Erwin Viray

Biography

Erwin Viray currently leads the Sustainability Initiatives in SUTD to address the university’s approach to environmental responsibility with the goal to minimize environmental impact. Prior to his current role, he was the Head of Architecture and Sustainable Design Pillar from May 2016 – July 2021. Erwin was Global Excellence Professor at Kyoto Institute of Technology and Head of the Graduate School of Architecture and Design in 2012 for two years. In addition, he holds several professional leadership roles including Chief Communications Officer for the Kyoto Design Lab and a member of the Singapore President’s Design Awards jury since 2012 and the Chair of the jury since 2013. He is also an Award Ambassador for the HolcimLafarge Awards in Asia Pacific, a jury chair of archiprixSEA 2012 and 2016, a member of management board the TOTO Gallery MA, an Advisory Council member for the Barcelona Institute of Architecture. Erwin has been Editor of the influential magazine, a+u (Architecture + Urbanism) since 1996.

Erwin’s research passions revolve around the influence of new technologies and their related tools in broadening the impact of architecture.

For the past four years he has led the introduction of many new tools and technologies at KIT and driven a curriculum which balances between traditional architecture and new technologies. At KIT, collaboration is established with students from Harvard GSD and ETH-Zurich to work with masters student in Japan to explore the city and the gardens of Kyoto through spatial 3D design point cloud scanning and sound documentation.

Erwin is inspired by Singapore’s Prime Minister’s Smart Nation initiative, which seeks to understand how architecture and design can work with new technologies to create new experiences and spaces.

Education

• Doctor of Engineering (Architecture) The University of Tokyo
• Master of Engineering (Architecture) Kyoto Institute of Technology
• BSArchitecture (cum laude) University of the Philippines

Research Interests

• Architecture and Sustainable Design and Practice
• Design Knowledge and Learning
• Smart Cities
• Design Thinking

Selected Publication

• ERWIN VIRAY with Hiroyuki Kimura, Eizo Okada, 2020, Instagram Innovation Workshop in Basel, Switzerland | HdM x SUTD x D-lab | Fall 2019
• ERWIN VIRAY with Riichi Miyake, Hiroshi Naito, Alvin Tjitrowirjo, Andry Widyowijatnoko & 5 others, 2020, Grow the Forest, Nurture the Wood Culture – Green Strategy, Timber Chain and Woodified Architecture in Southeast Asia and Japan: Conference Papers for .. Week in Japan-Hamamatsu (English Edition).
• ERWIN VIRAY, 2019, Contemporaneous Architecture Singapore
• ERWIN VIRAY, 2019, Unforming and Forming, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Architecture and Sustainable Design Publication No. 2
• ERWIN VIRAY (EDITORIAL CONSULTANT) with Pritzker Prize Jury Juhani Pallasmaa and Pritzker Prize Jury & Laureate Kazuyo Sejima, 2019, Architecture+Tectonics Taiwan Magazine Issue 2
• ERWIN VIRAY (EDITORIAL CONSULTANT) with Pritzker Prize Jury Juhani Pallasmaa and Pritzker Prize Jury & Laureate Kazuyo Sejima, 2019, Architecture+Tectonics Taiwan Magazine Issue 1
• ERWIN VIRAY, 2019, A+U Architecture and Urbanism Asia Edition, PAGE 122-125; WE BUILT THIS CITY
• ERWIN VIRAY (GUEST EDITOR), 2019/07, #535, TAIWAN ARCHITECT, SPECIAL ISSUE: SINGAPORE CONTEMPORANEOUS ARCHITECTURE 2019
• The Beauty of Materials: When Surfaces Start to move, Kyoritsu Publishing, 2002; The Asian Everyday: possibilities in a shifting world, TOTO Publishing, 2015; Kerry Hill: Crafting Modernism, Thames and Hudson, 2013; Christian Kerez: Uncertain Certainty, TOTO Publishing, 2013; Studio Mumbai Praxis, TOTO Publishing, 2012; Herzog & de Meuron: 2002-2006, A+U Publications, 2007; Herzog & de Meuron: 1978-2002, A+U Publications, 2002; Peter Zumthor, A+U Publications, 1998.

Awards

• Honorary Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Architects
• Japan Foundation Fellowship
• Council of Europe – Swedish Institute Fellowship
• Kyoto City Grand Vision Appreciation