World-renowned British designer Thomas Heatherwick, designer of the Hive, was on campus to talk about sustainable architecture. Here are some fast facts about NTU’s Instagrammable building that you may not know

by Derek Rodriguez

1. HEY! readers helped to name it

“Wanna have pasta at SPiREX?” That’s what you would have asked your friends if some readers had their way in 2014 when HEY! ran a contest to name NTU’s first learning hub. Other names on the table were NTUtopia, Eureka and, of course, The Hive.

2. It’s a sustainable building

The Hive is Mr Heatherwick’s response to what he calls “harmful, boring” buildings. It was designed to make people care about it enough to prevent it from being demolished within a few decades.

3. It transformed teaching spaces

CNN said The Hive redefined the traditional classroom. Circular tutorial rooms support new tech-enabled and interactive ways of learning. The building, which was designed to have no corners, is a manifestation of NTU’s collaborative spirit too. According to Mr Heatherwick, The Hive isn’t one building. It’s 12 buildings that stop and start at different heights and come together, with no roof.

*Mr Thomas Heatherwick visited the NTU campus in October 2024, where he spoke on “Humanising Cities” at the inaugural Mapletree Annual Sustainability Lecture.

This story was published in the Sep-Oct 2024 issue of HEY!. To read it and other stories from this issue in print, click here.