Housing for NAFA Students in Singapore

NAFA, the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, runs its four campuses along Bencoolen Street in central Singapore, with one tower built directly on top of Bencoolen MRT station. That single, tight location is the whole story for housing. You're not choosing a room near a sprawling suburban campus with a shuttle bus. You're choosing a room with a clean run into one central MRT stop, and that changes which parts of the island are actually livable.

This guide covers where NAFA sits, what an arts student's room actually needs to work for a 3 to 4 year diploma or degree, and an honest look at commute times from Lazybee's three co-living houses. None of them are next door to Bencoolen. Here's what the real numbers look like.

Where exactly is NAFA, and why does that matter?

NAFA operates four campuses, all within walking distance of each other on and around Bencoolen Street. Campus 1 houses the School of Design and Media, School of Fine Art, and School of 3D Design. A tower block added in 2017 sits directly above Bencoolen MRT station, which is about as central and transit-connected as a campus location gets in Singapore. Campus 2 houses Fashion Studies, and Campus 3 houses Arts Management, Dance, Theatre, and Music.

This puts NAFA in the Bras Basah and Bugis precinct, minutes from Dhoby Ghaut and Bugis MRT interchanges as well as Bencoolen station itself on the Downtown Line. In 2021, NAFA merged administratively with LASALLE College of the Arts to form the University of the Arts Singapore, which opened in 2024. Both institutions kept their own campuses and identities. NAFA students still study, and commute, into Bencoolen Street specifically.

What a NAFA student actually needs from a room

Art school living has a few needs a generic "student housing" article glosses over. Fine Art and 3D Design students carry canvases, portfolios, and finished pieces that need somewhere to sit besides the middle of a shared room. Fashion Studies students often have sewing machines or fabric that eat up floor space fast. None of this fits the assumption that a student just needs a bed and a desk.

Rehearsal and critique schedules for Dance, Theatre, and Music students also run later and less predictably than a typical lecture timetable. A late crit session or a rehearsal that overruns means getting home after most people's idea of a normal evening, which makes a safe, well-lit route from the nearest MRT station worth checking in person, not just on a map.

An all-in furnished room removes one real headache for a multi-year diploma or degree: you're not buying and then reselling furniture partway through art school. Lazybee's rooms come furnished with rent that's typically all-in on utilities and wifi, which matters more than it sounds for a student uploading large design files or video work on a deadline.

The honest commute from Lazybee's three houses to Bencoolen

Lazybee runs three co-living houses: Chiltern Park in Serangoon, Ivory Heights in Jurong East, and Thomson Grove near Lentor. None of them sit close to Bencoolen Street the way a hall of residence built into a campus would. Here's a realistic picture of each route, built from the actual MRT line map, not a guess.

Chiltern Park to Bencoolen: the most workable of the three. From Lorong Chuan or Serangoon MRT, a ride into Dhoby Ghaut or Little India on the North East Line connects you to Bencoolen with one transfer. Figure roughly 25 to 30 minutes MRT to MRT, plus the walk on each end, so closer to 35 minutes door to door.

Ivory Heights to Bencoolen: the longest of the three. From Jurong East, the East-West Line runs through to Bugis, one stop from Bencoolen, but it's a long ride across the island. Figure roughly 30 to 35 minutes MRT to MRT, plus walking time, landing around 40 minutes door to door.

Thomson Grove to Bencoolen: workable but not direct. From Lentor, the Thomson-East Coast Line connects to the Downtown Line at Stevens, which runs straight through to Bencoolen. Figure roughly 20 minutes MRT to MRT plus a transfer wait, landing around 30 to 35 minutes door to door once you add the walk to Lentor MRT.

Treat every one of these as an estimate, not a promise. Run your own route on Google Maps or Citymapper at a realistic weekday departure time before committing to a room, since interchange crowding and walk speed both move the real number.

Commute at a glance

Which house makes the most sense for a NAFA student

Chiltern Park and Thomson Grove come out closest on paper, both landing in a similar range and both reachable with one transfer onto a line that runs directly into central Singapore. Ivory Heights is the honest outlier here. Jurong East is a strong location for students headed to NTU or NUS, but it's the wrong side of the island for a daily run into Bencoolen Street.

None of these are a 10-minute walk to campus, and it would be misleading to pretend otherwise. What they offer instead is a private room, a real neighbourhood outside the front door, and a commute that's manageable once, not miserable every day. Weigh that honestly against a hall of residence or a room hunted purely on proximity, since proximity alone doesn't guarantee a room, a landlord, or a household you actually want to live in.

What day-to-day co-living looks like for an art student

Each Lazybee house is a shared home: private, lockable bedrooms with common kitchen and living space used by everyone in the house. That shared common space works well for the informal side of art school, group crits over coffee, borrowing a housemate's opinion on a portfolio piece, the kind of casual conversation that a solo studio rental doesn't offer.

The tradeoff is the same one as any shared household: your late rehearsal night or early morning sewing session shares a wall with someone else's normal schedule. It's worth asking about the current housemates and general household rhythm on a viewing, since that shapes daily life more than the room itself does.

Checklist for viewing a room as a NAFA student

• Check floor and storage space for canvases, portfolios, or a sewing machine, not just where the bed goes
• Walk the actual route to the nearest MRT yourself, at the time of day you'd realistically be doing it after a late crit or rehearsal
• Confirm wifi speed and reliability if you'll be uploading large design or video files on deadline
• Ask about noise levels and whether practicing an instrument or working late is realistic in that specific room
• Confirm what's included in rent (utilities, wifi, common area cleaning) so there's no separate bill juggling
• Check natural light, which matters more for visual art and design work than most housing guides mention
• Confirm move-in timing lines up with your semester or term start date

Frequently asked questions

Is any Lazybee house within walking distance of NAFA? No. NAFA's campuses sit on Bencoolen Street in central Singapore, and none of Lazybee's three houses are in that immediate area. Chiltern Park and Thomson Grove both run around 30 to 35 minutes door to door on the MRT, which is the most workable option of the three.

Which Lazybee house has the shortest commute to Bencoolen? Chiltern Park and Thomson Grove are roughly comparable, both landing in the 30 to 35 minute range with one MRT transfer. Ivory Heights, in Jurong East, is the longest at around 35 to 40 minutes.

Do NAFA and LASALLE students study on the same campus? No. Both merged administratively into the University of the Arts Singapore in 2024, but each kept its own physical campus and identity. NAFA students study on Bencoolen Street.

Is co-living a good fit for an arts student with bulky supplies? It depends on the room and how much storage it offers, which varies within the same house. Check floor space and storage specifically on a viewing rather than assuming any room will fit a full set of Fine Art or Fashion Studies materials.

How do I check current room availability? Live availability and room details for all three houses are on lazybee.sg. This guide covers location and commute, not day-to-day pricing or which specific rooms are open right now.

Next step

If Chiltern Park or Thomson Grove's commute works for your schedule, the next step is booking a viewing through lazybee.sg to see the actual room and household in person. For a fuller look at all three houses side by side, our guide to Chiltern Park, Ivory Heights, and Thomson Grove covers room mix and neighbourhood character beyond just the commute.

Sources: URA, Short-Term Accommodation guidelines; URA, Renting Property guidelines.