SINGAPORE - Students will be able to gather and exchange ideas in nooks of Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) new learning hub, which they have dubbed the "dim sum basket building" for its resemblance to the traditional round wooden trays for Chinese snacks.

The $45 million eight-storey building, unveiled on Tuesday and designed by renowned British designer Thomas Heatherwick, seeks to support the university's newly adopted "flipped classroom" teaching method - in which students watch lectures online and class time is used to delve deeper into the topic through discussions and debates.

Each of the new 56 new-generation, "smart" classrooms will be equipped with flexible clustered seating, electronic white boards, multiple LCD screens and wireless communication tools.

The building will also be home to various student innovation, entrepreneurship and social and community projects, starting with a student-owned social enterprise cafe on the ground floor which will open with the learning hub in August this year.

Professor Kam Chan Hin, senior associate provost for undergraduate education at NTU said: "It provides an exciting mix of learning, community and recreational spaces for NTU students, professors and researchers from various disciplines to gather and interact. It can spark future innovations and new knowledge that increasingly happen at the intersection of disciplines."