Designing the Future: Andrew O’Donnell ’94 on the New Dover Campus at Tengah
By the Alumni and Communications Team, UWCSEA
23 July 2026
Designed for the future, rooted in the past: A behind-the-scenes look at the new campus with lead architect Andrew O’Donnell ’94.
From St John’s to Singapore International School and finally to UWCSEA, the campus at Dover Road has always been a place of transformation. As the College prepares for its next historic chapter, the transition to the new Dover Campus at Tengah represents more than just a change of address; it is a bold reimagining of what a 21st-century international school can be.
Bringing this vision to life requires a delicate balance of looking forward while honouring the past. The College has partnered with world-class architectural firms, including Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM) and leading the charge at AHMM is someone who understands the weight of this legacy better than most: Andrew O’Donnell ’94. An Architect Director now based in Sydney, Andrew’s journey from a UWCSEA student in the early '90s to a lead designer of its future campus is a true full-circle story. We sat down with him to discuss how his time at Dover Campus influenced his career and what it feels like to design the halls where the next generation will find their path.
Tell us about yourself, your current work, and what inspires you.
I am currently a Director at AHMM, an international architectural practice headquartered in London. I’ve been with the practice for over twenty years, though in 2022, I moved to Australia to establish our new Sydney studio. Since then, I’ve been researching new ways of making buildings and, most recently, contributing to the design of the new campus in collaboration with RSP and BVN.
Over my career, I’ve worked on diverse projects ranging from the retractable roof at Wimbledon Centre Court to the Tower Hamlets Town Hall, which won the RIBA London Building of the Year 2025. However, I am equally inspired by "good ordinary buildings." If housing can be thoughtfully made and well-suited to those who live in it, that is rewarding in its own right. Architecture is about designing places for people, and then bringing a diverse group together to make it a reality. On the new campus project alone, we have over a hundred people collaborating across London, Sydney, Melbourne, Edinburgh, and Singapore.
How did your time at UWCSEA shape your career path?
Design & Technology and Art were my favourite subjects; I remember the immense satisfaction of representing ideas through drawings. While my father was a Civil Engineer, which brought us to Singapore, it was a meeting with an architect at a UWCSEA careers event that cemented my decision.
Looking back as an architect, how do you see the Dover campus differently now than you did as a student?
I’ve visited the Dover Campus many times this past year. As a student, my strongest memories weren't in classrooms, but in the "in-between" spaces like the courtyards and quadrangles. Reviewing the original 1970s design, I was struck by how progressive it was, particularly the use of sun shading for thermal comfort and the lack of "double-loaded" internal corridors. It felt non-institutional, and we wanted to carry that sense of openness into the new campus.
What does this "full-circle" moment of designing the new campus mean to you?
It is incredibly fulfilling to give back to the school where my first steps in architecture began. I hope students moving to the new campus feel a sense of excitement, but also a "sense of recognition." Even though the form is different, we want the Dover DNA to be present.
As an alum, I know it’s hard to escape the feeling that something is being lost in the move. We want to create opportunities for alumni to visit the current Dover Road Campus over the next six years to experience it one last time, while simultaneously engaging them with the thinking behind the new design to foster that new connection.
Andrew O’Donnell ’94 at the Tengah design worklshops with UWCSEA staff and students in November 2025.
Round terrazzo tables from the 70s at UWCSEA Dover.
How are you balancing innovation with the heritage of UWCSEA at the Tengah site?
The design brief clearly articulated the UWCSEA pedagogy; our job was to situate that in an innovative way. I’m particularly excited about how each building has its own character and the sense of space we’ve created between them.
We are also looking for ways to bring the physical heritage with us, like the terrazzo tables from the old cafeteria that currently sit outside the Heritage Café. We also hope to use photography and art from students and alumni to capture the essence of the old campus within the new campus.
How has sustainability influenced the design?
Construction is a significant contributor to climate change, and AHMM was a founding signatory to Architects’ Declare. My time at UWCSEA clearly influenced my advocacy for sustainability. For the new campus, we are constantly challenging ourselves: are we going beyond current practice? We are pushing to deliver a project that isn't just "standard," but truly sustainable for the future.