Safdie Architects recognized with 2025 Singapore President*s Design Award for its biophilic SJ Campus

Safdie Architects has been awarded the 2025 Singapore President*s Design Award (P*DA) for Design of the Year for the Surbana Jurong Campus, which opened in 2024. The project’s recognition marks the firm’s third Design of the Year award since 2011.

The President*s Design Award is Singapore’s most prestigious recognition that honors designers and designs that improve lives and create meaningful impact both locally and globally. Safdie Architects previously received the award in 2011 for the iconic Marina Bay Sands complex and in 2020 for the Jewel Changi Airport.

Located in Singapore’s emerging Jurong Innovation District, the 742,000-square-foot headquarters for the Surbana Jurong corporation spreads across 10 pavilions that are placed along a central multi-level pedestrian spine. On one side, the pavilions are lifted above the ground in a way that allows the rainforest surroundings to grow and thrive.

“SJ Campus reconceives the traditional corporate headquarters as a campus that integrates harmoniously with the public realm,” said the P*DA Jury. “The jury commends the team for creating a meaningful office campus typology that serves both its employees and the wider community.”

On the other side, there are two enclosed courtyards, which provide interior garden spaces and places for the community. The project’s design was guided by the belief that employees should have optimal access to light, air, and green space to reduce stress, encourage socialization and collaboration, and enhance creativity.

The campus is now one of the largest Green Mark Super Low-Energy Buildings in Singapore. It preserves more than half of the site’s existing green space and replaces built-upon green areas with rooftop gardens, lush interior gardens, and extensive exterior landscaping and trails.

As stated by Moshe Safdie, “Architecture should uplift the spirit and resonate with its setting. With SJ Campus, we conceived of a new workplace typology that improves employee wellbeing by establishing innovative connections to nature, creating places for community, and more holistically supporting a better quality of life. The project demonstrates that a corporation with thousands of employees can thrive in a green interactive communal environment, dramatically affecting their work culture and social and civic vitality.”

In continuation of the firm’s work in Singapore, Safdie Architects recently broke ground on a new 55-story Marina Bay Sands development. 

The firm is also currently hiring for a Marketing Coordinator on Archinect Jobs.