About the BCA-SIA-SGBC International Tropical

Architecture Design (ITAD) Competition for Institutes of

Higher Learning
Jointly organised by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), Singapore Institute of
Architects (SIA) and Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC), the ITAD Competition is part
of the annual Singapore Green Building Week and co-located with the International Green
Building Conference (IGBC) in Singapore. With a focus on tropical green architecture and
sustainable building design solutions, the ITAD Competition is opened to students from institutes
of higher learning around the world.

Launched in 2011, the ITAD Competition aims to reach out to students the leaders of
tomorrow, in sustainable developments and raise awareness in the areas of sustainability and
mitigating climate change. The ITAD Competition encourages students to explore vast realms of
knowledge revolving around sustainability, and provides a platform for them to showcase their
innovative sustainable design ideas.

Singapores Green Building Journey

Singapore has set a national target to green 80% of all buildings, including existing building
stock, by 2030. The Singapore green building journey began in 2005 with the launch of BCA
Green Mark Scheme, a green building rating system that evaluates buildings for their
environmental impact and performance, with the objective of raising awareness of sustainable
developments.

Through the years, Singapore developed Green Building Masterplans to chart the way for our
green building journey. Emphasis was placed on the greening of New Buildings in the 1st Green
Building Masterplan launched in 2006, the subsequent 2nd Green Building Masterplan in 2009
focused more on Existing Buildings. In 2014, the 3rd Masterplan was released, with the
progressive shift of focus towards occupant behaviors to achieve sustainable and highly energy
efficient buildings.

Today, Singapore has close to 3,000 Green Mark building projects, covering about 88 million
square meters of built-up space. This represents about 33% of the entire building stock in
Singapore (as of January 2017), which makes Singapore one of the leading cities in the world in
terms of per capita green building space. Singapores efforts in greening the built environment
over the past 10 years have also gained recognition regionally and internationally, with various
awards and accolades including the 2010 Energy and Environment Award (Government
Category) awarded by the Aspen Institute in US, the Regional Leadership Award in 2011 from
the World Green Building Council, and the International Star for Energy Efficiency Award (I-
Star) in 2013 awarded by the Alliance to Save Energy in US
ITAD Competition 2017 Brief
BUILDING URBAN RESILIENCE THROUGH ZERO ENERGY LIVING

80 percent of the largest cities are vulnerable to severe impacts from natural disasters and all
cities face new impacts caused by climate change. Over the last decade, natural disasters affected
more than 220 million people and caused economyic damage of USD $100 million per year.

As climate continues to change and the adverse(merugikan) impacts of disasters increase in

cities, there is an imminent(dekat) need for urban cities to be resilient. Urban resilience is the
capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses and systems within a city to
survive, adapt, and grow no matter what kind of chronic stresses and acute shocks they
experience.

Urban cities are complex with highly interdependent systems, where its people and enterprises
are dependent on infrastructure networks, communication systems etc. for their well-being.
Investing in building up cities resilience contributes to long-term sustainability for future
generations.

In a built-up urban environment where land space is limited, green buildings are vital to
sustainability. According to United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), buildings use
about 40% of global energy, 25% of global water, 40% of global resources, and they emit
approximately 1/3 of Green House Gases (GHG) emissions. Through effective design and
incorporation of technology, developments such as Zero Energy buildings have great potential to
reduce its carbon footprint for greater climate resilience. They produce enough energy to run by
itself, thereby reducing its reliance on limited resources.

This years competition seeks innovative, impactful and practical design solutions to integrate
Zero Energy buildings in an urban city of participants choice, with due consideration to combat
global challenges in areas such as energy resilience, environmental sustainability and rapid
urbanisation. The buildings and the communities which they house should promote sustainability
and urban resilience in times of natural disasters and socio-economic challenges. Considerations
should be given to the cohesive integration of the building in the community and how
occupants/users can be influenced/engaged to play an active role towards the sustainability of the
building. There is no restriction on building typology, but it has to be a mediumrise (between
6-12 storey) or a high-rise (above 13 storey) building.

Design Requirements
Entries should:

Be applicable for the tropical/sub-tropical climate

Identify a city for the design of the building to be based on

Incorporate both active and passive design strategies, energy efficient features and other green
building features
 Be based on BCA Green Mark assessment tool to validate their sustainable design concepts.
For Green Mark Assessment criteria on Residential buildings, please click here.
For Green Mark Assessment criteria on Non-Residential buildings, please click here.
For more information on BCA Green Mark scheme, please visit here.

Justify how the features and strategies contribute to the sustainability of the building

Include the engineering feasibility of the design solutions proposed, where possible

Other than the exterior building design, considerations should also be given to the building
interior on how user-centric sustainable features and practices can be incorporated, including an
evaluation of the effect on the overall well-being of building residents/ users

Design should also show how the proposed building can integrate with the surrounding
environment and landscape

Incorporate design concepts/elements that will encourage/guide residents/ end-users to

cultivate green behaviours or practices in the tropical climate

Present a practical, feasible direction for future buildings, based on resources available in
present day

Design board should include site plans and cross-sections perspectives

The entries will be judged based on the below criteria:

1 Design Concept & Creativity 20%

2 Relevance to tropical context 20%

3 Relevance to theme 20%

4 Feasibility in current context 15%

5 Design for behavioural change and social capital 15%

6 Presentation 5%

7 Reference to green rating 5%

Prizes

The judging panel will select 5 finalist entries.

Finalists will be awarded cash prizes and invited to Singapore to present their works at the Final
Judging and attend the International Green Building Conference (07-09 Sep).

Timeline

Registration opens till 23 Jun

Submissions due 14 Jul

Finalists will be notified by 18 Aug
Final Judging will be held on 11 Sep
Award ceremony will be held on 12 Sep (during the International Green Building Conference)