Michael Budig

Biography

Michael Budig is Assistant Professor in Architecture and Sustainable Design (ASD) at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), director of the R^EAL Renewable Architecture Lab real.sutd.edu.sg. His research focuses on renewable materials and regenerative architecture driven by computational design and digital fabrication. He seeks for innovations for the decarbonisation, digitalisation and changing demographics in the built environment. As a chair to the Board of Graduate studies, he is coordinating the PhD programme in Architecture and Sustainable Design, and he teaches Design for first year students (Introduction to Design), Design Studios for undergraduate and graduate students, and building technology in the undergraduate course (Architecture Science and Technology).

He was an affiliate faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a senior researcher with ETH Zurich at the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore, where he led a research team on the design of robotic fabricated high-rises and was responsible for the installation of a robotic fabrication laboratory. Prior to the activities in Singapore, he taught and researched with Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher, and practised as an architect as principal of Moll Budig Architecture, a multi-disciplinary office on architecture, urbanism and design strategies. Built projects include industrial buildings such as a metal recycling company, soap production and ceramics manufacturing facilities and residential projects.

Education

Diplom Ingenieur Architektur (MArch), University of Innsbruck
Pre-Diploma in Architecture, Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London

Research Interest

Data-driven design
Regenerative architecture
Building with renewable materials
Circularity and resource consumption
Design theory

Selected Research Projects

Principal Investigator: Arup Global Research Challenge Collaboration; with Oliver Heckmann (PI), with Arup, 2019-present.
Principal Investigator: Next Residential High-Rise – Comparative study and analytical modelling for flexible housing typologies based on modularity and composite structural systems; with Oliver Heckmann (PI), Lynette Cheah (Collaborator), funded by the SUTD-MIT International Design Centre, 2018-2020.
Principal Investigator: Mapletree Design Partnership 2, with Kenneth Tracy (Co-PI), with Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd, 2019-present.
Principal Investigator: Mapletree Design Research on the Reuse of Wood Planks for a Permanent Design Installation; with Kenneth Tracy (Co-PI), for Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd, 2017-2019.
Co-Principal Investigator: BCA Grant on Maintainability Design Appraisal System, with Tan Szue Hann (PI) and Surbana Jurong, Nanayang Technological University (Co-PI), industrial collaborator, 2017 – 2019.

Selected Publication

Budig, M., Acharya, D., Boucher, E., Boyd, R., & Magnini, E. (2021). Toolkits for Renewable and Regenerative Buildings. In Future Urban Habitation. Wiley. To be published in January 2022.
Budig, M., Heckmann, O., Hudert, M., Ng, A. Q. B., Xuereb Conti, Z., & Lork, C. J. H. (2020). Computational screening-LCA tools for early design stages. International Journal of Architectural Computing. https://doi.org/10.1177/1478077120947996
Budig, M., Heckmann, O., Boon, A. N. Q., Hudert, M., Lork, C., & Cheah, L. (2020). Data-driven Embodied Carbon Evaluation of Early Building Design Iterations. In D. Holzer, W. Nakapan, A. Globa, & I. Koh (Eds.), RE: Anthropocene, Design in the Age of Humans – Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia, CAADRIA 2020 (Vol. 2, pp. 303–312). The Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA), Hong Kong.
Heckmann, O., Budig, M., Conti, Z. X., Chern, R. A. Y., Cheng, X. I., Lo, S. K. Y., & Tian, T. (2020). Participatory Computational Design Tools for Future Urban Habitation. In D. Holzer, W. Nakapan, A. Globa, & I. Koh (Eds.), RE: Anthropocene, Design in the Age of Humans – Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia, CAADRIA 2020 (Vol. 1, pp. 751–760). The Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA), Hong Kong.
Budig, M. (2019). Tropical Timber Towers. In M. Hudert & S. Pfeiffer (Eds.), Rethinking Wood – Future Dimensions of Timber Assembly (pp. 46–55). Basel: Birkhauser Architecture.
Budig, M., Heckmann, O., & Hudert, M. (2019). Next Generation Residential High-Rise: Evaluating and Comparing the Global Warming Potential of Different Structural Systems and Materials. In C. Lazaro, K. U. Bletzinger, & E. Onate (Eds.), IASS Annual Symposium 2019 – Structural Membranes 2019 Form and Force. Barcelona.
Heckmann, O., Budig, M., Hudert, Ng, A., & Cheah, L. (2019). Next-Generation Residential High-Rise : Advancing Flexibility and Circular Design by Evaluative Computational Means. In A. Markoupoulou (Ed.), Responsive Cities – Disrupting through Circular Design (pp. 110–123). Barcelona: Insitut d’Arquitectura Avancada de Catalunya.
Budig, M. (2018). Tectonic Systems For Tropical Timber materials. Architecture Technique. Revised reprint of CAADRIA paper in Chinese Architecture Journal
Mccormick, E., Jakubiec, J. A., & Budig, M. (2017). Analysis of Architectural Façade Elements in Tropical Climates for Daylight , Thermal Comfort and Passive Climatization. In Proceedings of the 15th IBPSA Conference (pp. 2540–2548). San Francisco.
Budig, M., Lim, J., & Petrovic, R. (2014). Integrating Robotic Fabrication in the Design Process. Architectural Design, (229), 22–43.

Awards and International Exhibitions

Biennale Architettura 2021 – How Will We Live Together? 17th International Architecture Exhibition, Contribution to the Singapore National Pavilion, to gather: The Architecture of Relationships, Future Hybrid Highrise Commune, with Oliver Heckmann
A’Design Award Bronze 2020 Carbon Activated Timber Bench, with Kenneth Tracy
Singapore Good Design SG Mark 2019 Tiny Threads / Massive Blocks, with Kenneth Tracy
Singapore Good Design SG Mark 2019 Generic Dwelling Templates for Future Urban Habitation, with Oliver Heckmann
German Design Award 2018 German Design Council, Award selection process by invitation only, Metallhandel Grassmayr

Selected Work

Research, Teaching, Practice work at R^EAL Renewable Architecture Lab – go to real.sutd.edu.sg
Next Generation Highrise research at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2021 – go to nextgenhighrise.sutd.edu.sg