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himmelzimmer is an architectural design practice in Melbourne Australia and Brighton UK
dedicated to investigating an architecture that evolves from a continuous dialogue of
imaginative and practical thinking.

As a studio we need to be able to define what building/design we aspire to the most:
For us this is ‘a room in the sky’, a ‘himmelzimmer’.

From its open window we can see the endless sky encouraging us that our ideas should be
dream-like without boundaries. With its window closed we can focus on the work on our desk
in front of us, the technical delivery of our ideas.

All our designs evolve from the dialogue of these two perspectives which are both essential
in the delivery of well-executed buildings that inspire and transcend the ordinary.

Our work is at its most successful where our window to the world is in a constant state of
in-between, where it is simultaneously closed and open.

We started in 2003 as studio505.
Following studio505’s closure in 2016 we are continuing our work as himmelzimmer

As a studio we need to be able to define what building/design we aspire to the most:
For us this is ‘a room in the sky’, a ‘himmelzimmer’.

All our designs evolve from the dialogue of these two perspectives which are both essential
in the delivery of well-executed buildings that inspire and transcend the ordinary.

Our work is at its most successful where our window to the world is in a constant state of
in-between, where it is simultaneously closed and open.

We started in 2003 as studio505.
Following studio505’s closure in 2016 we are continuing our work as himmelzimmer

lotus

wujin, china

nanyang primary school

singapore

nanyang primary school

singapore

design architect

studio505

completion date

March 2015

client

Ministry of Education, Singapore & Nanyang Primary School

local executive architect

LT&T Architects

structural engineer

ECAS-EJ Consultants Pte Ltd

mechanical + electrical engineer

William Ng Consultants Pte Ltd

landscape consultant

Cicada Pte Ltd

project manager

PM Link Pte Ltd

quantity surveyor

OTN Building Cost Consultants Pte Ltd

builder

Guan Ho Construction Co. Pte Ltd

As a new extension of the existing Nanyang Primary School and Kindergarten in Singapore, this design developed an internal public ‘valley’ that is open to the elements and sky, but removes the emphasis from the surrounding residential streets. This project has the objective of placing the school’s communal space at the heart of the design.

Part of the existing Nanyang Primary School’s campus, namely the hilltop buildings and the Coronation Road entrance buildings, had been reserved for demolition under the brief as they no longer provided an environment up to modern teaching standards. Behind this building, the steep slopes were exposed or bridged over, creating unusable and unsightly space pockets that were difficult to integrate.These unusable spaces were out of proportion and character with a child’s world, created the starting point of our thinking for the new design. Very quickly it became clear that the new concept would have to be centered on a generous, open and usable communal space that draws advantages from the site’s inherent topography.