way through the business school and even the engineering. All of which were allocated their own wing with radial converging back into the central plaza. Hence, one would expect most student activity to take place in the Plaza. The separate wings too had their own gathering points but it was the plaza which held the different wings and idea's together bringing together a form of unity. On all circulation spaces there was emerging student activity be it alone or with a group. Even stairways encouraged these communal meeting points. Each flight ended to a landing which was adequate amount of space to do some minute amount of chitchat.

Temasek had an intense array of colour schemes. This was more so highlighted by the natural beauty it possessed. Surrounded by a reservoir, the polytechnic has its own luscious greenery. Adding onto its greens were the purple bougainvilleas and the orange Koi's of the Koi pond. In Temasek Poly, the impact of nature was far from being outweighed by the creativity of man.

In 2006 Republic Polytechnic was inaugurated by prime minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong. The architect in charge of this new campus was the Japanese talent Fumihiko Maki in collaboration with the local DP architects. Walking in on a sunny afternoon the glass and steel structures invited us into a world of contemporary architecture. The various faculties were not converging in any particular point however their uniformity of the various buildings informed us of their belonging to the 20 hectares site. The equality of importance of the various fields was reflected by the nature of the buildings itself.

Though the interiors differed from each other in their own characteristics the basic structures and the exterior remained the same. The interiors were lofty giving students a huge space. While this was successful in bringing together an indoor accommodation to school events it also brought about the idea of aloofness. Personally we felt that the space created a separation rather than collaboration of individual difference. However it is also presumable to outsiders that through the years, the student population is bound to grow and hence fill up the vacuum present around these spaces. This growth in student population is bound to break the silence of the machine like structures and give it a new life form. The intersection of nature into the machine like structures brought much life to the campus. Greenery and water bodies were felt throughout the various levels. Through the various layers of glass walls one was never away from nature, able to see the wooden planked floors as well as the various shades of green pastures. The blending of the various elements and contrasting materials along with a touch of Japanese essence in landscaping made the atmosphere modern yet soothing to the eye.

Overall both the campuses with their diverse student body and characteristic architecture made it successful in its domain. We chose these two polytechnics to show how despite the similarity in education, student body as well reputation, it is the work of the architect which sets them worlds apart. Both have gained immense success in student life and molding the youths to put their best foot forth in the working world. On a personal scale we believe that the colours were of much attraction and vivacious nature of the Temasek life but at the same time it would be unjust to look over the meditative atmosphere present in Republic Polytechnic. Ultimately it is the student who decides which atmosphere is of better coordination to his inner being and which would harbor his personal talents. Architecture and campus life can only do so much.

Mahreen Mahmud (5th Year Architecture student NSU)
Rezwana Manjur(2nd Year English Student NTU)