NTU builds Singapore’s first “Lego-style” high-rise residences

Fully built rooms are stacked on top of each other on-site.

Nanyang Technological University (NTU)’s three new residential halls will be the country’s first public high-rise residential building to use a “Lego-style” construction method. 

According to the university’s news release, the method is also known as “Prefabricated Pre-Finished Volumetric Construction” (PPVC). It allows prefabricated individual rooms already built with internal fixtures such as lighting, windows, and fans to be stacked on top of each other. The rooms are assembled in a factory and then put together on-site.

PPVC cuts down noise and dust pollution onsite as more activities are done off-site. It also saves up to 25 to 40% in manpower and 15 to 20% in construction time. With PPVC, the residential hall is expected to be ready by mid-2016, in time for the new academic year beginning on August.

The residential complex will purportedly span six block, each 13 storeys high. It will be able accommodate 1,850 students, thereby allowing NTU to house almost 14,00 students.

The buildings will also incorporate sustainable features such as energy-saving lighting and solar-powered systems.