The former Bukit Timah Fire Station (BTFS) dates back to the 1950s, and is the last remaining of three fire stations which were built as part of the post-World War II expansion of Singapore’s Fire Brigade. In 2019, C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and Reinventing Cities launched a competition to transform BTFS into a gateway community node for visitors of all ages and abilities to enjoy nature, heritage and adventure.
XCO2 worked alongside Cover Projects and PAC Architecture to design ‘The Green State’, an integrated “Live, Work and Play” development that strongly emphasises social, environmental and economic sustainability.
To meet the BCA zero energy building target, XCO2 worked closely with the architects to develop a thermal model to test and optimise the passive design elements of the buildings such as glazing performance, fabric envelope and natural ventilation.
The scheme utilises all the existing building stock, resulting in a significant reduction in the embodied carbon of the development. The zero-carbon energy strategy employs an on-site photovoltaic array which provides more than 20% of the energy, the balance being sourced from off-site renewable sources.
The building services design employs high-efficiency cooling and DHW systems. The team proposed the use of a digital twin to model, meter and manage the development to achieve the low environmental impact required under C40 Reinventing Cities and the Singapore BCA.
