Green Campus Blueprints

Rising to the challenge of our times

Campus buildings – perhaps more than others – must rise to the challenge of our times. The way they perform or how they are experienced should reflect the lessons taught to the students who use them. Today, walking the talk means setting (and meeting) climate targets, and framing aspirations for well-being and inclusivity.

Two winners at the Holcim Foundation Awards 2023 – Asia Pacific Bronze winner, NUS Yusof Ishak House (Singapore) and North America Bronze winner, Kaiser Borsari Hall (Bellingham, Washington, USA) – are campus buildings in two very different settings, bound by a desire to decarbonise and enhance well-being.

Framing aspirations for higher education in Singapore and the USA

The NUS Yusof Ishak House is a retrofitted heritage building within the National University of Singapore campus. Here, the decision to conserve an existing building is the first step to lowering (embodied) carbon. The second is reducing operational energy use with reliance on passive design strategies, and technology that minimizes waste and maximizes onsite production of renewable power.

The Kaiser Borsari Hall is a purpose-built facility in Western Washington University’s campus – designed as a collaborative teaching space that advances the university’s ambition to become US’s first carbon net-neutral campus. The project uses a cross-laminated timber structure to minimize embodied carbon, and on-site energy generation and storage to reduce operational emissions.