STUDY OF ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN AND ACOUSTIC CONDITIONS OF PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

With the rapid rate of urbanization in Singapore, urban noise issues pose a growing problem especially towards noise sensitive premises such as primary schools. Children are particularly susceptible to the harmful effects of noise and they tend to spend long hours in classrooms. Furthermore, many primary schools in Singapore use natural ventilation due to the tropical climate, which allows for greater exposure to environmental noise. While other countries such as Hong Kong, the United States, China and the United Kingdom are tackling the issues using noise mitigation measures, there has yet to be major steps taken in Singapore towards creating more conducive classroom acoustic environments. This paper aims to assess the current architectural design and planning of schools in Singapore based on their acoustic qualities. Measurements of external ambient noise, façade sound insulation and reverberation time were conducted in three schools to characterize their acoustic environments. The designs were then evaluated based on their contribution to the acoustical quality of the classroom so that methods and areas for improvement could be deduced. It is revealed that all the classrooms studied experience internal noise levels above the guideline values recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) of 35dB, suggesting poor acoustic conditions and harmful effects on children’s’ health, behaviour and learning abilities. Reverberation time standards were only met by the classrooms in Hougang Primary School (HGP), implying the inappropriate use of materials in other classrooms which worsen the speech intelligibility and thus learning performance. The study highlights the need to address these acoustic problems in Singapore schools. An example of a school planned and designed to mitigate environmental noise was studied to promote incorporation of noise mitigation techniques during the design process. Another example of a school which practiced successful noise abatement was studied to understand the approach towards resolving environmental noise problems in existing schools. These examples provide ideas which architects can adapt and incorporate into the design of primary schools in Singapore.