Surbana Jurong’s Floating Ponds wins WAFX Prize in the Water category

Surbana Jurong’s multi-storey Floating Ponds concept has won the WAFX (World Architecture Festival – Xth Edition) Prize in the Water category. Surbana Jurong partnered Singapore firm Apollo Aquaculture Group to develop the vertical-farming concept where fish and vegetables can be farmed together in a closed-loop, self-sustaining ecosystem with a minimum waste of water, energy and nutrients. The concept is highly scalable, both vertically and horizontally, to fit any available urban space.

The win is exciting for Surana Jurong as the WAF Awards are likened to the Oscars in the world of architectural projects, said senior architectural associate and project lead Alakesh Dutta, who added, “The prize is a firm acknowledgment of SJ’s ability to recognise critical agendas for the next generation of sustainable urban solutions and highlights the importance of developing collaborations with strategic partners like Apollo Aquaculture Group.”

This is the first award for the Floating Ponds project. It is in the running for another award ­– WAF 2017’s Future Projects award in the Experimental category, to be held in Berlin in November 2017, where team members Ms Tan Yok Joo and Mr Alakesh Dutta will be presenting the project to the jury.

If it wins, it will join the shortlist for World Building of the Year, an honour which other Singapore buildings have received in the past — The Interlace apartment complex won in 2015 and the Cooled Conservatories at Gardens by the Bay in 2012.

Aside from Floating Ponds, another Surbana Jurong project has made the Future Projects shortlist, in the category of Education. The National University of Singapore’s School of Design is a net zero-energy building that produces as much if not more energy than it consumes. The building was designed by Surbana Jurong in collaboration with Serie Architects and MPly Architects, and will contain the schools of architecture, landscape, interior and product design. When completed, it will be the first net-zero energy building in the tropics.