There are exciting times ahead for the International French School in Singapore (IFS). It’s growing its campus to accommodate more students! The school’s official expansion is now underway, following a ceremony held on 15 March 2023 to break ground at the site. When completed this year, the new campus area will house a five-storey classroom block and a new eight-storey administration and ancillary building. It also includes three blocks of a three-storey building for the new IFS kindergarten – Singapore’s first zero energy French kindergarten! This BCA Green Mark Platinum (Zero Energy) building sets a new benchmark for sustainable and energy-efficient design in the education sector.
Thoughtful design of the school campus
The ceremony to mark the official expansion of the school’s facilities was co-hosted by IFS Principal David Binan and President of the IFS Board Jean-Marc Deromedi. Also in attendance were French Ambassador to Singapore H.E. Minh-di Tang, the Executive Director of IFS Yves Marcel, and Guest of Honour, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan. Jean-Marc said at the ceremony that the new buildings “have been carefully designed to promote natural ventilation and daylight opportunities, creating quality indoor and outdoor environments that support student well-being and learning.”
An example of this is the classrooms of the elementary blocks. The windows here have been designed to be north-south oriented. This minimises solar heat gain while maximising natural daylight. Adding an active learning environment for IFS students will be a new educational garden on one of the block’s rooftops. Here, students will have hands-on experience in educational farming, landscape greenery and solar panel features.
Another exciting feature is the outdoor playgrounds. These not only offer solar and rain protection, but they also function as a rainwater harvesting system. After collection, the rainwater will be stored in ground-level water features that will be used for irrigation across the grounds, gardens and landscaping.
The superstructure was completed in December 2023. The entire new campus project is scheduled for completion in September 2025. The total floor area of the completed new additions will be approximately 22,800 square metres.
More facilities and space at the International French School in Singapore
The new administration block will be supporting a sports hall, a multi-purpose hall, a 350-seat auditorium, ancillary staff offices and a staff recreation room with a roof terrace. The new French kindergarten building will be an extension of the facilities for elementary school. Classrooms here will form a self-sustainable cluster for a particular age group of students, with a total of six clusters across the three blocks. This “villa concept” will feature a large common area in the centre, surrounded by four large classrooms, one language room and one teacher room. The current kindergarten space will transform into more classroom space for secondary students.
All the new buildings will be interconnected and link back to existing facilities on the second storey.
Considerate construction of the new campus
The expansion site for the new campus is adjacent to the current IFS school premises. Because the current three-storey building is located in a landed housing estate, the kindergarten blocks have been designed to be the same height as the existing buildings.
The design team carefully planned the expansion with sustainability at the core of the design. Features include solar panels, high-performance insulation and double-glazed windows with sun-shading fins for enhanced thermal efficiency. Additionally, rooftop photovoltaic panels generate 300MWh of electricity annually. This will fully power lighting and air conditioning with zero reliance on fossil fuels or the public grid.
About IFS
The International French School in Singapore was established in 1967. From an initial enrolment of about 15 students, it currently has 3,000 students enrolled. When the new campus expansion is completed, it’s expected to allow for a total of 4,000 students.
International French School is at 3000 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3.
6805 0000 | ifs.edu.sg
This article about the new building construction and French kindergarten facilities at the International French School in Singapore (IFS) first appeared in the print edition of Expat Living. You can purchase the latest issue or subscribe so you never miss a copy!
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