Architect your Future – Archi(fu)ture

Elastic Architecture

This workshop introduces participants to digital modelling and hands-on modelling techniques used in architecture design. Conducted over 3 sessions from 14 to 16 January 2021, the workshop will provide participants a glimpse into the rigour and fun of the Architecture and Sustainable Design programme in SUTD.

Participants will receive an ATOP model kit prior to the workshop, and will be guided during the online sessions on how to use these kits to create their own building facade. They will also get to experience the digital work that will help supplement the creation process. A certificate of participation will be presented upon successful completion of course.

Timing: 14 & 15 Jan: 3pm – 6:30pm; 16 Jan: 10am – 6pm

Workshop fee: SGD 25

Register here.

3D Print + Laser Cut

This workshop involves Architecture ideation through a low-fidelity rapid-prototyping mean with the use 3D printing pen. By sketching out the concepts in mind out into the physical space quickly, one is then able to visualise, get feedback from people around and re-iterate without over attachment to the design.

Resilient Designs: Post-COVID City Centre

This lecture is presented by Associate Professor Chong Keng Hua, Assistant Professor Hong Jooyoung and Assistant Professor Kenneth Tracy.

Part I: Public Soundscapes

In part one, we will talk about the sustainable design of urban public spaces in the post-COVID world with a particular focus on soundscape, which has been explored in Sustainable Design Option Studio 2020. The option studio was intended to provide knowledge on how to translate the soundscape approach into sustainable urban sound design in the post COVID world. The concept of soundscape, the acoustic analogy to landscape, is a new paradigm to rethink the traditional noise control approaches by emphasizing a holistic perspective of the perceived acoustic environments in context. The soundscape approach focuses on human-centered and context-based designs that consider people’s perceptions, needs, socio-cultural background, and expectations in relation to an acoustic environment. The current COVID-19 pandemic has posed great interruptions to our urban public spaces and public life, as our social structures and routines were forced to adapt overnight – friends no longer hug or shake hand when they meet, strangers have to keep a distance away from each other, large public gatherings are strictly prohibited. Such “social distancing” or “safe distancing” practices would likely to stay even in the aftermath of the crisis. In this context, the option studio sought to answer the following questions: Could balanced proximity be the key to formulate a more sustainable solution for future urban public spaces? Could we engage a new sense of space, such as soundscape, to help to achieve such balanced proximity, hence creating a new form of urban conviviality? The project site of the studio was at Marina Central Business Improvement District consisting of Marina Square, Millenia Singapore, South Beach, Suntec City, and The Esplanade. The objective was to transform each of these public spaces currently without programs into soulful and lively places that are enjoyable by both working population and visitors alike, through innovative soundscape and urban design. In this talk, the proposed urban programs and design interventions involving sounds will be presented (e.g., new forms of outdoor performances, recreations, or communications in the urban public spaces).

Part II: Shaping Post-COVID Futures: Free Space + Digital Craft + Performance

In yet another studio amidst the pandemic, Shaping Post-COVID Futures: Free Space + Digital Craft + Performance challenged students to create beautiful, positive future scenarios for Singapore’s CBD. Instead of dwelling on the difficult current situation, students combined placemaking with emerging design techniques to reimagine the public space building character of financial centers. Matching other large projects along Beach Road, students designed mixed-use buildings combining office, retail, public space and other alternative programs to create hubs of activity. Each project’s shape, patterns and colours were informed by energy flows, circulation and program. In addition to these practical concerns, students leveraged simulation and aggregation algorithms to sculpt expressive, material rich urban environments with site-specific spatial character and aesthetic presence.

AIR Bamboo

Traditional raw bamboo poles are used extensively throughout Southeast Asia in various contexts; from household furniture to shelters. With rise of modern materials and advancement of technology, natural, sustainable materials have been neglected. AirLab (Architectural Intelligence Research Lab) has devised a state of the art solution to merge an organic, unpredictable material (Bamboo) with the mechanical precision of modern construction (3D Printing). The result is Air Bamboo – an iconic, lightweight structure that promotes the use of organic materials and biodegradable 3D printed components.

This hands-on workshop introduces AirLab’s use of modern technologies such as 2D scanning, image processing and 3D printing to employ bamboo as a building material. Participants gain insights on the system behind Air Bamboo and experience building architectural model kits of different iconic, lightweight structures.

Design Strategies in South China Sea: Sustainable Cities and Communities in Liquid Territories

This lecture is presented by Professor of Practice Eva Castro

This is a laboratory of ideas (narratives, stories and shapes) that try to give form to alternative modes of being-together on the planet. Designers act here as strategists, writers, conceptual and morphological explorers, mapping and bringing out layers of “controversies”; forming an alternative milieu whence a new reality could germinate. We craft para-consistent fictions by tweaking some of the constitutive elements of a specific/given reality that is selected as study case to expand onto projective practices.

This studio follows the challenging task of rethinking the area that circles around “South China Sea”, its geopolitical and material ecology through the reconceptualization and design of large-scale infrastructures and localized-material assemblages. Methodologically speaking we seek areas of fragile ecologies, where the ocean’s rising levels are beyond a hypothetical threat in the long term, but already an ongoing reality and project possible -and unforeseen futures.

We understand “design” as a process to fabricate processes —strategic/tactical, resilient in the short term and directed in the long run.

We understand the territory not as the material surface controlled by national sovereignties and private agents but as a re-combinable network of agents.

We aim at implementing “ecological infrastructures” as the main vehicle to introduce new narratives within the territory’s interstices, envisaging strategies that will dwell on issues of connectivity, political-geographical adjacencies and temporal conditions.

Architectural Tour of SUTD Campus

ArchiTour is an architectural based school tour around SUTD. While touring, visitors get to appreciate the distinctive campus architecture by renowned international architects through hearing the concepts behind the design process. The tour also presents details built into the campus by UNStudio and DP Architects for a more conducive, collaborative and sustainable environment for learning, living and working.

Opportunities unlocked: Discussion

What makes SUTD Architecture and Sustainable Design experience so unique? The answer lies in the different learning opportunities out of the classroom that all architecture students get to experience. From international exposure to implementing and sharing of ideas locally and overseas, one can look forward to getting immersed in the different opportunities to grow one’s perspectives about architecture and the industry!

Opportunities Unlocked: Discussion features a series of panel discussions between faculty and students who have experienced first-hand these collaborative opportunities, where real world learning and application happens.

Introduction to Singapore’s Architecture and Sketching

This 2-hour online workshop will take you through Singapore’s rich art deco-styled architectural past with links to present conserved buildings. Participants will try their hand at basic hand-sketching as a primary means that aspiring designers use to visually brainstorm basic design ideas and forms.  No prior experience is required as this is an introductory exercise to open up a wide variety of options student designers can embark on in the Architecture and Sustainable Design (ASD) programme at SUTD. Stand to win Grab Food vouchers through a friendly competition of sketching! This workshop is brought to you by ASD and SUTD Women x Tech & Design. Limited slots available on a first-come, first-served basis, and priority will be given to pre-university female students.

Creative Coding

Today, more designers are learning to code for creative purposes. For example, our students at the Architecture and Sustainable Design pillar at SUTD often write programs to generate and explore different building designs. In this workshop, we will introduce you to the field of creative coding by using Processing—a popular, free software sketchbook. You will learn to write small computer programs to manipulate images. See how pictures can be transformed creatively through code!

No prior coding knowledge is necessary. This workshop will be taught remotely using freely available tools.

Restorative Architecture: Tanjong Pagar Railway Station and High Density Vertical Shophouse

This lecture is presented by Associate Professor Yeo Kang Shua, Assistant Professor Peter Ortner and Senior Lecturer Daniel Whittaker

Part I: Tanjong Pagar Railway Station

As technology advances our means of documenting and representing heritage buildings, it also creates new opportunities for architects to design intelligently in relation to the heritage context. In this presentation, Assoc Prof Yeo Kang Shua and Asst Prof Peter Ortner will share on technological disruptions in architectural design and heritage, with an emphasis on how SUTD prepares its students for the rapid change in this field. Examples of student work from the recent Tanjong Pagar Railway Station studio will provide compelling examples of how we use technology every day at SUTD ASD. In this architecture studio, our students imagined future scenarios for Singapore’s Tanjong Pagar Railway Station. We constructed a virtual representation of the station using the precision of LIDAR- scanned data sets and leveraged the virtual reality environment to test the perceptual possibilities of new design interventions. Immersive multi-sensory VR experiences allowed us to express ideas for a new pop-up transport museum at the historic Railway Station. By carefully controlling the VR environment we were also able to make informed choices between design options, selecting those which harmonized best with the heritage environment.

Part II: High Density Vertical Shophouse

Senior Lecturer Daniel Joseph Whittaker will share on adaptive reuse in architecture specifically considering the shophouse/rowhouse buildings. Examples from the recent Vertical Shophouse studio will showcase the variety of solutions possible when considering such buildings.

Students could choose to deal with shophouses from three different urban areas: Singapore, Malacca and Chicago where long, linear row-house configurations are commonly found. While considering the high-density nature of these areas, students designed a variety of programmatic adaptations. They designed solutions for vertical adaptations that were dynamic and courageous as they push the boundaries of what architecture allowed within such constraints.

Gradshow 6: Multiplicity

Multiplicity tells a story of how Architectural and Sustainable Design students, through their architectural education in SUTD, have found ways to bring their ideas to reality through innovation and technology. It brings together projects by students for whom the concept of multiplicity in its many forms provide an avenue for architectural representation.

The exhibition, the sixth showcase by SUTD, celebrates the myriad of possibilities the students can bring to the urban environment. The mixed reality exhibition features the works of B.Sc. (ASD) and M.Arch students that showcase the technology driven approach of design, while incorporating sustainable principles and collaboration.

Implicit in their exploration of multiplicity is a challenge to use digital technology and virtual mediums to approach a problem and design delightful spaces and objects.

Physical Gradshow will run from 25 Jan to 8 Feb 2021 at SUTD Campus Centre level one, and from 25 Mar to 10 Jun 2021 at Tampines Regional Library.

Visit the online Gradshow at https://asd.sutd.edu.sg/gradshow2020/