1.

0 INTRODUCTION TO THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SINGAPORE

Rising 16 storeys and standing a 102.8 metre away from the ground is the gigantic
edifice of Singapore National Library building. It sits on a square site bounded by Victoria
Street in the north, North Bridge Road in the south, Middle Road in the east and the small filter
lane of Bain Street in the west and takes up an area of 58,7833 sq metres.

The infrastructural planning for the building started with a public consultation process.
As early as May 1999, seven civic groups were set up to collect public views and response on
the construction of the New National Library Building. These were made up of business
community, community self-help groups, arts community, older citizens, disabled persons,
young people and researchers.


Figure 1.0(a) Site Location
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The methods that developed from the librarys conferences about its public spaces
share a mutual target of removing architectural and administrative barriers to collaboration.
The consultation established the following:
-A Place for the People
The National Library Building should provide an exposed, hospitable and favourable learning
and research atmosphere for the people of Singapore.

- A Civic Institution
The National Library Building should be a lasting civic institution with a discrete character,
reflecting Singapores multi-ethnic heritage and to support an innovative and connected
Singapore.

-A Flexible and Functional Building
The National Library Building should be an entirely flexible and functionally clear building.

-An Efficient Building with Integrated Systems
In October 1999, a design competition was followed by an exhibition on five conceptual
design schemes by participating architectural houses. The tender was granted to TR Hamzah
and Yeang Sdn Bhd, Malaysia, who fulfilled the convoluted requirements of a congregated
arts+heritage+library design. National Library of Singapore started working on a design that
congregated learning spaces and integrated the user experience after constant arguments on
the need to combine the archives, museums and libraries in order to provide the user with a
seamless flow of knowledge (Paul, 2006).




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Figure1.0(a) shows that National Library building represents the converging spaces of
arts, heritage and libraries stacked vertically up with two connected wings of programming
zones where collaboration and high interaction takes place. The architecture integrates public
and entertainment space, with that of reference and research converged in a single building.






By raising the collections block one story off the ground, the architect created a central
atrium space covered by stacks of thermal masses on top. This structure encourages airflow
from outside to the interior space through the inlets, creating a cool internal civic space (Kwok,
2011). Likewise, the covered atrium runs north-south to capture breezes and to frame the view
north to the historic St. Joseph's Church across Victoria Street. The design of the library
addresses the contradiction that its requirements present the books need to be kept away
from direct sunlight, extreme temperature and moisture, while adequate daylight is to be
ensured for reading.
Figure 1.0(b) Spaces in National Library Building

Figure 1.0(c) Stack Ventilation Effect

wind
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Figure 1.0(d) Plan showing building layout


The huge civic project that opened to public in 2005 is separated into two different blocks,
which carefully oriented away from the east-west sun to minimize solar impact. It consists of a
banana-shaped structure on the east for exhibition spaces and cultural activities and sun
shading features on the west face of the building that would house the library collections and
reading rooms as an additional shield against solar heat gain. The forms of the blocks reflect
their inner functions a large, rectilinear block meant for the library collections and a smaller,
curved block for the noisier, public activities. This contrast between the formality of one and
asymmetry of the other reveals the dual nature of the library. A semi-enclosed, daylit street run
in between the two pieces, with bridges at the upper levels connecting the two sides.

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1.1 Macro Climate Analysis
Figure 1.1(a) Diurnal Weather Averages
Figure 1.1(b) Dry Bulb Temperature from 1 Jan to 31 Dec
Figure 1.1(c) Relative Humidity from 1 Jan to 31 Dec
Figure 1.1(d) Direct Radiation from 1 Jan to 31 Dec
1.1.1 Climate Data
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At the floor level, the temperature is about 25
o
c with velocity of up to 1m/s or higher. At
the section in the middle of the space, the temperature is around 26-27
o
c and the velocities
vary from 0.1 to 0.6 m/s. The air velocity distribution varies quite significantly across the
space, generally from 1m/s to as high as 4.5 m/s in certain spots. Given the assumed
prevailing wind direction, the fully enclosed link bridges act as a barrier which deflects the
wind downwards and accelerates the flow along the Street towards Victoria Street. There is
also negligible air movement in the vertical core between the link bridges under naturally
ventilated conditions (Janeiro, 2001).















A canopy at the base of the lowest link bridge is applied to avoid area of high air
velocities in the plaza. Similar element is also introduced at the perimeter of the main library
block along Victoria Street and North Bridge Road. These elements serve as effective screens
against potential driving rain into the plaza area.

Figure 1.2.1(c) Canopy
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The new National Library Building is the first building to achieve the highest award for
the Green Mark Scheme the Green Mark Platinum, it also receive an award from the World
Association of Chinese Architects. The building was designed as an innovation architecture,
which incorporated bioclimatic design techniques, advanced mechanical and electrical
engineering. The building had to be able to respond to the tropical climate. It is very
uncomfortable for its occupants and threatened the important collection due to the solar heat,
humidity and light. Hence, it is operating in an energy efficient way by having several innovative
green features. Computer simulation and modelling was carried out to find the best building
orientation and configuration to buffer from direct solar heat, at the same time optimising
natural ventilation and day lighting (Hart, 2011).
Figure 1.2.2(a) Stereographic Diagram
Figure 1.2.2(b) Composite of Buffer Zone
1.2.2 Solar Analysis
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Effective Shading facing Victoria Street

Figure 1.2.2(c) Percentage of the faade area shaded for each month
Total Incident Radiation facing Victoria Street
A
v
e
r
a
g
e

H
o
u
r
l
y

R
a
d
i
a
t
i
o
n

(
x
1
0
-
3

k
W
h
)

P
e
r

m
2

Figure 1.2.2(d) Hourly solar radiation incident on the facade for each month
Figure 1.2.2(c) shows the measure of the shading efficiency of different height of
faade/depth of shade ratios (h/d) in terms of percentage of shaded areas while Figure 1.2.2(d)
shows the solar radiation (kWh/m
2
) incident of the faade. The self-shade condition represents
shading that occurs simply by virtue of the faade orientation, for example, the east faade will
not receive any direct solar radiation in the afternoon period. This indicates that the Victoria
Street and Middle road facades are generally more exposed to incident solar radiation all year
round than the North Bridge Road and Bain Street facades. Hence horizontal shading is
applied to reduce the incident radiation on all facades (Janeiro, 2001).

P
e
r
c
e
n
t
a
g
e

o
f

F
a

a
d
e

A
r
e
a

(
%
)

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1.2.3 Energy Efficiency
There are only some part of the building is fully air-conditioned; while the covered plaza
is naturally ventilated and mostly day lit, and transitional spaces such as lobbies and foyers
use a combination of natural ventilation and mechanical means, such as fans. Louvers were
installed in the glass roof above the atrium, which creates convection force to pull hot air up
and out of the space. Most of the other spaces are naturally ventilated and cooled by the 14
garden terraces, equals to nearly 70,000 square feet of planted areas. Extensive landscaping
and sky terraces are utilized to lower local ambient temperature while the two sunken
subterranean gardens reduce humidity of the basement.
Besides motion sensors to switch off the lights in some of the public spaces during the
day, daylight sensors at the boundary of the library areas also monitor the amount of natural
light entering the building, allowing the artificial lighting to switch off and reduced the building
dependence on the usage of electric lighting. The libraries, exhibition and office spaces are
largely naturally lit. A sophisticated Integrated Lighting Control System allows for strategic
programming of the internal and external lights. Localized intelligent switching provides
afterhours lighting only for occupied areas (Yeang, 2005).


Table 1.2.3(b) Measurable Results
ENERGY SAVINGS 31%
DESIGN ENERGY SAVINGS 17% lower than the National Library Buildings
design benchmark
ELECTRICITY ENERGY SAVINGS 31% lower than the national average of 220
kWh/sqm/annum for non-green buildings
ENERGY EFFICIENCT INDEX (EEI) 151kW/hr/m
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Figure1.2.3(a) Daylight sensors monitor the amount of natural light entering the building, allowing the artificial
lighting to switch off.
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