Alexandra Hospital in Singapore engaged SkyTimber™ : Tropical Renewable Architecture Design Lab at the National University of Singapore, in 2022 to conduct a design-research project on the tree up-cycling process. Biophilic Healing (BioHeal™), a sustainable architecture approach for rejuvenation, takes historical trees on a transformation journey of up-cycling and rebirth, bringing together biodiversity, vitality, and relaxation, aiming to aid with the psychological and physiological aspects of patients' recovery. A unique Tree-to-Design approach was taken to maximise the potential of each harvested tree with diverse sizes, shapes, colours, and textures, resulting in the following four uniquely-designed installations: - Spring Square : Rebirth - Well Sphere : Rejuvenate - Rainbow Forum : Collaborate - Rainforest Collection : Connect At the designated site of Cocoon building (a facility block at Alexandra Hospital), 25 trees with girth exceeding one metre were found prior to its construction. Within this collection, 17 trees were earmarked and their timber harvested for up-cycling. They comprised of nine rain trees, two jambu trees, two sea almond trees, two rosy trumpet trees, one rambutan tree, and one bod hi tree. Apart from the rain tree, most of the other trees are exotic species in architecture. For more information, please visit https://www.skytimber.org

Our brand new design for NUS DOA Material Library, made of Rubberwood Finger Jointed Laminated Board (FJLB), a light-colored medium-density tropical hardwood. There are extensive rubber plantations in Southeast Asia. Rubberwood is harvested after they complete the latex production cycle in 25 to 30 years, which serves dual purpose: the latex production and the timber supply. The NUS DOA Material Library allows users to freely touch and hold up to 300 inspirational material samples, which are secured by rewinding wires. Situated between design studios and the Design Fabrication Workshop, the Material Library serves as a bridge between the digital design environment and the physical material processing realm. For more information, please visit at https://cde.nus.edu.sg/arch/design-fabrication-workshop/material-library/

Sky Timber Design Studio (2022), Koh Dai Yuan Shoki

Sky Timber Design Studio (2020), Wu Yi Jane / A/P Shinya Okuda

NUS Central Library / Jan. 2021

NUS-BFH Tropical GLT Bending Test / Jul. 2019