PWD-designed School with Hexagonal Classrooms
The current Association for Persons with Special Needs (APSN) Tanglin Special School is probably the sole remaining example of a Public Works Department (PWD)–designed school typology that has hexagonal classrooms. This design was originally one of the ten winning entries selected from an internal competition co-organised by the Ministry of Education and PWD in 1975. One of the objectives of the competition was to uncover designs that break away from “box-like structures with no beauty or character”, supposedly typical of the “mass-produced” schools that the nation had been building since it gained self governance in 1959.
The hexagonal classrooms make the design submitted by Thai architect Puangthong Intarajit (then employed by the PWD) one of the most striking winners to emerge. Her design was first built in Alexandra Road, which became today’s APSN Tanglin Special School, and was also realised in Ang Mo Kio and Henry Park. Initially, it was claimed that hexagonal classrooms meant “less formal seating arrangement [would] be possible, and unlike present standardised and somewhat regimentalised rows, the students [could] be seated ‘around’ the classrooms”¹. Despite the potential of the interesting geometry, PWD soon stopped building schools with hexagon-shaped classrooms.
Location: 143 Alexandra Rd, Singapore 159924
Architects: Puangthong Intarajit of Public Works Department
Year: 1975
Status: Not conserved
¹ “The Hexagon Look for School,” The Straits Times, 6 May 1978
Written by Chang Jiat Hwee, edited by Justin Zhuang, last updated 12 May 2021.
