NUS DoA M.ARCH HANDBOOK 2019/2020 by NUS Department of Architecture

YEAR 4 - YEAR 5 HANDBOOK FOR STUDENTS

AY 19/20 M.ARCH STUDIO SEQUENCE HANDBOOK

M.ARCH 1 & 2

HEAD’S MESSAGE Design questions the present and explores the future. It involves the process of translating a vision into reality. Through constant evolution and innovation, the practice of architectural design promotes well and green environments by utilizing new technologies and forwardthinking spatial planning skills, while remaining rooted in the social, cultural and climatic context of the locale. The department of architecture at the National University of Singapore champions design excellence in teaching and research within a full spectrum of study and research programmes in urban planning, urban design, landscape design, architecture and sustainable design. We embed teaching in research and research in teaching by encouraging collaboration across research clusters and student enrolment in modules from different programmes. Most importantly, innovative and inclusive design exploration and production is at the core of all our teaching and research programmes. Additionally, NUS architecture takes advantage of the wide-ranging expertise NUS has to offer, by providing a platform for learning and research in collaboration with other disciplines. The pace of globalization and rapidly increasing integration and interaction between societies means schools of architecture around the world must be, and are, concerned with both global and local issues, and making projections that suit global and local conditions. NUS architecture is no exception. Singapore is the hub of ASEAN, a vibrant region with strong economic and infrastructure development. ASEAN, with the third largest population and fifth largest GDP in the world, offers an unparalleled opportunity to create a sustainable and livable environment for the future economy. Other major economies in Asia, such as China, Japan, Korea and India, are also rapidly urbanized and developed and face the same challenges in environmental design. NUS architecture collaborates with institutions within these regions and globally in both teaching and research, to seek out spatial possibilities for the future. I welcome all to come explore with us.

Puay-Peng Ho Professor & Head of Department

DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

MASTERS DESIGN PROJECTS

Architecture reaches out to audiences beyond the discipline. Like meaningful research agendas, architectural projects can benefit populations seeking to understand contemporary challenges and to create better living environments in the light of change. But Masters Design Projects need not be confined to one of problem solving.

INTERESTS Masters Design Projects include those explored in two Options Design Research Studios (M.Arch 1), the Advanced Architecture Studio and the Thesis project in M.Arch 2.

•

scenario-driven speculative design to suggest solutions to emergent need. The process in itself is a new way of seeing/ thinking which generates many solutions. One version of a solution may be articulated spatially and in full materiality

All studios may explore issues relevant to the interests of the Research Clusters, adjunct teachers and professors in practice. Students are encouraged to capitalise on faculty expertise in widening the scope of investigations which collectively strengthen the Thesis Project in M.Arch 2.

•

new research knowledge is interpreted in architecture as a new way of thinking/making/ experiencing

•

existing practices, processes or existing technologies are applied to design and which produce unprecedented outcomes

Masters Design Projects change the way we think. By debunking myths and creating critical awareness in our personal interpretations of the world we live in. Individuals bring along personal experiences to contribute to a project that shapes objects, cities, processes, and creates new perception and knowledge to spark our imaginations. Architecture also defines material culture in ways which characterise the values and ambition of a people. Thus architectural issues of a wider scope may not always be suitably explored as functional building solutions. Theo Janssen’s wind-driven strandbeests fascinate all just by being themselves. They are allegorical and and can be both beautiful and grotesque at the same time, so is the world we live in.

Essential and Elective modules are useful in underpinning your Masters studio investigations. Although Options Design Research studios may be varied in content and method, students are advised to be selective and to use them as ‘learning runways’ to identify a Thesis topic and to apply accumulated knowledge there. The Advanced Architecture Studio preceding the Thesis may be used to explore thesis drivers in greater detail and focus.

Architecture is also an outcome of human anxieties, imperfections, contradictions and contrivance. Masters Design Projects can be a critical statement of these conditions to free us from being trapped in our own beliefs.

It is expected that the Thesis project will be the most comprehensive and extensive study of all the Masters Design Projects.

We begin an important journey here, a transition from academia to the world of practice but not the end of learning. You are all encouraged to think about a Thesis Project that characterises your position, what you stand for, in vision or a statement concerning architecture before you make your way forward into industry and practice.

DESIGN AS INQUIRY Masters projects can be research investigations where design forms a principal mode of inquiry. Methods can be heuristic or empirical or in mixed modes of inquiry.

Joseph Lim, Dr. Associate Professor & M.Arch Program Director

•

textual/graphic analysis of theoretical concepts with investigations drawn from critical discourse using text references, works of art/representation

•

quantitative analysis to verify qualitative hypotheses with simulation, physical experiment, prototype testing and mixed methods

There are a number of research methods in design investigations leading to different outcomes but they are by no means exhaustive:-

PROJECT ATTRIBUTES A good Masters project is one where •

the research process informs design strategy which can be followed through a coherent sequential process of explorations or iterations.

•

the research generates an underlying order giving rise to a number of architectural or urban propositions

•

the research or issues engaged with, give rise to new solutions through design, some of which are singular, permutable or recombinant

•

it addresses the contextual specificities of site, material, spatial, culture and program

and all of the above are communicated through architectural drawings, well-crafted models and annotations which curate a design process and outcome(s) that can be understood without a verbal presentation by the author. Beyond a commitment to individual academic portfolios, Masters projects play an important role in characterising the discursive ethos of a design school. It is important that you do your best.

DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

MASTERS DESIGN PROJECTS

INTERESTS Masters Design Projects include those explored in two Options Design Research Studios (M.Arch 1), the Advanced Architecture Studio and the Thesis project in M.Arch 2.

•

new research knowledge is interpreted in architecture as a new way of thinking/making/ experiencing

•

existing practices, processes or existing technologies are applied to design and which produce unprecedented outcomes

It is expected that the Thesis project will be the most comprehensive and extensive study of all the Masters Design Projects.

DESIGN AS INQUIRY Masters projects can be research investigations where design forms a principal mode of inquiry. Methods can be heuristic or empirical or in mixed modes of inquiry.

Joseph Lim, Dr. Associate Professor & M.Arch Program Director

•

textual/graphic analysis of theoretical concepts with investigations drawn from critical discourse using text references, works of art/representation

•

quantitative analysis to verify qualitative hypotheses with simulation, physical experiment, prototype testing and mixed methods

There are a number of research methods in design investigations leading to different outcomes but they are by no means exhaustive:-

PROJECT ATTRIBUTES A good Masters project is one where •

the research process informs design strategy which can be followed through a coherent sequential process of explorations or iterations.

•

the research generates an underlying order giving rise to a number of architectural or urban propositions

•

the research or issues engaged with, give rise to new solutions through design, some of which are singular, permutable or recombinant

•

it addresses the contextual specificities of site, material, spatial, culture and program

PROGRAMME OVERVIEW M.Arch Year 1 (BA. Arch 4) Semester 1

Semester 2

AR5801 Options Design Research Studio 1 AR5321 Advanced Architectural Integration* AR5423 Architectural Practice** AR5601 Urban Design Theory and Praxis

AR5802 Options Design Research Studio 2 AR5321 Advanced Architectural Integration* AR5423 Architectural Practice** 1 elective to be completed by end of M.Arch Year 1

M.Arch Year 2 Semester 1

Semester 2

AR5805 Advanced Architecture Studio AR5806 Architectural Design Research Report AR5221 Contemporary Theories Elective 1

AR5807 Architectural Design Thesis

* AR5321 Advanced Architectural Integration is offered in both Semester 1 & 2, students need only read the module once.

RESEARCH CLUSTERS ASIA RESEARCH FOCUS

I. HISTORY THEORY CRITICISM

The Department positions itself as a design and research think-tank for architectural and urban development issues emerging in South Asia and SE Asia contexts. Graduate coursework in design engages with key challenges in population growth, industry, infrastructure, housing and environment, climate change and rapid economic change with disruptive technologies. In engaging with trans-boundary economies and technological change, the Department addresses concerns with the environmental impact of new settlements and cities on the natural environment in the light of climate change and on the threat to heritage and cultural presentation. MArch studios anticipate planning solutions through design explorations at various scales of intervention. The Master’s coursework are thus aligned to a core of five teaching groups viz. History Theory Criticism, Research by Design, Design Technologies, Urbanism and Landscape Studies.

The History Theory Criticism cluster develops critical capacities to examine questions of architectural production, representation and agency within historical and contemporary milieu. Taking architecture and urbanism in Asia as its primary focus, members work in interdisciplinary and transnational modes. We explore a range of topics relating to colonial/postcolonial and modern/ postmodern Asian cities; aesthetics and technopolitics of tropical climate and the built environment; affective media including film, contemporary art and exhibitionary modes; heritage politics and emergent conservation practices. We develop discursive fronts through a variety of media and scales. The cluster research encompasses scholarly, creative and advocacy activities. Output includes monographs, edited volumes, research papers, architectural reviews in professional journals, curatorial practice, conservation work, film and photography, object-making, and policy-influencing advocacy work.

Johannes Widodo (Cluster Leader) Chang Jiat Hwee Lilian Chee Chung Shu Yeng, Simone Ho Puay Peng Imran Tajudeen Lee Kah Wee Tomohisa Miyauchi Tsuto Sakamoto Wong Yunn Chii Erik G. L’Heureux (Minor)

Student on AIP in Semester 1 will complete AR5321 in Semester 2.

** AR5423 Architectural Practice is offered in both Semester 1 & 2 for AIP students. Incoming M.Arch Prep Year students to take in Semester 2. *(Minor) indicates secondary membership

PROGRAMME OVERVIEW M.Arch Year 1 (BA. Arch 4) Semester 1

Semester 2

AR5801 Options Design Research Studio 1 AR5321 Advanced Architectural Integration* AR5423 Architectural Practice** AR5601 Urban Design Theory and Praxis

AR5802 Options Design Research Studio 2 AR5321 Advanced Architectural Integration* AR5423 Architectural Practice** 1 elective to be completed by end of M.Arch Year 1

M.Arch Year 2 Semester 1

Semester 2

AR5805 Advanced Architecture Studio AR5806 Architectural Design Research Report AR5221 Contemporary Theories Elective 1

AR5807 Architectural Design Thesis

* AR5321 Advanced Architectural Integration is offered in both Semester 1 & 2, students need only read the module once.

RESEARCH CLUSTERS ASIA RESEARCH FOCUS

I. HISTORY THEORY CRITICISM

Johannes Widodo (Cluster Leader) Chang Jiat Hwee Lilian Chee Chung Shu Yeng, Simone Ho Puay Peng Imran Tajudeen Lee Kah Wee Tomohisa Miyauchi Tsuto Sakamoto Wong Yunn Chii Erik G. L’Heureux (Minor)

Student on AIP in Semester 1 will complete AR5321 in Semester 2.

** AR5423 Architectural Practice is offered in both Semester 1 & 2 for AIP students. Incoming M.Arch Prep Year students to take in Semester 2. *(Minor) indicates secondary membership

II. RESEARCH BY DESIGN

III. TECHNOLOGIES

IV. URBANISM

V. LANDSCAPE STUDIES

The Research by Design cluster performs translational research through the practices of making as research rather than through traditional forms academic research. It links the importance of creating, drawing, and building with rigor, originality, and significance to produce innovative and creative designs that shape the built environment. Located strategically between the NorthSouth axis of rapidly urbanizing Asia and the East -West line of the tropical equator, the Research by Design cluster performs research through practice in three main themes:

The Technologies cluster investigates environmentally performative/sustainable building forms and systems, and generative-evaluative processes for designing liveable environments. Its research employs traditional and emerging technologies contributing to a new understanding of the human ecosystem, and emerging computational methods and techniques for discovering the relationships between form and performance. It researches on the relationship between human and natural landscapes, at every scale, from the building component scale to the urban scale. Special emphasis is placed on the context of high density Asian cities and the context of the Tropics.

With a comprehensive understanding of the complexity and distinctive characters of emerging urbanism in Asia, the vision is to develop sustainable models and innovative urban strategies to cope with various environmental, social, economic and technological challenges that Asian cities face today and in the future. Emergent urban issues related to community & participation, conservation & regeneration, ageing & healthcare, built form, modelling & big data, and resilience & informality are investigated from multiple perspectives and inter- and transdisciplinary collaborations to question conventional norms and conceptions and establish new visions for a sustainable urban future.

The Landscape Studies cluster undertakes research to generate new knowledge of landscapes as socio-ecological systems and promotes the use of knowledge in governance systems and landscape design that improve the well-being of humans and the ecological integrity of the environment. The geographic focus is primarily high-density urban regions in Asia, but members of cluster also work in the transitional zones within the rural-urban continuum, where urban regions are expanding at a rapid rate into rural landscapes. The overall research approach is both interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary — we are concerned with not just advancing theoretical concepts and knowledge, but also applying the knowledge in practice and public policy to shape the environment. Our research areas cover a wide spectrum of socioecological dimensions of landscape, from landscape science, landscape management, to design research and socio-behavioural studies.

Stephen Lau (Cluster Leader) Patrick Janssen Nirmal Kishnani Lam Khee Poh Eddie Lau Rudi Stouffs Swinal Samant Yuan Chao Oscar Carracedo (Minor) Joseph Lim (Minor) Shinya Okuda (Minor) Zhang Ye (Minor)

Cho Im Sik (Cluster Leader) Oscar Carracedo Chen Yu Fung John Chye Heng Chye Kiang Junko Tamura Ruzica Bozovic-Stamenovic Tan Beng Kiang Zdravko Trivic Zhang Ye Lee Kah Wee (Minor) Johannes Widodo (Minor)

Tan Puay Yok (Cluster Leader) Jessica Cook Hwang Yun Hye

• • •

Novel aesthetics of climatic calibration and performance; Contemporary architectonics of fabrication, material, and resources contingent on South East Asia; and Emergent spaces of inhabitation and production surrounding the equator.

Erik G. L’Heureux (Cluster Leader) Cheah Kok Ming Joseph Lim Shinya Okuda Richard Ho Lilian Chee (Minor) Ruzica Bozovic Stamenovic (Minor) Tan Beng Kiang (Minor)

II. RESEARCH BY DESIGN

III. TECHNOLOGIES

IV. URBANISM

V. LANDSCAPE STUDIES

Tan Puay Yok (Cluster Leader) Jessica Cook Hwang Yun Hye

• • •

Erik G. L’Heureux (Cluster Leader) Cheah Kok Ming Joseph Lim Shinya Okuda Richard Ho Lilian Chee (Minor) Ruzica Bozovic Stamenovic (Minor) Tan Beng Kiang (Minor)

Studio Leader: Dr Joseph Lim

Associate Professor; PhD (Heriot-Watt), MSc (Strath), BArch (Hons) (NUS), BOA, Registered Architect, Singapore

Design Studio Faculty: Hans Brouwer

Adjunct Associate Professor, Registered Architect Singapore, Director HB Design

Dr Simone Chung

Assistant Professor; PhD in Architecture (Cantab), MPhil (Dist, Cantab), MSc (Dist, UCL), AA Dipl.Arch (London), BSc (Hons, UCL), ARB/ RIBA Part 3, UK

Fung John Chye

Associate Professor in Practice; B.Arch (NUS), Registered Architect Singapore

AR5801 OPTIONS DESIGN RESEARCH STUDIO 1 D E S I G N S T U D I O FA C U LT Y

MArch 1 SEMESTER 1

Richard Ho

Professor in Practice, B Arch (Hons) NUS, MSIA, Registered Architect, Singapore, Director RichardHo Architects

Raymond Hoe

Part-time Tutor, RIBA, SIA, AA, Director, Scott Brownrigg

Khoo Peng Beng

Adjunct Associate Professor; B.Arch (Hons) NUS, MSIA, RIBA, Registered Architect, Singapore, Director Arc Studio

Dr Joseph Lim

Associate Professor; PhD (Heriot-Watt), MSc (Strath), BArch (Hons) (NUS), BOA, Registered Architect, Singapore

Ong Ker Shing

Associate Professor in Practice; M.Arch, M.LA (Harvard University), Registered Architect and Landscape Architect, Singapore. Director, Lekker Architects Pte Ltd.

Teh Joo Heng

BArch (Hons) NUS, SMArchS MIT, Registered Architect, Singapore

Dr Johannes Widodo

Associate Professor; PhD (U-Tokyo), M.Arch.Eng. (KU Leuven), Ir. (UNPAR) IAI

Studio Leader: Dr Joseph Lim

Associate Professor; PhD (Heriot-Watt), MSc (Strath), BArch (Hons) (NUS), BOA, Registered Architect, Singapore

Design Studio Faculty: Hans Brouwer

Adjunct Associate Professor, Registered Architect Singapore, Director HB Design

Dr Simone Chung

Assistant Professor; PhD in Architecture (Cantab), MPhil (Dist, Cantab), MSc (Dist, UCL), AA Dipl.Arch (London), BSc (Hons, UCL), ARB/ RIBA Part 3, UK

Fung John Chye

Associate Professor in Practice; B.Arch (NUS), Registered Architect Singapore

AR5801 OPTIONS DESIGN RESEARCH STUDIO 1 D E S I G N S T U D I O FA C U LT Y

MArch 1 SEMESTER 1

Richard Ho

Professor in Practice, B Arch (Hons) NUS, MSIA, Registered Architect, Singapore, Director RichardHo Architects

Raymond Hoe

Part-time Tutor, RIBA, SIA, AA, Director, Scott Brownrigg

Khoo Peng Beng

Adjunct Associate Professor; B.Arch (Hons) NUS, MSIA, RIBA, Registered Architect, Singapore, Director Arc Studio

Dr Joseph Lim

Associate Professor; PhD (Heriot-Watt), MSc (Strath), BArch (Hons) (NUS), BOA, Registered Architect, Singapore

Ong Ker Shing

Associate Professor in Practice; M.Arch, M.LA (Harvard University), Registered Architect and Landscape Architect, Singapore. Director, Lekker Architects Pte Ltd.

Teh Joo Heng

BArch (Hons) NUS, SMArchS MIT, Registered Architect, Singapore

Dr Johannes Widodo

Associate Professor; PhD (U-Tokyo), M.Arch.Eng. (KU Leuven), Ir. (UNPAR) IAI

HANS BROUWER Adjunct Associate Professor hans@hbdesign.biz

THE NARRATIVE OF TECTONICS THE ART OF MAKING ARCHITECTURE

tek · ton· ic / tekˈtänik / Adjective Via late Latin from Greek tektonikos, from tekton “carpenter or builder” 1. relating to the structure of the earth’s crust and the large-scale processes which take place within it. 2. relating to building or construction. Google The above definition of the word tectonic addresses two fundamental aspects of architecture. One is the simple act of craft and making. The other is the notion that true architecture is founded on fundamental processes, much like the geologic movements of tectonic plates, that demonstrate the deep structure of their forms. The craft of architecture evolved from simple shelter to the complex structures we are capable of today. it will continue to evolve into amazing and hitherto unimagined forms and spaces. At its core, however, architecture is about craft and the making of things. It is about the human ability to take materials and to transform them, through care, innovation and craftsmanship into architecture. This relationship of process and outcome is perfectly summarized in Robert Maulden’s definition of tectonics in architecture: Tectonics in architecture is defined as “The science or art of construction, both in relation to use and artistic design. It refers not just to the “activity of making the materially requisite construction that answers certain needs, but rather to the activity that raises this construction to an art form” Robert Maulden The Tectonics in Architecture: From the Physical to the Meta-physical MIT (1986)

Craft and construction, however, is lacking in the true potential of architecture without a narrative to guide it. It is this pursuit of a higher purpose that has driven us to constantly seek out new ways of solving old problems. The challenge lies in understanding how to choose one’s narrative so that it guides us towards form, space and order and not into irrelevant tangents of pursuit that are fundamentally non-architectural. I would like to throw an additional component into the tectonic mix, a third corner of the stable triangle of architecture. It is a love of materials. A deep understanding and passion for materiality drives the best of designs. I am paraphrasing Louis Kahn, who stated that if architects were to draw as one built, stopping their pencils at key joints in construction, celebrating the process of making and assembly, then there would be no need for decoration. The act of making would be manifest in all aspects of the architectural outcome. The Thorncrown Chapel is a wonderful example of this approach to design and architecture. Humble in its pursuit of serving its purpose. Soaring, despite its modest scale, in its ability to delight. Rooted in a diligent pursuit of materiality and making. Innovative in its assembly and erection. This studio is about the delight of architecture as a journey of discovery. It is about developing a love of material and exploring ways of making and assembly. It is about learning to seek the deep structure in our forms and to explore its possible outcomes. Simply put, it is about the narrative of tectonics.

IMAGE CREDIT: THORNCROWN CHAPEL - FAY JONES’S (EUREKA SPRINGS, ARKANSAS – 1989) 16

HANS BROUWER Adjunct Associate Professor hans@hbdesign.biz

THE NARRATIVE OF TECTONICS THE ART OF MAKING ARCHITECTURE

IMAGE CREDIT: THORNCROWN CHAPEL - FAY JONES’S (EUREKA SPRINGS, ARKANSAS – 1989) 16

DR. SIMONE CHUNG Assistant Professor simone.chung@nus.edu.sg

WE ARE MILLENNIALS, MOBILISED … IMAGINE OUR DIGITAL CONNECTEDNESS IN TERMS OF BODIES EXTENDING ACROSS SPACE, BUT WE MIGHTALSO SUGGEST THAT THE SPACES BETWEEN US HAVE COLLAPSED, THAT, IN VIRTUAL TERMS, WE’RE CRAWLING ALL OVER ONE ANOTHER. LAURENCE SCOTT, THE FOUR-DIMENSIONAL HUMAN (2015)

This mission, should you choose to accept it, is to embrace the mindset and practices of a technologically-adept multi-mobile millennial, and gain insights into new subjectivities arising from the merging of technologies that have blurred the physical and virtual divide. An added complexity is attributed to the simultaneous corporeal and digital presences that we now seamlessly maintain in everyday life. Most, if not all millennials, are assuredly digital nomads: this is characterised by the dexterous adoption of their online and offline selves in personal as well as professional exchanges that overlook geographical distances and socio-cultural differences. A crucial aspect of the studio’s investigations is to scrutinise the ways in which the current generation optimise digital affordance, social media connections and online resources to augment their peripatetic lifestyle, work style and relationships, redrawing a new everyday spatial rhetoric. At a time when hybrid reality is becoming the norm, where the virtual is increasingly overlapping with the real, incorporation of new research tools and interpretive media is essential in order to produce a multifaceted, and nuanced, reading on the millennials’ global transversality from a spatialexperiential standpoint.

*The overseas field trip is self-funded. Students who are eligible for NASA funding are advised to apply ahead of time.

Over the semester, we will tackle three discrete projects progressively: 1. Devise a strategy/application/apparatus to acutely capture the impact of techno-digital integration in the everyday milieu 2. Conduct an autoethnographic study and critically reflect on your brief nomadic sojourn and navigations of your host city during the studio trip 3. Complete a cross-technology design project in response to this tacit condition as hypostasis of an imminent future, employing AR and VR tools to conceptualise and visualise an interactive 3D environment of how the envisioned intervention or provocation will be implemented and experienced

IMPORTANT: Students registered for this studio MUST commit to a 3-day immersive environment workshop in Week 1 led by Vouse, a 6-day overseas studio trip to Seoul* in Week 2 which includes a joint workshop with Yonsei University’s Department of Architecture and Architectural Engineering (culminating in formal presentations at the end of the trip), and a one week exhibition at NLB in early December 2019.

REFERENCES WEB - Chung, S.S-Y., Ng, M.A. and Song, D.H. 2019. Millennial Nomad Space <https:// millennialnomadspace.com> BOOK - Scott, L. 2015. The Four-Dimensional Human: Ways of Being in the Digital World FILM - One Way Ticket: The Rise of the Digital Nomad (dir. Youjin Do, 2017)

IMAGE CREDIT: HYPER-REALITY (2016), KEIICHI MATSUDA <HTTP://KM.CX> 18

DR. SIMONE CHUNG Assistant Professor simone.chung@nus.edu.sg

*The overseas field trip is self-funded. Students who are eligible for NASA funding are advised to apply ahead of time.

IMAGE CREDIT: HYPER-REALITY (2016), KEIICHI MATSUDA <HTTP://KM.CX> 18

FUNG JOHN CHYE Associate Professor in Practice akifjc@nus.edu.sg

FUTURE URBAN NEIGHBOURHOODS [F.U.N.] | UTOPIA OR OBLIVION2 AN INTEGRATED STUDIO FOR M.ARCH 1 AND 2

PREAMBLE | Over the past years, many studies investigated Singapore’s HDB neighbourhoods from various perspectives by framing different research questions and hypotheses. However, there was little attempt to integrate the studies in a comprehensive manner and a lack of continuity or sharing of the knowledge gained. Given that the high-density neighbourhood is a contested notion entailing a complex system of interconnected functions, it is crucial to reveal its multifarious guises to inform a homeostatic milieu that is optimal vis-à-vis the diverse needs of its users. This integrated studio for M.Arch 1 and 2 aims to re-imagine in a holistic way our future urban neighbourhoods by envisioning innovative urban design and architectural ideas that engender for all ages, a resilient community ageing-with-place. IMPETUS | Buckminster Fuller (1969) has argued for a “comprehensive anticipatory design science revolution” in order “to make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone.” His primary thesis was that humanity now has the opportunity to sustain itself by doing “more with less”. Elsewhere, he suggests: “The specialist in comprehensive design is an emerging synthesis of artist, inventor, mechanic, objective economist and evolutionary strategist.”3 The notion of utopia posited by Fuller is opposite of the common preconception —often unfavourably— of the term as associated with flights of idealised fantasies. Instead, utopia was staged as an aspiration to attain the most favourable human conditions by resolving realworld challenges. Against our contemporary interconnected global challenges of climate change, economic contestation, population ageing, rise of civil activism, disruptive technologies, changing work culture, etc., the overarching question is: how do these influences impact our future urban neighbourhoods? Equally, is there a future for the concept of ‘neighbourhood’ or will the rise of smart technologies breaches the threshold where geophysical boundaries are no longer relevant or meaningful? What does sustaining our commons entail? What are the deep values forming the axis around which we pivot to realise multiple futures? 20

In approaching this immense and complex task, we seek to unpack—albeit, limited as it is—how the environment and design might contribute to fostering resilient communities to mitigate the shocks and stresses of the global challenges. THEMATIC FOCI | The following topics are investigated at the neighbourhood level: 1. Resilience | commons, place-making, collective memories, co-creation, participatory design… 2. Living Arrangement | housing types, typologies, vertical community, activities of daily living… 3. Mobility | walkability, car-lite/car-free planning, active mobility… 4. Integrated Care | health district, community-based care, dementia-friendly, mindfulness… 5. Biophilic Design | climate change, urban heat island, urban greening… 6. Future of Work | co-working, sharing/circular economy, micro-economics... 7. Lifelong Learning | collaborative practices, immersive experience, intergenerational skills… 8. Technology | smart technologies, assistive eldercare, robotics, AI, VR/MR, IOT, … Students of this integrated studio will each research and develop deep insights on a focal topic for the individual research and concurrently act as ‘mini-experts’ to inform the masterplans to be developed through group work—each group comprising M.Arch 1 and 2 students. Thereafter, students will individually explore architectural ideas for a component of the masterplan. M.Arch 2 students are expected to translate their research for the thesis project in Semester 2.

Buckminster Fuller (1969). Utopia or Oblivion: The Prospects for Humanity. New York.

Buckminster Fuller (1963). Ideas and Integrity: A Spontaneous Autobiographical Disclosure.

New York.

FUNG JOHN CHYE Associate Professor in Practice akifjc@nus.edu.sg

FUTURE URBAN NEIGHBOURHOODS [F.U.N.] | UTOPIA OR OBLIVION2 AN INTEGRATED STUDIO FOR M.ARCH 1 AND 2

Buckminster Fuller (1969). Utopia or Oblivion: The Prospects for Humanity. New York.

Buckminster Fuller (1963). Ideas and Integrity: A Spontaneous Autobiographical Disclosure.

New York.

RICHARD HO Professor in Practice richard.ho@richardhoarchitects.com

A SANCTUARY FOR THE DEAD AND THE LIVING The attitude towards death in our contemporary society is largely based on ignorance and fear. We tend to view it as a taboo subject, unlucky and pollutive - we shun it whenever possible and confront it only when forced to do so. This has led to the way we treat and “house” our dead, especially in the face of competing demands for limited land resources. In the not too distant past, old cemeteries and their graves have been exhumed and the remains of our loved ones cremated and “exiled” to remotely located columbariums, packed in rows and rows of niches with narrow passages, devoid of dignity and respect – the dead have to make way for the living and their ever growing greed for higher land values. While it may be rationalized that land occupied by cemeteries may be put to better economic use, there is no excuse for the utilitarian and uninspired design of our columbariums and their location in remote areas – such a practice underlines our ignorance and fear of death and reinforces the “not-in-my-backyard” (NIMBY) syndrome prevalent in our society. Funeral homes and parlours are not spared the ignominy either – located in industrial estates such that they are far away from public view, this further emphasizes death as pollutive and unlucky.

IMAGE CREDIT: YAP YONG KONG

The intention of this design module is to encourage students to explore the potential of housing the dead among the living – in proximity to where they live, work and play. What kind of new uses can be integrated with the facility and the synergy that can be achieved from such juxtapositions? It enourages students to think about the meaning of life and death, the rituals of passage and the spiritual dimension of death for the living while challenging them to design for the dead. Is it possible that good design can encourage the change in people’s mindset towards death and the dead? The chosen vehicle for this exploration is A Sanctuary for the Dead and the Living – a Funeral Home, Funeral Parlour and Columbarium Facility. Students are encouraged to rethink what a funeral parlour and columbarium located in an urban setting among a working and living community could be – a place for social activity as much as a place for the remembrance of the dead and the contemplation on life and death. The tentative site is located at the upcoming Bidadari HDB estate, a former site of a large public cemetery. Other possible sites are currently being investigated and will be announced when the semester commences.

RICHARD HO Professor in Practice richard.ho@richardhoarchitects.com

IMAGE CREDIT: YAP YONG KONG

RAYMOND HOE r.hoe@scottbrownrigg.com

FUN PALACE1 5.0 TECHNOLOGY IS THE ANSWER, BUT WHAT WAS THE QUESTION ? - CEDRIC PRICE 1979

Industry 4.0 technology will mature as Industry 5.0 within the next 5 years2 and by 2030, artificial intelligence will enable machines to attain selfconscience to read human levels, perform human traits and to interact with humans via the Cloud3. This evolution of machines, artificial intelligence and hyperscale cloud computing will challenge the conventional wisdom of technological-led Retail mixed-use developments as real estate, its typology, resilience and economic sustainability. Economy 4.0 will be disrupted further by 5.0 technology and Retail will face fresh challenges within shorter time-frames, not only to hit required financial margins, but also continually stress-tested to ‘re-invent’ themselves so as to retain and attract the next generation of stakeholders and consumers, the Gen-K4. Amazon Prime and Alibaba are two current technological-led gamechangers that are leading the world with innovated new retail/urban logistics concepts that fuses their O2O ominchannels with state-of-art technology. It is imperative for the presentday urban retail mixed-use built-environments to evolve in the 5.0 world of virtuality, gaming, data, algorithms, pattern recognition, machinelearning, automation, advanced manufacturing and cryptocurrency to re-assess their enhancement strategies with innovative spatial and programmatic concepts to be flexible, agile and efficient.

The studio will investigate the experimental narratives of “Fun Palace” by Cedric Price, as catalysts and critical frameworks for 5.0 technologies and economies of urban retail mixed-use brown-field site strategies. Studio discussions and project site selections will also be co-ordinated with notable external industry sector experts to stir further research and probe issues between human-centric and technological-centric interfaces in these relationships to innovate both group and individual thesis vehicles of resilience to re-adapt and re-purpose an existing building from strategic planning into an experiential 5.0 urban retail mixed-use programmatic landscape.

Key objectives : • To unlock the value of technological-led urban retail mixed-use usages from brown-fields. Builtenvironments transformed by new technology and intensive retail economic activity. Studying evolving Gen-K consumer patterns and their eco-systems • To curate experimental retail spaces and programmatic narratives as catalysts for new coexistence between man and machine

2. 3. 4.

Un-built avant-garde work conceptualised by Cedric Price in collaboration with Joan Littlewood in 1961 for the post-war UK blue-collared community to promote creativity and local radical fun which also inspired the Pompidou Centre in Paris. It is also known as the revolution of Artificial Intelligence that fuels greater possibilities of the 4th industrial revolution Https://www.cnbc.com/2014/06/11/computers-will-be-like-humans-by-2029googles-ray-kurzweil.html Term coined by Noreena Hertz, Honorary Professor in UCL, UK and acclaimed to be the world’s leading young thinker by Observer Magazine.

IMAGE CREDIT: ORIGINAL IMAGE FROM 032C.COM RE-CREATED BY THE AUTHOR 24

RAYMOND HOE r.hoe@scottbrownrigg.com

FUN PALACE1 5.0 TECHNOLOGY IS THE ANSWER, BUT WHAT WAS THE QUESTION ? - CEDRIC PRICE 1979

2. 3. 4.

IMAGE CREDIT: ORIGINAL IMAGE FROM 032C.COM RE-CREATED BY THE AUTHOR 24

KHOO PENG BENG Adjunct Associate Professor pengbeng@gmail.com

YANGON STUDIO COSMOPOLITAN ARCHITECTURE IN THE DOUGHNUT ECONOMY “ I am a citizen of the world.”

- Diogenes of Sinope

The unique history, culture and density of Yangon offers an exciting exploration of cosmopolitanism in South East Asia. The studio will investigate the inter-relationship between the Cosmos of Yangon (its nature, air, water and climate) and its Polites (its contemporary public) manifested through Yangon’s Architecture and its colonial heritage. Of particular interest is the influence of cosmopolitan thought on the balance of planetary boundaries and human needs with respect to architecture. The research will be focused around the culturally and historically rich Downtown Conservation Area. The site and all its colonial buildings has been naturally preserved due to the unique social political development of Myanmar over the past few decades. Kate Raworth, economist, suggests playfully that we should re-frame 21st century economics with a doughnut economics. The doughnut diagram describes a safe and just space between the planetary boundaries on the outer ring and human needs on the inner ring. We should not cross any planetary boundaries while working towards the pressing need for social equity. However as the city is poised to develop rapidly in the short to medium term, the culture and atmosphere is threatened with all manner of capitalistically driven developments . The Studio’s ambition is to engage in the informal urbanism and architecture arising from the site’s unique conditions. The aim is to project a future that intertwines a complex historical legacy with Cosmopolitan thought to create an architecture that embodies the notion of hosting and hospitality. PROJECT The Yangon Studio will study an area in the Downtown Conservation Core. We shall be working with the Yangon Heritage Trust to re-imagine the Downtown Conservation Core of Yangon.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES Understanding planetary boundaries vs human needs and the impact of rapid growth and urbanization on architecture and urban design. • • • • • •

Understanding the concept of the Doughnut Economy and its implications Acquiring basic knowledge of building simulation and representational tools and their application during the design process for architecture and urbanism. Conceptualizing innovative design approaches towards formulating strategies for atmospheric realities of the site. Translating climatic, urban and intensification concepts and strategies into architectural design and representational ideation. Acquire novel representational techniques through photography, drawings and simulations. Understanding large model making and scaled simulations to test ideas in architectural design.

ACTIVITIES OVERVIEW The Studio will spend one week in Yangon, researching specific approaches to rural development, observing the organic and informal approaches found in the area to drive an invigorated approach to design. Students are expected to self-fund their trip. A small allowance is provided by the Department of Architecture. Students with financial need may apply for NUS support based on meeting appropriate requirements. Expected cost is approximately SGD $500 inclusive of transportation. The studio will work in small research groups to study the site and its surrounding environment. The research will be compiled into an e-book. From the findings, students will propose transformative projects that has the potential to move the entire region into the doughnut economy.

References 1. Kate Raworth, “Doughnut Economics: seven ways to think like a 21st century economist Christopher Alexander, “A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction” 2. Nikos A. Salngaros, “Principles of Urban Structure” 3. Amerigo Marras, “ECO-TEC: Architecture of the In-Between” 4. Paraq Khanna, “Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization” 5. Mitchell Waldrop, “Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos” 6. Ed. Sarah Rooney, “Yangon Heritage Strategies”

IMAGE CREDIT: KHOO PENG BENG 26

KHOO PENG BENG Adjunct Associate Professor pengbeng@gmail.com

YANGON STUDIO COSMOPOLITAN ARCHITECTURE IN THE DOUGHNUT ECONOMY “ I am a citizen of the world.”

- Diogenes of Sinope

LEARNING OBJECTIVES Understanding planetary boundaries vs human needs and the impact of rapid growth and urbanization on architecture and urban design. • • • • • •

IMAGE CREDIT: KHOO PENG BENG 26

DR. JOSEPH LIM Associate Professor akilimem@nus.edu.sg in collaboration with SCDA and Web Structures

BEYOND PENCIL TOWERS AN INTEGRATED STUDIO FOR M.ARCH 1 AND 2 INTRODUCTION Between 2001-2008, the application of transferable development rights resulted in the appearance of slender towers in the skyline of New York City. Willis’ views of ‘Form follows Finance’ with early skyscrapers prefaces the planning strategies of developers and architects in capitalizing on panoramic views of a city, a perennial theme of super tall buildings. New premium developments for the Hudson Yards area promise a commercial intensity to compliment the city ethos. The studio seeks to explore alternative forms of commercial intensity beyond large-scale single plot developments. It looks at the possibility of air rights space traversing different plots of land in a palimpsest to connect the city with elevated commercial frontages and panoramic views.

SEMINARS Soori High Line Projects Recent Slender Towers Tall structure configurations Floor plan and core layout design strategies

The site is where the Postal Sorting facility is located between 9th, 10th, 28th and 30th streets. It is a pivotal location where the Highline ends abruptly and here, there is great opportunity to interface with Hudson Yards, Hell’s Kitchen and the edge of super tall real estate with those of an earlier granulated scale.

THESIS To validate the effects of building mass on daylight, wind and energy performance, design studies explore the • Effects of cladding profiles on vortex shedding - form follows wind • Urban form and airflow • Shadow and Daylight patterns • Aspect ratio + structural configuration • Form + solar gains

FOCUS An exploratory study investigating alternative spatial volumes with transferable development right is needed to discover new urban thresholds and interfaces at street level, and elevated platforms between building surfaces. This gives architects the flexibility of configuration and proportion in urban form when designing in the urban context, allowing for city connections and interfaces. Within these configurations lie the question of interior space and its internal structure as an outcome of other design considerations viz.

How will urban interfaces work between new and old? How does the ‘right to light’ affect planning in airspace over existing buildings? What are new programs considered in premium airspace which redefine residential, commercial and civic amenities? Can new developments ‘give’ to the city in terms of energy because of configurational advantage? What other air rights configurations are possible in interpreting TDRs beyond the single tower?

SITE VISIT A proposed site visit to NYC [15-29 Sep] OUTPUT Weekly Drawings Site Model Study Models - 400mm tall Final Models - 1.6m Drawings - AO on roller panels

RESOURCES Studio Joseph Lim will be complimented by SCDA project experiences with Soori Skyline in NYC, Web Structures and KPF Architects. Dr Yuan Chao on wind simulation (students are encouraged to take his elective in Semester 1) Mr Joshua Lee on Solar gains and Daylight Mr Lin Zhenyi on Structure Simulation

REFERENCES 1. Carol Willis. Form Follows Finance: Skyscrapers and Skylines in New York and Chicago. Princeton Architectural Press, 1995 2. Tobias Armbrost. The Arsenal of Exclusion and Inclusion. Actar, 2017 3. M. Larice, E. MacDonald. The Urban Design Reader. Routledge, 2012 4. Davina Jackson. Data Cities: How Satellites are transforming Architecture and Design. Lund Humphries, 2019 5. Nina Rappaport. Vertical Urban Factory. Actar, 2016 6. Han Meyer. City and Port: The Transformation of Port Cities: London, Barcelona, New York and Rotterdam. International Books, 2003

How will these generate new urban form and space in an architecture of land and airspace intensification?

IMAGE CREDIT: ARTIST LIU WEI

DR. JOSEPH LIM Associate Professor akilimem@nus.edu.sg in collaboration with SCDA and Web Structures

SEMINARS Soori High Line Projects Recent Slender Towers Tall structure configurations Floor plan and core layout design strategies

SITE VISIT A proposed site visit to NYC [15-29 Sep] OUTPUT Weekly Drawings Site Model Study Models - 400mm tall Final Models - 1.6m Drawings - AO on roller panels

How will these generate new urban form and space in an architecture of land and airspace intensification?

IMAGE CREDIT: ARTIST LIU WEI

ONG KER-SHING Associate Professor in Practice akioks@nus.edu.sg

DIRTY ARCHITECTS

(POST-NATURES PART 1)

“Dirt is good.” – Jack Gilbert and Rob Knight Singapore is famously known as a “clean” city. It is a germophobic utopia, in which the best class of buildings are made of glass and metal—inert materials that will not stain or weather or submit in any way to the penetrations of climate. Interestingly, this occurs in a climate that quickly accumulates layers of other matter, through the intense energies of its global position. Patinas and molds are driven by solar gain and moisture. At the same time, surfaces are dirtied via the contemporary escalation of oxidation, carbon dioxide, aerosols and acidic rainfall. This attempt to construct a resilient cleanliness occurs against a public health crisis of inflammatory diseases—one which seems to be due, ironically, to the eradication of dirt from our everyday lives. Medical research increasingly argues that the increase in inflammatory “modern” diseases, from cancer to autism and autoimmune misfunction, is directly related to the rise of antibacterial cleaners and pesticides which remove much of the organic micro-biome of both soil and the built environment. The rise of heavyduty detergents and anti-microbial agents such as Roundup presages a world of 2050 in which, by some estimates, half of children will be born with autism and 115 million people will live with dementia . This studio proposes to imagine an architecture which embraces forms of dirtiness as a matter of urgent public necessity. We will imagine, in the Singapore context, a reversal of the tendencies and values of modern architecture leading to a strategic and designed uncleanliness. Solutions will expand upon historical modes of interaction between buildings and types of “dirt,” from pre-modern building practices, to modern ventilation systems, to domestic animals and other micro-biotic vectors. These will attempt to restore, in part, a type and degree of organic waste in the spaces, surfaces, and systems of the building that will create—in essence—an architecture that is as hospitable at the micro-biotic scale as it is at the human one. This studio will be twinned with a Masters elective in the research of architectural cleanliness throughout history, and in the microbiome of the built environment as a source of health or disease. It is an architectural course that explores, in part, the interface with

landscape. It is not a landscape architecture course; nor is it a “sustainable” design course in the traditional sense. Post-Natures is a multi-part studio and thesis series exploring possible interactions between architecture and anthropogenic natures. Recent human interferences in natural systems have created fractured links, fragmented systems and energies—a multi-scalar context for new alignments and interactions. In this series, we will explore how new typologies and material systems may restore or invent new modes of production that combine the architect’s intentions with the input of non-human collaborators; these shift from biome to micro-biome, between building and body and public. Students are encouraged to co-currently enroll in Post-Natures elective research seminar Architecture and the microbiome offered in Semester 1.

Reading list: Bradley, James. (2017.) Clade. London: Titan Books Bryson, Bill. (2010.) At Home: A Short History of Private Life. London: Random House LLC. Campkin, Ben and Paul Dobraszczyk (Eds.) (2007.) Architecture and Dirt. The Journal of Architecture. Vol 12 Issue 4. London: Taylor & Francis. Campkin, Ben and Rosie Cox (Eds.) (2007.) Dirt: New Geographies of Cleanliness and Contamination. New York: I.B. Taurus. Corlett, Richard. (2010, March-Sept). Equatorial Cities as Novel Ecosystems. CityGreen Issue 1. Singapore: CUGE. 74-77. Dion, Mark and Alexis Rockman (Eds.) (1996.) Concrete Jungle. New York: Juno Books. Douglas, Mary. (1966.) Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. London: Routledge. Dunn, Rob. (2018.) Never Home Alone. New York: Basic Books. Evans, Robin. (1997.) “Figures Doors and Passages,” in Translations from Drawing to Building and Other Essays. London: Architectural Association. 54-91. Gilbert, Jack and Rob Knight. (2017.) Dirt Is Good. New York: St. Martin’s Press. Laporte, Dominic. (1993.) History of Shit. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. Loos, Adolf. (1898.) “Plumbers” in Jane O. Newman and John H Smith, Trans. Spoken into the Void: Collected Essays by Adolf Loos, 1897-1900. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. See articles: Gan, Vicky. (2015, May 11.) “How germs might shape the future of architecture.” Retrieved from https://www.citylab.com/life/2015/05/how-germsmight-shape-the-future-of-architecture/392783/ Swansburg, John. (2015, April 23.) “The Scientists who want to fix America’s intestines started with their own.” Retrieved from http://nymag.com/ scienceofus/2015/04/sonnenburg-family-stomach-bacteria.html Wembel, Steven et al. (2012) “Architectural design influences the diversity and structure of the built environment microbiome.” The ISME Journal (2012) 6, 1469-1479. Listen to podcasts: Zach Bush, MD: Food Indepedence & Planetary Evolution on Rich Roll Podcast Zach Bush, MD: GMO Food & Soil Health on Plant Proof Podcast Peruse information on www.farmersfootprint.us www.zachbushmd.com https://digest-digest.tumblr.com https://microbe.net/

IMAGE CREDIT: NIINA COCHRAN ON MICROBES 30

ONG KER-SHING Associate Professor in Practice akioks@nus.edu.sg

DIRTY ARCHITECTS

(POST-NATURES PART 1)

IMAGE CREDIT: NIINA COCHRAN ON MICROBES 30

TEH JOO HENG tjha@tjhas.com.sg

STITCHING URBANISM ROADS ARE THE MOST UBIQUITOUS AND SPATIALLY EXTENSIVE HUMAN FOOTPRINT ON EARTH (FORMAN ET AL. 2003).

1) PREAMBLE/ISSUE At a macro level, roads connect places and allow us to travel from one point to another. At a micro level, however, roads divide communities and separate ecologies. Given that roads are an inevitable component of our urban infrastructure, it is thus important to devise design strategies to seamlessly stitch together places disrupted by roads to minimise their negative impact.

4) LEARNING OBJECTIVES Students are expected to work together in the initial research to formulate the theoretical frameworks. Individual design programs will be developed when the theoretical framework is applied to examine the local context. Collaborative work will be encouraged. The students will learn research, formulation of theory and design methodology and their application to search for a suitable urban design solution.

2) PROGRAM/PROJECT/SITE RESEARCH The studio program will investigate the above observation through literature review and case studies. This research will evaluate the validity of the above observation, establish theoretical frameworks and intervention methodologies in this area of work.

5) ACTIVITIES OVERVIEW The studio will be conducted in a seminar and workshop format. Active class participation is expected.

3) SCOPE OF DESIGN The theoretical framework presented above will be used to examine Singapore’s urban context to identify two sides for design interventions, which may include places divided by major roads in CBD areas, residual space left behind by traffic system etc. Upon identifying the sites, innovative intervention programs will be developed with a thorough understanding of the respective sites in term of social, physical and environmental attributes. The design focus is to provide various community spaces and encourage appropriate supplementary usages to enhance the living environment. The national agenda to go car-lite will also be taken into consideration.

IMAGE CREDIT: HTTPS://WWW.TODAYONLINE.COM/SITES/DEFAULT/FILES/STYLES/NEW_APP_ARTICLE_DETAIL/PUBLIC/PHOTOS/43_ IMAGES/24130492.JPG; HTTP://WWW.RSP.COM.SG/PHOTO/CD3712F2-E9AC-4ECC-AEC4-1E1422852840/1.JPG; HTTPS://WWW.GREENROOFS.COM/WPCONTENT/UPLOADS/2018/09/THEHIGHLINE_10.JPG HTTPS://AMP.BUSINESSINSIDER.COM/IMAGES/585AF94 1F10A9A1C008B4ABB-320-240.JPG; HTTPS://IMAGES.ADSTTC.COM/MEDIA/IMAGES/5920/70DF/E58E/CEF3/1700/0633/SLIDESHOW/029_ SKYGARD; HTTPS://DEVELOPMENT.ASIA/SITES/DEFAULT/FILES/KORSEOUL-GREENWAY-03.JPGEN_SEOUL_%C2%A9OSSIP.JPG 32

TEH JOO HENG tjha@tjhas.com.sg

STITCHING URBANISM ROADS ARE THE MOST UBIQUITOUS AND SPATIALLY EXTENSIVE HUMAN FOOTPRINT ON EARTH (FORMAN ET AL. 2003).

5) ACTIVITIES OVERVIEW The studio will be conducted in a seminar and workshop format. Active class participation is expected.

DR. JOHANNES WIDODO Associate Professor jwidodo@nus.edu.sg

CONSERVING SIGNIFICANCE: NEW INTERVENTION ON AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE Conservation is the management of permanence and change. This year conservation studio will be conducted as an extended conservation project within an archaeological site in Singapore. The design proposal will require students to adopt design thinking skills in order to consider how to maintain cultural and physical authenticity, integrity, and historical continuity in the onsite display of artefacts within an existing post-dig space/structure The project is a new intervention on an archaeological site. The design intervention should be able to reveal the qualities of the archaeological site and the place, including historical, architectural, cultural, and social significance. The new function should add economic viability to the existing site/building/neighborhood, and also be compatible and appropriate in responding to its immediate physical, social, and environmental contexts. Architecturally, the new design intervention or insertion should integrate well with the existing built and natural context in terms of typology, material, aesthetics, functionality, and environment. The main project space will be the archaeological dig site located at Bukit Brown. The other sites in consideration include Fort Canning and Katong Park. Owing to the recent completion of the Lornie Highway, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will be closing its Bukit Brown office soon. As a result of this, artefacts from the archaeological site will be released from LTA custody, and will require external interventions to be housed in an alternate structure or they will be disposed. Students are to consider the implications of the disposal to the community, the artefacts that the archaeological site contains, and work toward several

design proposals. Students will interact with key stakeholders and volunteers at Bukit Brown. Students must consider the mobility of the architecture design to move to various archaeological site and quick construction in their proposals. Before stepping into the building level, students will have to develop a conservation master plan or heritage management strategy on a neighborhood/urban segment/community level individually. The student’s individual position and approach towards conservation on both urban and building levels shall be clearly demonstrated in the master-planning and design intervention. Through the conservation studio students will be able to understand the main principle in building conservations and adaptive-re-use, such as the “3R Principle”: maximum Retention, sensitive Restoration, and careful Repair; and also following internationally recognized conservation best practice criteria. Students who take the Conservation studio under Johannes Widodo shall also take the (compulsory) elective ARxxxx Topics in History and Theory of Architecture 1 (Sensitizing with the context: Singapore’s Tangible & Intangible Architecture and Urban Heritage), and the Studio Lecture Series on Conservation offered by Ho Puay Peng, Johannes Widodo, Wong Yunn Chii, and Ho Weng Hien from W1 to W4.

IMAGE CREDIT: REMAINS OF FORT KATONG @ KATONG PARK (PHOTO BY JW, 2005) 35

DR. JOHANNES WIDODO Associate Professor jwidodo@nus.edu.sg

IMAGE CREDIT: REMAINS OF FORT KATONG @ KATONG PARK (PHOTO BY JW, 2005) 35

Studio Leader: Dr Joseph Lim

Associate Professor; PhD (Heriot-Watt), MSc (Strath), BArch (Hons) (NUS), BOA, Registered Architect, Singapore

Design Studio Faculty: *Dr Anna Gasco

Senior Researcher, Future Cities Laboratory PhD (ETH Zurich), MSc (The Bartlett, UCL)

*Dr Patrick Janssen

Associate Professor; PhD, MSc (Cog. Sci. Int Comp.), AADipl

*Dr Nirmal Kishnani

Associate Professor; PhD (Curtin University of Technology), MSc(Env. Psych.)(Uni Surrey UK), BA.Arch(Hons)(NUS)

AR5802 OPTIONS DESIGN RESEARCH STUDIO 2 D E S I G N S T U D I O FA C U LT Y

MArch 1 SEMESTER 2

Dr CJ Lim

Ong Siew May Visiting Professor (NUS) Professor of Architecture & Urbanism (The Bartlett, UCL)

Ng San Son

Adjunct Design Tutor; M Arch, B Arch (Hons) (NUS), SIA, MSIA, Registered Architect, Singapore, Director DP Architects

Shinya Okuda

Associate Professor; M. Eng, B. Eng. Architect (SBA, JAEIC)

Dr Swinal Samant Ravindranath

Senior Lecturer; PhD and PGCHE (The University of Nottingham, UK), M. Arch (The University of Sheffield, UK), Dip. Arch with Distinction (Institute of Environmental Design, India)

Tsuto Sakamoto

Senior Lecturer; B.Eng. Science University of Tokyo, M.Eng. Waseda University, M.Sci, Columbia University Graduate School of Architectural Planning

Dr. Ruzica Bozovic Stamenovic

Associate Professor; Dr. Sci; Mr.Sci; Spec.Arch; Dipl. Eng. Arch; University of Belgrade

*Dr. Rudi Stouffs

Associate Professor; PhD, MSc (Arch. Comp Design), Carnegie Melon University, MSc (ArchEng.), Ir-Arch, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Wong Chong Thai, Bobby

Adjunct Associate Professor; MDesSt Harvard, DipArch Aberdeen, RIBA, MSIA, Registered Architect, Singapore

Dr. Zhang Ye

Assistant Professor; B.Arch, M.Arch, PhD (Cantab)

* Brief not available at time of print 37

Studio Leader: Dr Joseph Lim

Associate Professor; PhD (Heriot-Watt), MSc (Strath), BArch (Hons) (NUS), BOA, Registered Architect, Singapore

Design Studio Faculty: *Dr Anna Gasco

Senior Researcher, Future Cities Laboratory PhD (ETH Zurich), MSc (The Bartlett, UCL)

*Dr Patrick Janssen

Associate Professor; PhD, MSc (Cog. Sci. Int Comp.), AADipl

*Dr Nirmal Kishnani

Associate Professor; PhD (Curtin University of Technology), MSc(Env. Psych.)(Uni Surrey UK), BA.Arch(Hons)(NUS)

AR5802 OPTIONS DESIGN RESEARCH STUDIO 2 D E S I G N S T U D I O FA C U LT Y

MArch 1 SEMESTER 2

Dr CJ Lim

Ong Siew May Visiting Professor (NUS) Professor of Architecture & Urbanism (The Bartlett, UCL)

Ng San Son

Adjunct Design Tutor; M Arch, B Arch (Hons) (NUS), SIA, MSIA, Registered Architect, Singapore, Director DP Architects

Shinya Okuda

Associate Professor; M. Eng, B. Eng. Architect (SBA, JAEIC)

Dr Swinal Samant Ravindranath

Senior Lecturer; PhD and PGCHE (The University of Nottingham, UK), M. Arch (The University of Sheffield, UK), Dip. Arch with Distinction (Institute of Environmental Design, India)

Tsuto Sakamoto

Senior Lecturer; B.Eng. Science University of Tokyo, M.Eng. Waseda University, M.Sci, Columbia University Graduate School of Architectural Planning

Dr. Ruzica Bozovic Stamenovic

Associate Professor; Dr. Sci; Mr.Sci; Spec.Arch; Dipl. Eng. Arch; University of Belgrade

*Dr. Rudi Stouffs

Associate Professor; PhD, MSc (Arch. Comp Design), Carnegie Melon University, MSc (ArchEng.), Ir-Arch, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Wong Chong Thai, Bobby

Adjunct Associate Professor; MDesSt Harvard, DipArch Aberdeen, RIBA, MSIA, Registered Architect, Singapore

Dr. Zhang Ye

Assistant Professor; B.Arch, M.Arch, PhD (Cantab)

* Brief not available at time of print 37

DR. ZHANG YE ASSISTANT PROFESSOR akizy@nus.edu.sg

SHARING CITIES

NUS-Tsinghua-DPA Joint Studio

BACKGROUND This studio is the third NUS-Tsinghua joint design research studio funded by Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation (Hong Kong). This year the joint studio will also be conducted in collaboration with DP Architects. PREAMBLE The city is quintessentially a shared spatial environment. In spite of this foundational reality, our understanding of space sharing practices in urban settings and the various dedicated typologies of shared spaces is only nascent. This knowledge gap is especially salient when increasingly the information and communication technologies (ICT) today intersect with the physical urban environment, which in turn create unprecedented possibilities and opportunities for many new sharing activities. Many of these activities—for instance, car sharing, bike sharing, shared work space, shared living space, community garden, and more—are essentially place-based sharing practices (Cohen & Munoz, 2016). Not only do the spatial attributes of these places condition the possibilities and processes of sharing, but these sharing activities are also anticipated to affect these urban places.

of sharing activities inadvertently lead to the creation of new spatial typologies, which in turn can facilitate and foster new socioeconomic formations. In other words, recognising the spatial dimension of sharing activities can shape a more robust understanding of sharing, with a greater recognition of its economic, social, cultural, and political promise, while avoiding the drawbacks of a reductive econometric approach. In understanding sharing this way, sharing is also framed as a catalyst for better democratic cooperation and solidarity. REFERENCE: Benkler, Yochai. 2004. “Sharing nicely: On shareable goods and the emergence of sharing as a modality of economic producti on.” Yale LJ 114:273. Cohen, Boyd, and Pablo Munoz. 2016. “Sharing cities and sustainable consumption and production: towards an integrated framework.” Journal of Cleaner Production 134: 87-97. McLaren, D. & Agyeman, J. (2015). Sharing Cities. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Detailed studio brief including programmes, schedule, requirements, tutors, etc., will be released at the end of semester 1.

Today, sharing activity is often too narrowly conceived, and perceived, as primarily about economic transactions. In this view, space is solely seen as the resource of economic production and consumption, rather than the foundational reality where our societies and cultures unfold, develop and evolve (McLaren & Agyeman 2015). While space is undoubtedly a kind of ‘sharable goods’ (see Benkler 2004), space is also a generative reality: many forms

IMAGE CREDIT: HTTPS://MCCONNELLFOUNDATION.CA/CITIES-AS-A-COMMONS-SHARINGVISION-RESOURCES-AND-POWER/ 38

DR. ZHANG YE ASSISTANT PROFESSOR akizy@nus.edu.sg

SHARING CITIES

NUS-Tsinghua-DPA Joint Studio

IMAGE CREDIT: HTTPS://MCCONNELLFOUNDATION.CA/CITIES-AS-A-COMMONS-SHARINGVISION-RESOURCES-AND-POWER/ 38

Dr. Ruzica Bozovic Stamenovic Associate Professor akiruzica@nus.edu.sg

RE: IMAGINE THE MSCPS– MULTI-STOREY CAR-PARK IN A CAR-LITE FUTURE reclaim, rethink, restore, reuse, reinvent, return, repopulate, redesign

The imminent car-lite future of Singapore is presenting itself as an opportunity to free up precious space, but also as constructing a novel image of the smart and liveable city. Danish architect Jan Gehl, while visiting the Centre for Liveable Cities, even predicted a more radical car-free perspective for the city state. Regardless of the forecasts, all predicted changes will be realized in phases and in coordination with other radical transformations in the areas of urban mobility, smart city systems, comunal living and people-centric design. Our focus is on the very first step in this process- reduction of the number of cars causing the underutilized multistory car parks (MSCP). HDB is home to more than 80% of Singapore’s population, residing in 23 towns and 3 estates. All are equipped with multi-storey carparks positioned as free-standing, in podium blocks or in basements. Regardless of the typology, they all share the uncanny feel and looming redundancy. Our challenge in this studio is to rethink their future in a critical and creative way. Will they change and if yes how in the smart city context? WIll they serve people better and support wellness? Will they obtain unexpected features, functions, characters? Our goal is to find out how their minimalistic appearance could be an advantage in the process of transformation to places with unique content and distinct character. Programatically they should be the escape nodes for stressed urbanites, sensorial spaces for reseting physical and spiritual capabilities, sustainable places able to strive independent of external resources, smart spaces and interesting places that one whants to inhabit. In short, image of future architecture. The current urban initiatives, like the rooftop parks, communal gardening or new carless estates like the

HDB town of Tengah proclaimed as the new forest city will be taken as already achieved. Thus, we set our ambitious expectations higher, to picturing the futuristic version of supportive escape nodes for new generation of urbanites. Students will set their specific progrmas individually and develop the appropriate design methodology. The site selection is also individual, but must relay on existing carpark in HDB estates. Studio will be run in experimental mode with weekly exercises and discussion-experimentation-production-application design processes. Students are encouraged to concurently take the elective “HUMAN ECOLOGY – SPACE & HEALTH SPECIAL: DISCUSSING THE SENSORIAL“ offered in sememster 2. Intro readings: World Economic Forum. Is Singapore heading for a ‘car-lite’ future. retrived 29.06.2019. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/05/ could-singapore-sign-up-to-a-car-lite-future/

IMAGE CREDIT: HTTPS://WWW.MOTORIST.SG/ARTICLE/333/FREE-PARKING-IN-SINGAPORE-2019 40

Dr. Ruzica Bozovic Stamenovic Associate Professor akiruzica@nus.edu.sg

RE: IMAGINE THE MSCPS– MULTI-STOREY CAR-PARK IN A CAR-LITE FUTURE reclaim, rethink, restore, reuse, reinvent, return, repopulate, redesign

IMAGE CREDIT: HTTPS://WWW.MOTORIST.SG/ARTICLE/333/FREE-PARKING-IN-SINGAPORE-2019 40

NG SAN SON ADJUNCT DESIGN TUTOR ngsanson@dpa.com.sg

CITY OF SINGAPORE*

REJUVENATION INCENTIVES FOR STRATEGIC AREAS

Real estate is not exactly a favoured topic amongst architectural designers. In fact, it is not treacherous to say that it is a taboo topic for the idealistic. Nonetheless, it is a real topic. Paired with urban economics, architecture is almost predetermined in many situations. However, this studio is by no means fatalistic or pessimistic. The City of Singapore postulates what is the likely future of this rich swath of land, leveraging on its past urban morphology; how and why the streets and buildings have come to be what it is today. In formalizing the City of Singapore, we attempt to understand what is the ideal scenario from the macro to micro. The Strategic Development Incentive (SDI) Scheme is intended to encourage the redevelopment of older buildings in strategic areas into new, bold and innovative developments that will positively transform the surrounding urban environment. This scheme provides a framework to evaluate and guide proposals that deviate from existing planning parameters for the site, but have a positive and transformational impact on the surrounding environment that will help rejuvenate the area. The planning parameters for which deviations may be considered under SDI Scheme are: +Gross plot ratio (GPR) / gross floor area (GFA);

Alongside the recent Strategic Development Initiatives unveiled by the Urban Redevelopment Authority, we are now encouraged to re-imagine what the City of Singapore might be. Sadly, we should also recognize that it is not a panacea for all developers and planners alike. The sheer cost of redevelopment or assets enhancement is less than idealistic. Architecture, in many ways, is controlled by the limitations. Any form of architectural excellence actually hinges on the designer’s acute understanding of the situation at hand.

*The City of Singapore is a separate county of Singapore, being an enclave surrounded by Greater Asean. It is the smallest county in the East. The City of Singapore is widely referred to simply as the City (differentiated from the phrase “the city of Singapore” by capitalising City) and is also colloquially known as the Square Mile, as it is 1.12 sq mi (716.80 acres; 2.90 km2) in area. Both of these terms are also often used as metonymy for Singapore’s trading and financial services industries, which continue a notable history of being largely based in the City.

+Land use and use quantum; +Building height

IMAGE CREDIT: NG SAN SON 42

NG SAN SON ADJUNCT DESIGN TUTOR ngsanson@dpa.com.sg

CITY OF SINGAPORE*

REJUVENATION INCENTIVES FOR STRATEGIC AREAS

+Land use and use quantum; +Building height

IMAGE CREDIT: NG SAN SON 42

DR. CJ Lim Ong Siew May Visiting Professor (NUS) c.j.lim@ucl.ac.uk

WHAT IF?: An alternative urbanism history ‘Imagine there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for. And no religion, too. Imagine all the people. Living life in peace…’ – John Lennon + Yoko Ono, ‘Imagine’, 1971 ‘The Pity of War’ (2009) by Niall Ferguson and ‘Imperial Twilight’ (2018) by Stephen Platt hold out the tantalizing prospect of a world that, with the right choices in the past, could have been different and better. Ferguson argued that Britain should have abstained from World War I — fascism and Communism would never have taken off. Furthermore, ‘If Charles Elliot had not let his panic get the best of him or if just five members of the House of Commons had voted differently in 1840 — we might be looking at a different Hong Kong’, speculates Platt. Similarly, history takes a different direction in Philip Roth’s ‘The Plot Against America’ (2004) in which Franklin D. Roosevelt is defeated in the presidential election of 1940 by Charles Lindbergh. If we maintain the same critical-thinking as Lennon, Ferguson, Roth et al., and focus on the imagination of alternative built environments – what would urbanism in Europe, South-east Asia, or the USA look like without inherited Roman, British Colonial, or modernist influences? After the Great Fire of 1666, Christopher Wren proposed a Roman-style, grid-plan for London with large piazzas linked in a geometric manner by wide long boulevards. But what if Wren’s plan was implemented? London would have missed the opportunity to be a kaleidoscope of smells and shadow of sometimes puzzling urban layouts and bricolage architectural styles. Conversely, ‘Big Hero 6’ (2014) had San Francisco rebuilt after the 1906 earthquake with a Japanese motif, and renamed Sansokyo. Cultural context and location have a significant role in the way we reflect the past – at a macro/societal level and at a micro/personal level.

What if the Romans did not invent aqueducts, roads, concrete, sewers or sanitation? On sustainability, the science fiction author, Olaf Stapledon predicted in ‘Last and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future’ (1930) that civilization might collapse as a result of resource depletion, a concept that was ridiculed as outlandish at the time. In Frank Capra’s ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ (1946), a desperately frustrated man is shown by an angel what life would have been like if he had never existed. It is in this opportunity of alternative histories that we can better understand to address the world in crisis, resulting in the evolution of resilient architecture and urbanism tailored for the determining factors of climate, resources, environmental degradation, and the idiosyncrasies of humanity. PROJECT ONE (1 week): Students are to identify the ‘what if?’ for an alternative urbanism history, and its related issues and consequences in the present day. Through research, analysis and a set of critical thinking, students will formulate a narrative with specific timelines and protagonists which will provide a speculative programmatic framework for the semester. PROJECT TWO: The narrative and critical thinking from Project 1 are applied onto a location that is ‘undesired’ – be it the climate, economy, geography, lack of inhabitation or indifference. Students are encouraged to present curious, bold and even naive alternative urban and architectural polemics (and not necessarily sensible solutions or enlightenment values) to develop an innovative commentary on the crisis of present day. Just imagine… *Throughout the semester, there will be three intensive workshops in addition to weekly tutorials. *The fieldtrip to London is self-funded. Eligible students should apply for NASA Bursary. *Instagram: @bartlettunit10

IMAGE CREDIT: CJ LIM, ‘SMARTCITIES, RESILIENT LANDSCAPES + ECO-WARRIORS’, ROUTLEDGE, 2019 44

DR. CJ Lim Ong Siew May Visiting Professor (NUS) c.j.lim@ucl.ac.uk

IMAGE CREDIT: CJ LIM, ‘SMARTCITIES, RESILIENT LANDSCAPES + ECO-WARRIORS’, ROUTLEDGE, 2019 44

SHINYA OKUDA ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR akiso@nus.edu.sg

SKY TIMBER

The Breathing Architecture for Sustainable Cities The world climate is changing. The irreversible departure from the bounds of a country’s old climate has been coined as ‘Climate Departure’. Caused by the build-up of Greenhouse emissions, climate departure poses a threat to not only biodiversity, but humans as well if left unattended to. One of the strongest motivations to review timber nowadays is that timber is renewable resource and effective carbon absorber, which is the true game changer of the global warming era. Sustainable Forestry Our tropical rain forest in Southeast Asia is one of the oldest on the Earth, however it has been deforesting due to countless non-administered loggings. Forest conservation is necessary, but might not be sufficient. As the forest is renewable resource, we could turn it into production forest and use the timber in sustainable manner. In Southeast Asia, over 2/3 of forest are not yet certified by FSC (Forest stewardship Council) as sustainable forest, and use of timber are mostly limited to pulps, papers and furniture.

Modernize Cities with Innovative Timber Technology Despite the combustibility of timber, Mass Engineered Timber, such as CLT (Cross Laminated Timber) is in fact fireproofed structural component, which triggers increasingly heated up challenges on height of CLT buildings. 8 Stories Stadhaus was built in 2009 in London, which superseded by 10 stories Forté by Lend Lease in 2012 in Melbourne. Furthermore, 14 stories Treet by Sweco Norge is recently completed in 2015 in Bergen, Norway. However, it’s longterm feasibility in the Tropics is largely unknown yet, which prompts academia-industryauthority wide discourses. Sky Timber: Mass Timber Architecture in the Tropics Embracing the social mission, Sky Timber studio will address issues/challenges on the development of the Mass Timber Architecture in the Tropics as well as on-going advanced development in Europe. As the nature of contemporary architectural practice, especially in the area of Mass Timber Architecture, it will be highly multidisciplinary discourse from regulations, forestry, industry, architecture, structure, building systems and project management point of views.

IMAGE CREDIT: UPPER IMAGE: HUGO GLENDINNING. LOWER IMAGE: FRAMEWORK / WORKS PARTNERSHIP ARCHITECTURE / USA 46

SHINYA OKUDA ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR akiso@nus.edu.sg

SKY TIMBER

IMAGE CREDIT: UPPER IMAGE: HUGO GLENDINNING. LOWER IMAGE: FRAMEWORK / WORKS PARTNERSHIP ARCHITECTURE / USA 46

Tsuto Sakamoto SENIOR LECTURER akits@nus.edu.sg

HYPEROBKECT: RESTORATION OF MASUE, ASAKURA Hyperobjects, coined by Timothy Morton, signify entities vast in spatio-temporal dimension. The Hyperobjects are visible or invisible, and their impacts to our life is beyond our comprehension due to their dimensions, coverage and ubiquity, therefore they are considered as sublime. Morton elaborates their impacts on how we think and/or how we react to them unconsciously, while enhancing our sensibilities towards non-human objects coexist. Due to a recent climate change, natural disasters are currently ubiquitous especially in Japan. Susceptible to harsh natural forces: an earthquake, typhoon, flooding, and heavy snow, the country has experienced numerous disasters and gradually developed ways to prepare, respond and reduce damage caused by such disasters. A quick response of national government, defence force, municipal government, organization of volunteer people, although they do not always lead to the best situation, at least shows a certain efficiency and rationality behind these actions. The awful experience that people go through works as a moment of apprenticeship for co-existence with these unwanted disasters. Taking this ironical view as predominant idea, the studio will participate in an investigation of a whole sequence of a disaster and restoration by focusing on a particular case: Torrential Rain and Flooding in Northern Kyushu. Torrential Rain in Northern Kyushu in July 2017 involved severe rain caused by mesoscale line of precipitation that kept falling over the same region between Fukuoka and Oita Prefectures. The amount of rain, 774 mm in 9 hours was unprecedented in the region. Rivers in small and medium sizes in mountainous areas flooded in a short period of time, and villages along the basin were hit by inundation and sediments. The rapid current of the rivers gouged the slope and mowed down numerous

trees. The driftwood attacked wooden and concrete buildings on the basin. 42 people died and 2 people were missing. 1,000 houses were fully or partially destroyed, while 600 houses were flooded above and below floors. 2,303 refugees (in the peak period) were accommodated in the temporary shelters in the prefectures. Focusing on one of the most severely damaged area: Masue in Asakura City, our studio will first investigate and study the restoration plan and actual construction which have been conducted more than one year. In collaborating with Kyushu University, Faculty of Design and Environment, Department of Landscape Design, we will further develop ideas for the restoration, considering factors such as agriculture, community, tourism, culture and education. Taking into account of fragility of everyday life of people, overwhelming power of disaster and needs for contingent plans, the architecture we design should go along with coexisting nature and flexibly respond to the situations. Furthermore, such architecture, with natural environment should propose alternative ways of life, tourism, culture and community. Based on a close analysis of the site, and learning from the landscape design principle, our studio aims to propose unconventional responces to a variety of situations. (Note) The studio will conduct a trip to Fukuoka (Asakura City and Masue) in Week 2 for 1 week. The schedule will be confirmed after coordination with Kyushu University.

IMAGE CREDIT: AEROPHOTOGRAPH BY ASAHIKOYO CORPORATION, HTTPS://WWW.AEROASAHI.CO.JP/NEWS/DETAIL.PHP?ID=118 48

Tsuto Sakamoto SENIOR LECTURER akits@nus.edu.sg

IMAGE CREDIT: AEROPHOTOGRAPH BY ASAHIKOYO CORPORATION, HTTPS://WWW.AEROASAHI.CO.JP/NEWS/DETAIL.PHP?ID=118 48

WONG CHONG THAI BOBBY Adjunct Associate Professor akiwct@nus.edu.sg

BORDERS, WALLS, AND COMMUNITIES The studio want to work on borders, border-walls and their communities found in and around them. This project emerges that though border walls are often despised, there are “monumental” / historical value(s) to be gained and consumed after their use: Recall the Great Wall of China, the Berlin Wall. And Undoubtedly, these walls are prescient in Trump’s “America first” US - Mexico Wall. However, Bansky’s “Walled Off Hotel” in Bethlehem indicates Border walls can be of economic value even as it is used with its negative connotations. For barriers can be usurped for contemporary purposes (including purposes for living and communing). No doubt it is Bansky’s political art that aids and abets, turning what’s contingent in the Palestine / Israel border wall into its present economic value. In the main, border walls are there to prevent free movement of people other than one’s own. They are also erected, paradoxically though not often to keep one’s people in and others out. Borders can also be treacherous. Many are mined with razor sharp barbwired fence. Some Border fences are also electrified. When speaking about Border walls, the conversation often centers on physical or “hard” borders. Walls are also metaphorical: Often soft barriers are included in its usage. Soft border consists of passport, visas and at times language and cultural traits. It is not uncommon to hear how one is racially profiled by one’s color or skin type when crossing the border. These practices are in place to make distinction and differences between communities, nationalities and ethnic groups. But this binary assumption is easier imagined than what is occurring in reality. For on the ground the situation is certainly not binary. There was once, if not in the near past, then at least in some eternal time, different ethnic groups (sometime tribal) and communities could intermix and intermarry “freely” along and across border regions. It can also be postulated of a time when diverse ethnic groups could roam “freely” across the land. But the advent of modern nation states has meant borders needed mending. Borders have since

become barriers to movements of goods and people. But paradoxically, often what you have is a diverse mix of people living on two sides of the border that is fairly representative / similar of each other. Because of this, border gates between two nation states are often areas of intense activities. The phenomenon of daily movement of goods and people across the border is quite intense. People move across to commune, to work and to reunite with what was lost. This separation is presently exasperated by the very recent mass migration; namely, African and middle eastern people into Europe and or people from Latin America into the United States of America. These are mainly refugees seeking refuge from poverty, persecution and war. At each border crossing, one finds ethnic enclaves and processing camps where refugees wait for opportunities to make the crossing. One noted example is the “Jungle” in Calais, France, where it was home to 10,000 migrants from a dozen countries. The studio wants to concentrate this study on towns and enclaves that have emerged in and along border conditions of Southeast Asia; namely states like Loas / Myanmar, Thailand / Myanmar, Thailand / Malaysia. One example that comes to mind is the Sop Ruak in Thailand. It is about 50 km from Chiang Rai. It is town nearest the confluence of the Mekong and Ruak Rivers and it is where the borders of Loas, Myanmar and Thailand meet. Border crossings within Southeast Asia (Besides the Rohingya crises) are certainly “mild” in comparison to the ones in Europe. Nonetheless, they are still fraught with their own intrigues – arm, drug, jade and money smuggling and here and there, bands of freedom fighters. Further Reading: 1) Podcast: LSE Public Lectures and Events Hosted by LSE Festivals: New World (Dis)Orders, 2 March 2019, Dr Elena Barabantseva, Professor Bill Callahan and Xiaolu Guo 2) Twin Cities: Urban Communities, Borders and Relationships over Time Edited by John Garrard and Ekaterina Mikhailova, Routledge, London, 2018

IMAGE CREDIT: MAN WITH THROWING FLOWERS : COUNTERFORCE.ORG; MEXICO USA BORDER WALL: KPBS; GIRL WITH BALLOON: SARYAN INFO 50

WONG CHONG THAI BOBBY Adjunct Associate Professor akiwct@nus.edu.sg

IMAGE CREDIT: MAN WITH THROWING FLOWERS : COUNTERFORCE.ORG; MEXICO USA BORDER WALL: KPBS; GIRL WITH BALLOON: SARYAN INFO 50

DR. SWINAL SAMANT RAVINDRANATH Senior Lecturer akisama@nus.edu.sg

URBAN COALESCING AND HYBRIDS “Architecture has an important role in the transformation of mankind in the community”… “ We have for a long time been focused on the reclusive and individualistic ‘I’, in an artifical separation from the group”… “If we wish to innovate, we must break through the rigidity of the walls that separate us, and insert ourselves into the consciousness of the group, into the landscape which we inhabit, so that we understand and so that what is essential again shows itself as a constant theme.” “It is fundamental to understand that architecture is not an object, a hermetic piece which superimposes itself on a place; it is a system of spatial relationships. By spatial relationships we understand the whole: what is constructed, the landscape, the place, human beings, the programme…everything is fused together to give rise to an architecture that has taken root, an architecture which is a landscape.” “The basis of relationships in architecture is found in permeability. Boundaries are overstepped, experiments are performed with depths, contexts are related to one another and experiences are shared. The basis of innovation in architecture is, therefore, at the root, in a constructed philosophy of life.” (RCR Aranda Pigem Vilalta Arquitectes RCR Arquitectes Universe, poetics and creativity - https:// cementerio.montera34.com/spain-lab.net/wp-content/ uploads/2012/08/rcr.pdf) Early modernist planning comprising segregated-use zoning generated CBDs and their mono-functional megatowers. Most planning theorists agree on the functional, environmental, and social benefits of mixing land use (Talen and Knaap 2003) -- particularly the fine-grained mixed-use model (within individual buildings) -- as a crucial component of urban vitality (Rowley 1996; Jacobs 1961). The concept of hybridization sought to address urban/ building inefficiencies, by pulling together different functions, first within urban areas and later within hybrid buildings. Architect, Joseph Fenton (1985)

was one of the earliest to define Hybrids following his study of North American cities. “(Vertical) hybrids are (tall) buildings which have the mixed-use gene in its gene code, that revitalizes the urban scene and saves space” (Holl 2011). Vertical Hybrids are characterised by high programmatic complexity that is in constant exchange with its surroundings. They recognise the interconnectivity between programs with an understanding of “the social dimension of users” and relate them back into the urban context (Per et al. 2014). “The intimacy of private life and the sociability of public life dwell within the hybrid and produce constant activity, making it a building working full-time” (Per et al. 2014). For example, Kampung Admiralty by WOHA is a fine-grained “hybrid building” characterised by high programmatic complexity, with the strategic layering and hierarchical mix of rich, diverse and synergistic functions that are enmeshed effortlessly with each other and the surroundings. A hybrid may incorporate different urban uses, it will have a lively exchange and integration with the urban environment, and with an enormous appetite for flexibility and adaptation to meet the changing demands. A hybrid building is defined by its context – historical, cultural, social, physical/spatial, environmental, temporal, material, technological, and economic and so forth. It will absorb the urban functions and infrastructures in which it stands and operates and aid urban structuring, infrastructure, greening, bio-diversity and consequently urban vitality, connectivity, mobility, accessibility sociability and legibility. Furthermore, Hybrids that incorporate housing require certain sensitivities with regards to the dialogue between the individual and communal, public and private, and co-existence vs privacy/security. Ultimately, a Hybrid may be considered as a city within a city… I request passionate students to join me in the search of an Urban Hybrid for Singapore, a new paradigm for urban coalescing at Tan Quee Lan Street. Students will work in pairs on this project.

BLOCK/TOWER BY STAN ALLEN, RAFI SEGAL, NEW YORK CITY HTTPS://I.PINIMG.COM/ORIGINALS/D6/BA/9F/D6BA9FEA1266186644A2AC9F2F7ADFAA.JPG 52

DR. SWINAL SAMANT RAVINDRANATH Senior Lecturer akisama@nus.edu.sg

BLOCK/TOWER BY STAN ALLEN, RAFI SEGAL, NEW YORK CITY HTTPS://I.PINIMG.COM/ORIGINALS/D6/BA/9F/D6BA9FEA1266186644A2AC9F2F7ADFAA.JPG 52

Design Studio Faculty: Lilian Chee

Erik L’Heureux

Associate Professor, M.Arch. Princeton University, BA Arch. Washington Univ in St. Louis, Reg Arch New York, Rhode Island, AIA, LEED AP BD+C

Associate Professor; PhD (Bartlett, UCL), MSc (Arch History) with Distinction (Bartlett, UCL), BArch (Hons) (NUS), BA (Arch Studies) (NUS)

Dr Lee Kah Wee

Chaw Chih Wen MSIA, Registered Architect, Singapore

Tomohisa Miyauchi

Dr Cho Im Sik

Associate Professor; PhD (Seoul National University), Master (Berlage Institute of Rotterdam), BSc (Seoul National University)

Hans Brouwer

Adjunct Associate Professor, Registered Architect Singapore, Director HB Design

Dr Simone Chung

Assistant Professor; PhD in Architecture (Cantab), MPhil (Dist, Cantab), MSc (Dist, UCL), AA Dipl.Arch (London), BSc (Hons, UCL), ARB/ RIBA Part 3, UK

Oscar Carracedo

Assistant Professor; PhD (UC Berkeley), M.A. Arch (NUS), B.A. Arch (UNSW)

Senior Lecturer; M.Arch (Harvard), B.Arch (SCI-Arc), Reg Arch AIA (USA), Reg Arch (Japan)

Shinya Okuda

Associate Professor; M. Eng, B. Eng. Architect (SBA, JAEIC)

Ong Ker Shing

Associate Professor in Practice; M.Arch, M.LA (Harvard University), Registered Architect and Landscape Architect, Singapore. Director, Lekker Architects Pte Ltd.

Tsuto Sakamoto

Senior Lecturer; B.Eng. Science University of Tokyo, M.Eng. Waseda University, M.Sci, Columbia University Graduate School of Architectural Planning

Assistant Professor; MSc (UD & Planning) Barcelona-UPC MIT MArch (Honors) & BArch (Honors)Barcelona-UPC EU-AP Registered Architect

Peter Sim

Fung John Chye

Associate Professor; PhD, MSc (Arch. Comp Design), Carnegie Melon University, MSc (ArchEng.), Ir-Arch, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Associate Professor in Practice; B.Arch (NUS), Registered Architect Singapore

Dr Ho Puay Peng

Professor; MA (Hons), DipArch (Edin.), PhD (London), RIBA

Richard Ho

Adjunct Assistant Professor; BA (Arch), B Arch (Hons), NUS, Registered Architect, UK (ARB), FARM Architects

Dr Rudi Stouffs

Dr. Ruzica Bozovic Stamenovic

Associate Professor; Dr. Sci; Mr.Sci; Spec.Arch; Dipl. Eng. Arch; University of Belgrade

Dr Swinal Samant Ravindranath

Professor in Practice, B Arch (Hons) NUS, MSIA, Registered Architect, Singapore

Senior Lecturer; PhD and PGCHE (The University of Nottingham, UK), M. Arch (The University of Sheffield, UK), Dip. Arch with Distinction (Institute of Environmental Design, India)

Ho Weng Hin

Tan Shee Tiong

Adjunct Senior Lecturer; Dip. Specialista in Restauro dei Monumenti (UNIGE), M.Arch (NUS), B.A.(A.S.) (NUS)

Adjunct Associate Professor, BArch, PDTP, MRTPI, RIBA, FSIP, MSIA

Dr Patrick Janssen

BArch (Hons) NUS, SMArchS MIT, Registered Architect, Singapore

Associate Professor; PhD, MSc (Cog. Sci. Int Comp.), AADipl

Dr Nirmal Kishnani

Associate Professor; PhD (Curtin University of Technology), MSc(Env. Psych.)(Uni Surrey UK), BA.Arch(Hons)(NUS)

Dr Lam Khee Poh

Provost’s Chair Professor of Architecture and Building Dean, School of Design and Environment

Khoo Peng Beng

Adjunct Associate Professor; B.Arch (Hons) NUS, MSIA, RIBA, Registered Architect, Singapore

Thomas Kong

Associate Professor; M.Arch (Distinction) Cranbrook, B.Arch (Hons) NUS, Assoc. AIA, Registered Architect, Singapore.

Adrian Lai

Adjunct Assistant Professor: BA (Arch) NUS, AA(DIP) UK, Registered Architect, Singapore (MSIA) & UK (ARB)

Dr Joseph Lim

Associate Professor; PhD (Heriot-Watt), MSc (Strath), BArch (Hons) (NUS), BOA , Registered Architect, Singapore

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN THESIS D E S I G N S T U D I O FA C U LT Y

THESIS SEMESTER 1 & 2

Teh Joo Heng Alan Tay

Adjunct Assistant Professor; M.Arch NUS, MSIA, Registered Architect, Singapore

Tiah Nan Chyuan

BA (Arch) NUS, AA(DIP) UK, MSIA, Registered Architect, Singapore

Wong Chong Thai, Bobby

Adjunct Associate Professor; MDesSt Harvard, DipArch Aberdeen, RIBA, MSIA, Registered Architect, Singapore

Dr Johannes Widodo

Associate Professor; PhD (U-Tokyo), M.Arch.Eng. (KU Leuven), Ir. (UNPAR) IAI

Wu Yen Yen

M.Arch (GSAPP Columbia University), MSIA, Registered Architect, Singapore

Dr Yuan Chao

Assistant Professor; PhD Architecture (CUHK), MPhil Architecture (BUCEA), B.E. Civil Engineering (ZJUT), MIT Kaufman Teaching Certificate (MIT)

Dr Zhang Ye

Assistant Professor; B.Arch, M.Arch, PhD (Cantab) 54

Design Studio Faculty: Lilian Chee

Erik L’Heureux

Associate Professor, M.Arch. Princeton University, BA Arch. Washington Univ in St. Louis, Reg Arch New York, Rhode Island, AIA, LEED AP BD+C

Associate Professor; PhD (Bartlett, UCL), MSc (Arch History) with Distinction (Bartlett, UCL), BArch (Hons) (NUS), BA (Arch Studies) (NUS)

Dr Lee Kah Wee

Chaw Chih Wen MSIA, Registered Architect, Singapore

Tomohisa Miyauchi

Dr Cho Im Sik

Associate Professor; PhD (Seoul National University), Master (Berlage Institute of Rotterdam), BSc (Seoul National University)

Hans Brouwer

Adjunct Associate Professor, Registered Architect Singapore, Director HB Design

Dr Simone Chung

Assistant Professor; PhD in Architecture (Cantab), MPhil (Dist, Cantab), MSc (Dist, UCL), AA Dipl.Arch (London), BSc (Hons, UCL), ARB/ RIBA Part 3, UK

Oscar Carracedo

Assistant Professor; PhD (UC Berkeley), M.A. Arch (NUS), B.A. Arch (UNSW)

Senior Lecturer; M.Arch (Harvard), B.Arch (SCI-Arc), Reg Arch AIA (USA), Reg Arch (Japan)

Shinya Okuda

Associate Professor; M. Eng, B. Eng. Architect (SBA, JAEIC)

Ong Ker Shing

Associate Professor in Practice; M.Arch, M.LA (Harvard University), Registered Architect and Landscape Architect, Singapore. Director, Lekker Architects Pte Ltd.

Tsuto Sakamoto

Senior Lecturer; B.Eng. Science University of Tokyo, M.Eng. Waseda University, M.Sci, Columbia University Graduate School of Architectural Planning

Assistant Professor; MSc (UD & Planning) Barcelona-UPC MIT MArch (Honors) & BArch (Honors)Barcelona-UPC EU-AP Registered Architect

Peter Sim

Fung John Chye

Associate Professor; PhD, MSc (Arch. Comp Design), Carnegie Melon University, MSc (ArchEng.), Ir-Arch, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Associate Professor in Practice; B.Arch (NUS), Registered Architect Singapore

Dr Ho Puay Peng

Professor; MA (Hons), DipArch (Edin.), PhD (London), RIBA

Richard Ho

Adjunct Assistant Professor; BA (Arch), B Arch (Hons), NUS, Registered Architect, UK (ARB), FARM Architects

Dr Rudi Stouffs

Dr. Ruzica Bozovic Stamenovic

Associate Professor; Dr. Sci; Mr.Sci; Spec.Arch; Dipl. Eng. Arch; University of Belgrade

Dr Swinal Samant Ravindranath

Professor in Practice, B Arch (Hons) NUS, MSIA, Registered Architect, Singapore

Senior Lecturer; PhD and PGCHE (The University of Nottingham, UK), M. Arch (The University of Sheffield, UK), Dip. Arch with Distinction (Institute of Environmental Design, India)

Ho Weng Hin

Tan Shee Tiong

Adjunct Senior Lecturer; Dip. Specialista in Restauro dei Monumenti (UNIGE), M.Arch (NUS), B.A.(A.S.) (NUS)

Adjunct Associate Professor, BArch, PDTP, MRTPI, RIBA, FSIP, MSIA

Dr Patrick Janssen

BArch (Hons) NUS, SMArchS MIT, Registered Architect, Singapore

Associate Professor; PhD, MSc (Cog. Sci. Int Comp.), AADipl

Dr Nirmal Kishnani

Associate Professor; PhD (Curtin University of Technology), MSc(Env. Psych.)(Uni Surrey UK), BA.Arch(Hons)(NUS)

Dr Lam Khee Poh

Provost’s Chair Professor of Architecture and Building Dean, School of Design and Environment

Khoo Peng Beng

Adjunct Associate Professor; B.Arch (Hons) NUS, MSIA, RIBA, Registered Architect, Singapore

Thomas Kong

Associate Professor; M.Arch (Distinction) Cranbrook, B.Arch (Hons) NUS, Assoc. AIA, Registered Architect, Singapore.

Adrian Lai

Adjunct Assistant Professor: BA (Arch) NUS, AA(DIP) UK, Registered Architect, Singapore (MSIA) & UK (ARB)

Dr Joseph Lim

Associate Professor; PhD (Heriot-Watt), MSc (Strath), BArch (Hons) (NUS), BOA , Registered Architect, Singapore

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN THESIS D E S I G N S T U D I O FA C U LT Y

THESIS SEMESTER 1 & 2

Teh Joo Heng Alan Tay

Adjunct Assistant Professor; M.Arch NUS, MSIA, Registered Architect, Singapore

Tiah Nan Chyuan

BA (Arch) NUS, AA(DIP) UK, MSIA, Registered Architect, Singapore

Wong Chong Thai, Bobby

Adjunct Associate Professor; MDesSt Harvard, DipArch Aberdeen, RIBA, MSIA, Registered Architect, Singapore

Dr Johannes Widodo

Associate Professor; PhD (U-Tokyo), M.Arch.Eng. (KU Leuven), Ir. (UNPAR) IAI

Wu Yen Yen

M.Arch (GSAPP Columbia University), MSIA, Registered Architect, Singapore

Dr Yuan Chao

Assistant Professor; PhD Architecture (CUHK), MPhil Architecture (BUCEA), B.E. Civil Engineering (ZJUT), MIT Kaufman Teaching Certificate (MIT)

Dr Zhang Ye

Assistant Professor; B.Arch, M.Arch, PhD (Cantab) 54

DR. LILIAN CHEE Associate Professor; l.chee@nus.edu.sg

A MINOR ARCHITECTURE TRANSFORMING THE TROPICAL CANON FROM WITHOUT

“… [minor architecture] will operate in the interstices of this [major] architecture. Not opposed to, not separate from, but upon/within/among: barnacles, bastard constructions (une bâtarde architecture), tattoos (ornament, embellishment).”1 “She lived in the graveyard like a tree.”2 The term “tropical” has been institutionally profiled through periods of colonial and cultural imperialism. Meteorological questions of climate have slipped into matters of physical and moral degeneration, and “environmental ‘othering’.”3 The historical understanding of the tropical world as an environmental “other” persists today as the climatological vulnerability of the tropical belt – a zone which produces the bulk of the world’s food, natural and labour resources – becomes a security threat to developed nations dependent on its continued economic production. This studio concerns itself with producing another narrative and spatiality for the tropics. It will take its cue from two pieces of literature – Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017) and Amitav Ghosh’s The Great Derangement (2016). Roy’s epigraph tells us that the extinction of the cemetery’s fauna, its oldest inhabitants, forewarn the intricate balance between the city, nature and culture. Life in the cemetery is made possible with tacit knowledge of the unknown, recognized through signs in the “presence and proximity of nonhuman interlocutors.”4 Ghosh calls this an “environmental unconscious” which necessarily constitutes knowledge weaving together fact with myth, fable and imagination, and the intertwining of human with non-human forces: “In an overlapping of the pragmatic

and the poetic, a broad acknowledgement of mutual dependence, in which rights, mutual obligations and a sense of wonder are seamlessly merged.”5 The tropics is a space where things shift, grow, disintegrate, reappear and multiply like a rhizome. This studio will trace, relate, transform, and invent a minor architecture for the tropics in which a version of an “environmental unconscious” is defined – where the poetic and pragmatic; wonder and rights are realised. A minor architecture for the tropics necessarily dissects the architectural canon from without – inflecting architecture through literature, film, and art. Through this hindsight of a “borrowed view” of architecture, we look for contradictions and gaps. From this precarious vantage point, we can speculate Other tropical futures. These are defined by relationality, vulnerability, and risk, and generated by agents, configurations, constructions and relationships that critique and question the canon. Notes: 1 Jennifer Bloomer, Architecture and the Text: The (S)crypts of Joyce and Piranesi (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993), 36. 2 Arundhati Roy, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (London: Hamish Hamilton, 2017), 3. 3 Anne Collett, Tracking the Literature of Tropical Weather: Typhoons, Hurricanes, and Cyclones (New York, NY: Springer Science+Business Media, 2016), 10. 4 Amitav Ghosh, The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable (Chicago, London: University of Chicago Press, 2016), 30. 5 Amitav Ghosh, ‘Wild Fictions,’ accessed June 3, 2019, https://www.amitavghosh.com/docs/Wild%20 Fictions.pdf., 12.

IMAGE CREDIT: SIMRYN GILL, VEGETATION #5, 1999. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND BREENSPACE, SYDNEY. HTTPS:// NETSVICTORIA.ORG.AU/EXHIBITION/SIMRYN-GILL-INLAND-2/ 56

DR. LILIAN CHEE Associate Professor; l.chee@nus.edu.sg

A MINOR ARCHITECTURE TRANSFORMING THE TROPICAL CANON FROM WITHOUT

IMAGE CREDIT: SIMRYN GILL, VEGETATION #5, 1999. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND BREENSPACE, SYDNEY. HTTPS:// NETSVICTORIA.ORG.AU/EXHIBITION/SIMRYN-GILL-INLAND-2/ 56

CHAW CHIH WEN chihwen@hyphenarch.com CHAW CHIH WEN chihwen@hyphenarch.com

TOWARDS A POSTHUMAN ARCHITECTURE

Since the 3rd industrial revolution, the continuum between Human and digital technology has become increasingly evident in sentient systems and ubiquitous communication networks. However in the face of the 4th industrial revolution, it would be naive to still consider these systems and networks as subservient or mererevolution, prostheticsthe to our human body. Since the 3rd industrial continuum In fact, it is imperative to acknowledge our current between Human and digital technology has become civilisation Luhanesque where “we increasingly evidentas in almost sentientMc systems and ubiquitous shape our tools andHowever thereafterinourthe toolface shape communication networks. of us”; the Humanit to Posthuman. the 4th evolution industrial from revolution, would be naive to still consider these systems and networks as subservient the term conjure or mereWhile prosthetics to Posthuman our human has body. In fact,different it is imperative to acknowledge current civilisation as theoretical positions our in numerous fields, it has almost Mc Luhanesque whereobscure “we shape our tools andthe operated in a largely territory within thereafter our tool shape us”; the evolution from Human discourse of Architecture. The studio’s inquiry to Posthuman. starts with the alignment to the definition offered by Katherine Hayles’s seminal work “ How We Became While the term Posthuman has conjure different Posthuman”. This new Being, construed as part of an theoretical positions in numerous fields, it has operated ephemeral informational pattern /network instantiated in a largely hidden territory within discourse of in a biological substrate, shallthe serve as the impetus for Architecture. The studio’s inquiry starts with the further research into related social, cultural and spatial alignment to the definition offered by Katherine Hayles’s practices. The thesis should refrain from a simplistic seminal application work “ How of Weblack Became Posthuman”. This new box technology in Architecture Being, construed as part of an ephemeral informational but rather, focus on the discovery of new, unimagined pattern /network instantiated in a biological substrate spatial paradigms; through the lens of a posthuman. shall serve as the impetus for further research, and the discovery of new, unimagined spatial practices. Study Trip:

TEXT REFERENCES

Lost Dimension Paul Virilio, Translated by Daniel Moshenberg, 1991, Autonomedia How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics N. Katherine Hayles, 1999, University of Chicago Press Network Fever, Greyroom 04, pg 82-122 Mark Wigley, 2001, MIT press Bodies in Technology Don Idhe, 2002, U of Minnesota Press Embodied Technics Don Idhe, 2010, Automatic Press Architecture Theories of the Environment: Posthuman Territory Ariane Lourie Harrison, 2013, Routledge Are We Human? Notes on an Archaeology of Design Beatriz Colomina, Mark Wigley, 2017, Lars Müller FILM REFERENCES “Her” Directed by Spike Jonze, 2013 “Uninvited Guests” Directed by Superflux, 2015 “You’re soaking in it” Directed by Scott Harper, 2017

As part of the studio’s research endeavor, there will be a self funded study trip to the coming 2019 Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism \Architecture (Shenzhen) with the dual theme of “Eyes of the City” and “Ascending City”, focusing on evolving relationship between urban space and technological innovation from different perspectives

IMAGE CREDIT: HTTPS://WSOE.ORG/JAPANESE-MAN-MARRIES-VIDEO-GAME-HOLOGRAM-IN-BIZARRE-18000WEDDING-CEREMONY/ 58

59 IMAGE CREDIT: HTTPS://WSOE.ORG/JAPANESE-MAN-MARRIES-VIDEO-GAME-HOLOGRAM-IN-BIZARRE-18000-WEDDING-CEREMONY/

CHAW CHIH WEN chihwen@hyphenarch.com CHAW CHIH WEN chihwen@hyphenarch.com

TOWARDS A POSTHUMAN ARCHITECTURE

TEXT REFERENCES

IMAGE CREDIT: HTTPS://WSOE.ORG/JAPANESE-MAN-MARRIES-VIDEO-GAME-HOLOGRAM-IN-BIZARRE-18000WEDDING-CEREMONY/ 58

59 IMAGE CREDIT: HTTPS://WSOE.ORG/JAPANESE-MAN-MARRIES-VIDEO-GAME-HOLOGRAM-IN-BIZARRE-18000-WEDDING-CEREMONY/

DR. CHO IM SIK Associate Professor akicis@nus.edu.sg

EMERGING CIVIC URBANISMS DESIGNING FOR SOCIAL IMPACT

With rising awareness of the impacts of environmental degradation and growing social and economic polarisation, various forms of civic urbanisms are emerging around the world as an alternative to the growth-oriented and market-driven urban development of the past. This implies an awakened desire for a new paradigm in society based on more sustainable ways of life, which contributed to the increased interest in communal life and shared identities in localities, with greater emphasis on well-being, quality of life, social inclusion, environmental consciousness, and active participation of citizens in decision-making. In a fast changing social context, this studio draws attention to the possibilities and challenges that we face while moving towards a more inclusive and sustainable future. By critically reflecting upon the conventional ways we perceive, plan and build our cities, the studio will rigorously question established norms, conceptions and systems, to inspire new visions of urbanism designed for long term social impact.

The studio will explore integrative and hybrid urban models that cultivate genuine socially and ecologically sustainable lifestyles. Innovative approaches will be investigated to facilitate timely, flexible and contextsensitive urban interventions; this is to encourage a shift from centralized, top-down approaches to more decentralized, bottom-up processes, and from singular and static design solutions to dynamic and pluralistic design processes, which can be instrumental for reconceptualizing urban space design for the hybrid and high-density environments of today and tomorrow. This may result in the creation of ‘structures for inclusion’, which permit opportunities for collaboration between different social/economic groups to enhance economic vitality and social equality. This may also mean the creation of new and diverse hybrid social spaces that encourage individual and collective creativity and allow for continual transformation and adaptation. Ultimately, the studio aims to open up new possibilities of re-centring urban development toward a more inclusive cosmopolis of diversity and accommodation of difference based on greater involvement of communities in the making of our future city.

MARCH THESIS_CHO IM SIK STUDIO AY2018/19 IMAGE CREDIT (TOP): TESSERACT: TIME BASED OWNERSHIP INCENTIVISATION MODEL (BRYANT LAU LIANG CHENG) IMAGE CREDIT (BOTTOM): VIRTUOUS CITY: MANUFACTURING OPEN-SOURCE URBANISM (ANDRE LIM FANG) 60

DR. CHO IM SIK Associate Professor akicis@nus.edu.sg

EMERGING CIVIC URBANISMS DESIGNING FOR SOCIAL IMPACT

HANS BROUWER Adjunct Associate Professor hans@hbdesign.biz

THE NARRATIVE OF TECTONICS THE ART OF MAKING ARCHITECTURE

IMAGE CREDIT: THORNCROWN CHAPEL - FAY JONES’S (EUREKA SPRINGS, ARKANSAS – 1989) 62

HANS BROUWER Adjunct Associate Professor hans@hbdesign.biz

THE NARRATIVE OF TECTONICS THE ART OF MAKING ARCHITECTURE

IMAGE CREDIT: THORNCROWN CHAPEL - FAY JONES’S (EUREKA SPRINGS, ARKANSAS – 1989) 62

DR. SIMONE CHUNG Assistant Professo simone.chung@nus.edu.sg

LIFE IN THE FOURTH CAN THERE BE AN “ARTIFICIAL CULTURE” AS THERE IS AN “ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE,” IF IN FACT “CULTURE” MEANS THE IMPLICIT AND AMBIGUOUS – AND ALSO DREAM, ART, FEELINGS, MEANING AND VALUE? OUR ROBOTIC MACHINES HAVE ACQUIRED SIGHT, HEARING AND TOUCH. BUT…THOUGHT IS NOT THE SAME THING AS CALCULATION, NOR THE BRAIN AS INTELLECT… RÉGIS DEBRAY, MEDIA MANIFESTO: ON THE TECHNOLOGICAL TRANSMISSION OF CULTURAL FORMS (1996: 120)

Whilst the latter half of the twentieth century witnessed breakthroughs in computing and robotics, the Fourth Industrial Revolution shaping this millennium is characterised by the merging of technologies, consequently blurring the physical and digital divide, and integrating at an unprecedented speed and scale on a systematic level (Schwab 2016). It is an ineluctable fact that the technological and digital integration in our everyday lives has thoroughly transformed the way we now live, work, interact and think, irrevocably reinscribing our spatial narratives. To illustrate, the term ‘lifehack’ - a techno-geek neologism coined by O’Brien in 20014 - has since entered mainstream vocabulary to refer to (ironically) expedient low-tech troubleshooting suggestions and shortcuts to complete mundane tasks in our offline world.

By adopting a human-centred approach, we will attempt to confront the affective impact of technodigital ubiquity from the perspectives of evolution and, more crucially, ethics, for teleological insights. M. Arch. candidates are encouraged to participate in the core activities of the tutor’s Options studio “We are Millennials, Mobilised” in Semester 1 - an immersive environment workshop in W1, overseas trip to Seoul in W2 and public exhibition at the National Library, Singapore, in early December 2019 - to augment their respective research on this polemical topic .

IMAGE CREDIT: ALONE IN A ROOM, SOCIALIZING (2018), LAURIE LIPTON. CHARCOAL & PENCIL ON PAPER. <HTTPS://WWW.LAURIELIPTON.COM> 64

DR. SIMONE CHUNG Assistant Professo simone.chung@nus.edu.sg

IMAGE CREDIT: ALONE IN A ROOM, SOCIALIZING (2018), LAURIE LIPTON. CHARCOAL & PENCIL ON PAPER. <HTTPS://WWW.LAURIELIPTON.COM> 64

OSCAR CARRACEDO Assistant Professor oscar_carracedo@nus.edu.sg

ON IN UNDER WITH WITHOUT _WATER/LAND THE RESILIENT CITY. DESIGNING THE UNPREDICTABLE, PLANNING WITH UNCERTAINTIES

In the last decade and beyond, we have witnessed natural disasters and extreme weather events besieging human settlements across various continents at greater frequency due to the effects of climate change. Climate change affects cities everywhere, and all cities need to think through climate adaptation and mitigation strategies to tackle environmental changes. Resilience is often viewed as the ability to resist to the effects of climate change, as a post-disaster response or as a disaster relief strategy. However, resilience should be understood as a more pro-active approach, integrating long and short- term mitigation and adaptive design solutions to deal with the shocks and stresses that affect our cities.

Working at different scales, from urban to architecture, thesis will investigate and explore the understanding of resilience as a model for anticipating, preventing and preparing for the effects of climate change. More specifically, it is proposed that the thesis exploration focus on the design of water solutions regarding the interconnected phenomenon of floods, droughts and subsidence in the water-land interfaces. Thesis will have to explore the role of urban and architectural design, as well as building technologies in enhancing the resilience of cities.

OSCAR CARRACEDO Assistant Professor oscar_carracedo@nus.edu.sg

ON IN UNDER WITH WITHOUT _WATER/LAND THE RESILIENT CITY. DESIGNING THE UNPREDICTABLE, PLANNING WITH UNCERTAINTIES

FUNG JOHN CHYE Associate Professor in Practice akifjc@nus.edu.sg

FUTURE URBAN NEIGHBOURHOODS [F.U.N.] | UTOPIA OR OBLIVION2 AN INTEGRATED STUDIO FOR M.ARCH 1 AND 2

Buckminster Fuller (1969). Utopia or Oblivion: The Prospects for Humanity. New York.

Buckminster Fuller (1963). Ideas and Integrity: A Spontaneous Autobiographical Disclosure.

New York.

FUNG JOHN CHYE Associate Professor in Practice akifjc@nus.edu.sg

FUTURE URBAN NEIGHBOURHOODS [F.U.N.] | UTOPIA OR OBLIVION2 AN INTEGRATED STUDIO FOR M.ARCH 1 AND 2

Buckminster Fuller (1969). Utopia or Oblivion: The Prospects for Humanity. New York.

Buckminster Fuller (1963). Ideas and Integrity: A Spontaneous Autobiographical Disclosure.

New York.

DR. HO PUAY PENG Professor akihead@nus.edu.sg

CITY - CULTURE - CONSERVATION Social and cultural contexts for design initiative is my prime interest as thesis focus. How might a design project be the locus for symbolisation, cultural representation and identity enabling? By asking these questions, we are embarking on a journey of uncovering the meaning of society, community and cultural manifestation. Observation and critical discourse are essential in this studio of questioning who we are as a person, or even a nation. The juxtaposition of time and space in architectural production would not only be the key concern along the journey, but might also be product of the journey. This would fit well with my interest in the area of heritage conservation, adaptive reuse and intervention in historical buildings and neighbourhood.

DR. HO PUAY PENG Professor akihead@nus.edu.sg

RICHARD HO Professor in Practice richard.ho@richardhoarchitects.com

“We often hear about buildability and sustainability being championed, but what about cultural sustainability? How do we address that in a multicultural society like ours?”

My interest has always been the ever-growing urban centres and the human condition to survive in the ever-competitive urban environment. I feel architects and the government agencies have, by and large, failed to protect the interests of the have-nots and those without a voice, preferring instead to further the commercial and economic gains of the developers and landowners. In Singapore, issues such as the inequitable distribution of land to private housing vs public housing, golf courses pandering to the leisure of a select few, priority of roads for cars over streets for people, conservation of our architectural heritage driven by commercial interests - are all important issues which the present generation of architects must seek redress. We often hear about buildability and sustainability being championed, but what about cultural sustainability? How do we address that in a multi-cultural society like ours? This is a phenomenon not only in Singapore but also in the other south-east asian countries where the pressure of development in the urban centres are most felt - thus, I am also interested in students whose sites are outside of Singapore.

RICHARD HO Professor in Practice richard.ho@richardhoarchitects.com

“We often hear about buildability and sustainability being championed, but what about cultural sustainability? How do we address that in a multicultural society like ours?”

HO WENG HIN Adjunct Senior Lecturer howh@studiolapis.sg

RE-TOOLING INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE STRUCTURES & LANDSCAPES According to the ICOMOS NIZHNY TAGI CHARTER FOR THE INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE of July 2003, industrial heritage is defined as: “the remains of industrial culture which are of historical, technological, social, architectural or scientific value”, and they constitute “buildings and machinery, workshops, mills and factories, mines and sites for processing and refining, warehouses and stores, places where energy is generated, transmitted and used, transport and all its infrastructure, as well as places used for social activities related to industry such as housing, religious worship or education.” In the Singapore context, the early industrial landscapes of the colonial period to the ‘heroic’ post independence era constitute an integrated landscape where ‘traditional’ spaces of industrial production were fundamentally reshaped under the nationwide industrialisation programme that gave rise to new places and cultures of work, as well as the associated infrastructure of housing an industrial work force, places of leisure and technical - vocational education. As Singapore’s trajectory in the New Economy broadens and deepens, the spent ‘core and shell’ of obsolete industries and technologies are now being transformed into spaces of production and consumption that are radically different from their raison d’être. In the URA Draft Master Plan 2019, several large industrial heritage sites including the Pasir Panjang Power District, and Sembawang Shipyard are highlighted, and ideas are being solicited from the public to eventually repurpose them for new uses while celebrating and enhancing their unique attributes. A key challenge in their conservation and adaptive reuse lies in appropriate design and intepretation strategies to bring both the tangible (historic fabric and spaces) and intangible (social values and memories) legacies together with contemporary uses, in their new lease of life. Rather than seeing conservation as opposition to progress and intensification, this studio explores rehabilitation and adaptive reuse as an alternative mode of urban regeneration – one that layers on rather than a demolishand-rebuild approach. Multi-disciplinary in nature, heritage conservation offers a different lens to examine key issues in architectural design: • Philosophical – Is conservation at odds with the spirit of industrialisation and modernity? What does it mean to conserve structures that were once symbols of progress and enablers of social and technological advancement? • Planning – How to reconnect the historic places to a changed urban and social context? How do we reimagine these building and device new uses that works with, rather than against its heritage character and architectural qualities? How can rehabilitation contribute meaningly to sustainable place-making? • Design – In conservation design, research and documentation are crucial to unlock the embodied histories and values of heritage buildings, which will in turn yield important clues for appropriate intervention strategies. What are the design opportunities in and around these structures? What can be changed, and how do we proritise aspects to safeguard? How do we design interventions that engage the historic fabric in meaningful dialogue? How to sensitively design for new requirements such as structure and services?

• Materiality and Technologies – Industrialization enabled experimentation in building construction and materials such as reinforced concrete, prefabrication, steel and glass. These early technologies pose particular challenges today in terms of material deterioration and building performance. These technological issues are well studied in mature conservation fields in Europe, US and Japan. How do we learn and adapt forefront diagnostic and restoration techniques to the Singapore context? Under the guidance by a practicing conservation specialist, the studio will adopt a structured and rigourous research-based approach to inform conservation design strategies for a site of the student’s choice, during the Thesis Preparation stage. Themes associated with industrialisation, and overseas sites may also be proposed as thesis topics. Students will gain skills and tools for ‘deep reading’ into heritage landscapes, structures and artefacts that will inform a robust conservation/ intervention framework to guide the Thesis Design stage. While cultivating his or her own philosophical approach and vision in conservation design, students will also be exposed to real-life projects undertaken by Studio Lapis and gain insight to the ‘frontline’ of heritage conservation work in Singapore. ____________________ Select Reading List Clark, Kate. Informed Conservation: Understanding historic buildings and their landscapes for conservation. English Heritage, 2001. Douet, James, Ed., The TICCIH Guide to Industrial Heritage Conservation, The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage, Carnegie Publishing Ltd, 2012. Ho, Weng Hin, Naidu, Dinesh and Tan, Kar Lin, Our Modern Past: A Visual Survey of Singapore Architecture 1920s – 70s, Singapore Heritage Society and SIA Press, Singapore, 2015. Ho, Weng Hin & Chang, Jiat Hwee. ‘Adding Value without Demolition, Rebuilding: Regenerating Singapore’s Modernist Icons’ in The Business Times, 7 April 2018. International Council on Monuments & Sites (ICOMOS) Charters Kong, Lily. Conserving the Past, Creating the Future: Urban Heritage in Singapore. Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore, 2011. 260pgs Louw, Michael, Industrial Heritage Protection And Redevelopment, Images Publishing, 2018. The Singapore Architect No. 226, ‘Evolving Architecture of Work Cultures’, Singapore Institute of Architects, 2005.

IMAGE CREDIT: STUDIO LAPIS CONSERVATION PTE LTD 74 2

HO WENG HIN Adjunct Senior Lecturer howh@studiolapis.sg

IMAGE CREDIT: STUDIO LAPIS CONSERVATION PTE LTD 74 2

PATRICK JANSSEN Assistant Professor akiphtj@nus.edu.sg

RANDOM CITY The Random City studio focuses on the development of algorithms incorporating randomised processes to generate rich and varied urban environments that are highly liveable and that promote flexibility and diversity. Rule-based algorithms can be used to generate and explore urban ideas that are more complex and intricate that those designs by humans alone. However, the way that these algorithms are implemented often results in poor urban design. There are many issues that arise, mostly related to how the form generating rules are used. The re-application of the same rules over and over again without variation can result in environments that are highly repetitive. The creation of rules that focus on the buildings and not on the spaces between the buildings can result in the quality of the urban space being neglected. The development of rules that pre-assign functions to each building or building part can result in urban environments that are very inflexible. The studio will consist of two parts. In the first part, the process will start not with a site or a brief, but instead with an open ended exploration of the potential of form generating algorithms. The aim will be to generate urban environments that are different from anything that we have seen before, but that nevertheless seem to offer the possibility of a delightful place to live and work. For example, the generated urban environment should include mobility systems, various type of greenery, clearly defined and articulated public spaces, and buildings with the potential for excellent daylight and ventilation. The urban environments generated in this first part will be siteless, they will pure speculation.

In the second part, you will then take your speculation, and adapt it to a selected context, either in the present or in the future, but located somewhere on Earth. In this second part, the challenge is to try and find a context that makes your speculation stronger than weaker. The adaptation should modify your speculation so as to reinforce the relationship between your speculation and your context. Your final thesis presentation should have one panel focusing on the speculation from part 1, and a second panel focusing on the adaptation from part 2. Reading List: Typological formations : renewable building types and the city / edited by Christopher C.M. Lee & Sam Jacoby, London : Architectural Association London, 2007. http://linc.nus.edu.sg/record=b2585104 Typological urbanism : projective cities / guest-edited by Christopher CM Lee and Sam Jacoby. Chichester : Wiley, 2011. http://linc.nus.edu.sg/record=b3802519 Grand urban rules / Alex Lehnerer. Rotterdam : 010 Publishers, 2009. http://linc.nus.edu.sg/record=b2802750

IMAGE CREDIT: STUDIO LAPIS CONSERVATION PTE LTD 76

PATRICK JANSSEN Assistant Professor akiphtj@nus.edu.sg

IMAGE CREDIT: STUDIO LAPIS CONSERVATION PTE LTD 76

DR. NIRMAL KISHNANI Associate Professor akintk@nus.edu.sg

FORM FOLLOWS SYSTEM Asia is witnessing a staggering loss of human, social and natural capitals, due in part to the way we build. The problem isn’t that we aren’t Green enough; it’s that Green may be the right answer to the wrong question. Should we stay the course of Green and do less harm? In the time that Asia embraced the Green building movement, our collective impact on natural ecosystems was nevertheless catastrophic. Should we, therefore, faced with a crisis of ecology and climate, aspire to do good; to heal, repair, and regenerate?

The answer is rooted in whole systems thinking. Each building is many elements, interacting to form a system. This is embedded within a wider system that is the neighbourhood, which is in turn nested in a system-of-systems that is the city. By understanding scale and complexity, we begin to see design as the making of systemic structure and behaviour. Good design, or design in search of good, is many systems fitted together within an efficient and beautiful form, acting in positive reciprocity within a wider system-ofsystems. This approach leads to an altogether new perspective on form, one with profound implications on people and planet.

This studio returns to the heart of the sustainability question: how to forge Human-Nature partnerships, and restore our place in the natural world. What does this mean at the drawing board?

IMAGE CREDIT: VO TRONG NGHIA ARCHITECTS 78

DR. NIRMAL KISHNANI Associate Professor akintk@nus.edu.sg

This studio returns to the heart of the sustainability question: how to forge Human-Nature partnerships, and restore our place in the natural world. What does this mean at the drawing board?

IMAGE CREDIT: VO TRONG NGHIA ARCHITECTS 78

DR. LAM KHEE POH PROVOST’S CHAIR PROFESSOR OF ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING DEAN, SCHOOL OF DESIGN AND ENVIRONMENT akilkp@nus.edu.sg

A NEW MULTI-DISCIPLINARY INNOVATIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING HUB IN SDE The School of Design and Environment (SDE) is on the cusp of a new phase of its strategic advancement. The new physical developments are the visible manifestations of this transformation: a new netzero energy building (SDE4), sustainable renovation of SDE Blocks 1 and 3, and a new vision for the redevelopment of SDE Block 2. SDE will champion the “WELL and GREEN” concept in its pedagogical approach, with emphasis on human centric design within a sustainable natural and built environment. Holistic and Integrated multi-disciplinary R&D activities involving various Faculties and Schools in NUS, will provide cutting-edge knowledge and content for the various academic programmes in the School.

positive energy and net-zero water, and will be WELL certified by the International Well Building Institute. The redevelopment of SDE block 2 will be the next phase of this micro-campus redevelopment. This building differs significantly from SDE4 and SDE1/3 as it opens out towards the interior of the university and the surrounding landscape. Therefore, its architectural language ought to adopt the principles of biophilic design and seek to deeply connect people to nature. SDE2’s public core will become the fourth node of the campus, adding to the existing SDE4 social plaza, the main entrance of SDE, and the foyer of SDE3. The challenge of this building will be to connect users to natural systems and embody the vision of an interconnected and adaptive network.

This vision will form the basis of the thesis proposition for the re-development of the existing SDE Block 2 within the Faculty of Engineering/SDE precinct masterplan context. It will be designed to achieve net-

IMAGE CREDIT: TBC 80

DR. LAM KHEE POH PROVOST’S CHAIR PROFESSOR OF ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING DEAN, SCHOOL OF DESIGN AND ENVIRONMENT akilkp@nus.edu.sg

IMAGE CREDIT: TBC 80

KHOO PENG BENG Adjunct Associate Professor pengbeng@gmail.com

HOLON STUDIO THE GHOST IN THE MACHINE

About 11,700 years ago, the human race entered the geological epoch known as the Holocene. The relatively stability of atmospheric and biogeochemical parameters during this period corresponds with the development of agriculture, major civilizations, complex societies and human species as we know it today. From 9700BCE to 1950CE, Human population grew at an even rate to about 2.5 billion. From 1950 to 2016 however, we grew threefolds from 2.5 billion to 7.5 billion. The growth is projected to continue to 9.5 billion in 2050 and 11 billion by 2100.

The studio is interested in projects that examine deep sustainability through the lens of the concept of the holon and finding integrative processes that explores the idea of self-organized systems within systems. We will explore how small simple systems nest within larger systems creating a holoarchy. The holoarchy unlike the usual hierarchy does not have a defined top and a defined bottom. It is open ended and bidirectional. Koestler defines a holarchy as a hierarchy of self-regulating holons that function in the following ways:•

With this pressure on our planet and the growing human needs, deep sustainability can only occur when we shift from an “either-or” dualistic mindset to a “both-and” unity consciousness. This studio will explore this integrative thinking using the concept of the holon in architecture as our starting point. A holon is a system or a phenomemon that is simultaneously a whole in itself and a part of a larger system. The holon is composed of other holons whose structure sits in a balance between chaos and order. The word holon is derived from the Greek Holos (whole) and was coined by Arthur Koestler in his book The Ghost in the Machine (1967).

• •

autonomous wholes in supra-ordination to their parts dependent parts in sub-ordination to controls on higher levels coordination with their local environment.

The concept of the holon starts to re-define our understanding of scale and shifts the primacy of architecture from pure substance to the relational. We will explore how architecture moves from structure to infrastructure in a holoarchy, expanding the current concept of space, time, programme and scale in architecture. Projects could occur along the entire urban-rural transect and shall participate in larger ecological function that balances the dual needs of maintaining the planetary boundaries and social justice as defined by Kate Raworth in the Doughnut Economics (2017).

IMAGE CREDIT: GOOGLE EARTH 82 2

KHOO PENG BENG Adjunct Associate Professor pengbeng@gmail.com

HOLON STUDIO THE GHOST IN THE MACHINE

• •

autonomous wholes in supra-ordination to their parts dependent parts in sub-ordination to controls on higher levels coordination with their local environment.

IMAGE CREDIT: GOOGLE EARTH 82 2

THOMAS KONG Associate Professor thomaskhkong@gmail.com

ARCHIVISTS OF THE WORLD, UNITE! We are all archivists. A collection of old photos kept in the drawer over the years are tangible memories we can share with loved ones. On a different scale, Pinterest offers a global, digital platform to curate, archive, and share publicly images drawn from the internet. One can probably describe the web as a digital archive of humanity, a vast treasure trove of information on planet earth if discovered by an alien visitor! In Sentient Archive: Bodies, Performance, and Memory, editors Bill Bissell and Linda Caruso Haviland presented a multidisciplinary study of the body as a living archive. The collection of essays from dancers, choreographers, and academics explored the ‘knowing body’ as a cognitive system and corporeal repository of lived experiences, actions, and meanings. The archive is not only a physical site for material things but is carried in us. Consciously or unconsciously, we are all archivists. The city as an archive. Walter Benjamin’s unfinished Arcades Project is an invitation to experience the city as dialectical fragments of archived collections and categories. His incomplete work challenges a linear, unified reading by intermixing the past and present through his acute observations and critical reflections. The vast range of topics Benjamin collected in the hope of completing his impossible project on the 19th century Paris reveals the Herculean task that confronted him- Mirrors; The Streets of Paris; Boredom, Eternal Return; Fashion; Iron Construction; Interior, The Trace; Arcades; The Stock Exchange, Economic History, to name a few. I archive, therefore I am. The archive provides us with the evidence that we existed. It is also the material, and digital trace to re/construct our past, re/ affirm our identity and leave a legacy. Whether it is a record of a significant event in a nation’s history stored

in the well-tempered interior of the national archive or an old, tattered letter in a rusty tin box at home, the archival material legitimizes a life lived. The interest among Singaporeans in the city-state’s history as a lived experience, spurred on no doubt by the SG50 initiative, is evident by the outpouring of contributions to the Singapore Memory Project. The National Archives of Singapore currently runs a beta version of the Citizen Archivist website for individuals to add their personal stories to the collection of archived photographs. The impregnable walls of the archive have been breached! (digitally, at least) Archival futures. We will investigate the archive in its different shapes and forms, and speculate its manifold futures. The studio seeks thesis projects that are ambitious, critically reflexive, and go beyond the narrow relation between means and ends. It welcomes the entanglement of socio-cultural, economic, political, biota, and technological concerns to produce radical, novel outcomes where the local and the familiar coexist alongside the new, the foreign, and the eccentric. Running concurrently with the studio in semester 2 is the elective Future Memories- Social Archiving Grassroots Heritage in Singapore and Hong Kong. Whampoa. The housing estate provides the context for the studio’s investigation. It is an aging neighborhood with a long history and a rich cultural heritage that students can directly experience, be inspired by, critique, and use as a laboratory to test their near and far future proposals. The studio will also work with the residents, grassroots leaders, government agencies, and cultural organizations during the semester.

WILD PLANT SEEDS OF THE WORLD IN THE U.K. PAVILION. SHANGHAI EXPO 2010. IMAGE CREDIT: HEATHERWICK STUDIO 84

THOMAS KONG Associate Professor thomaskhkong@gmail.com

WILD PLANT SEEDS OF THE WORLD IN THE U.K. PAVILION. SHANGHAI EXPO 2010. IMAGE CREDIT: HEATHERWICK STUDIO 84

DR. JOSEPH LIM Associate Professor akilimem@nus.edu.sg in collaboration with SCDA and Web Structures

SEMINARS Soori High Line Projects Recent Slender Towers Tall structure configurations Floor plan and core layout design strategies

SITE VISIT A proposed site visit to NYC [15-29 Sep] OUTPUT Weekly Drawings Site Model Study Models - 400mm tall Final Models - 1.6m Drawings - AO on roller panels

How will these generate new urban form and space in an architecture of land and airspace intensification?

IMAGE CREDIT: ARTIST LIU WEI

DR. JOSEPH LIM Associate Professor akilimem@nus.edu.sg in collaboration with SCDA and Web Structures

SEMINARS Soori High Line Projects Recent Slender Towers Tall structure configurations Floor plan and core layout design strategies

SITE VISIT A proposed site visit to NYC [15-29 Sep] OUTPUT Weekly Drawings Site Model Study Models - 400mm tall Final Models - 1.6m Drawings - AO on roller panels

How will these generate new urban form and space in an architecture of land and airspace intensification?

IMAGE CREDIT: ARTIST LIU WEI

ERIK L’HEUREUX Associate Professor elheureux@nus.edu.sg

EQUATORIALISM THE EQUATORIAL CITY AND THE ARCHITECTURES OF ATMOSPHERE “The rapid increase in population over the area of the tropics presents itself to the world as a problem of the utmost gravity….” Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew As the equatorial city’s relationship to climate and its territory becomes an increasing imperative in the face of climate change and great population growth; the studio will research the atmospheric mediums of hot and wet architectures situated in dense cities on the equator. Three features will guide the work: saturated urbanisms, thick envelopes, and heavy roofs. The research will focus on modes of atmospheric calibration at the urban scale overlooked by traditional representation in drawing and photography in mid-century modernism (from 19301980). Humidity, temperature, breeze, sound, heat, rain -- in short the mediums that produce a hot and wet environment will expanding our repertoire beyond the optic and iconic to the climatic and atmospheric. With responding increases in building height, the climatic primacy of a broad tropical landscape to shield the building from intense sun and heat has shifted from the necessity of the manicured jungle imagined in George Orwell’s “Burmese Days” to that of the overlapping roofscape in mid scaled urban densities, to the primacy of the elevation in the most congested and complex cities.

The collision of mounting densities, architecture and landscape impacts quantitative changes of increased solar insolation, urban wide heat gain, increased rain water run-off, extremes of humidity, and decreased ventilation while impacts the qualitative components of the city including saturations of congestion in physical, spatial, and atmospheric terms. If atmosphere is the glue that permeates both the city and architecture alike, then in urban equatorialisms, it is imperative to think of the city, architecture, and atmosphere together, as a climatic and cultural medium that impacts both the aggregation of buildings and the architectural envelop itself. The thesis studio will expand on the parallel work investigated in AR4101 while furthering the range of field research to student selected sites across the equator (Singapore excluded). Each student will develop a robust and considered design thesis emerging out of a nascent discourse of tropical architecture, shedding the colonial problematics to extend and produce new knowledge for architecture on the hot and wet equator.

IMAGE CREDIT: ERIK L’HEUREUX, GOLCONDE DORMITORY, PONDICHERRY, INDIA 2016

ERIK L’HEUREUX Associate Professor elheureux@nus.edu.sg

IMAGE CREDIT: ERIK L’HEUREUX, GOLCONDE DORMITORY, PONDICHERRY, INDIA 2016

DR. LEE KAH WEE Assistant Professor akilkw@nus.edu.sg

BORDERS, SOVEREIGNTIES AND ARCHITECTURES OF EXCEPTION This studio focuses on architectures of our contemporary world where the sovereignties of nationstates are no longer exclusively contained within a given territory. Of the many prognostications of a world-to-come - Digital, Anthropocene, Post-carbon – one that has undergone multiple iterations and revisions is the fate of the nation-state in the context of globalization. The salient features of this world are emerging before our eyes. Borders, for example, are no longer simply the dividing line between two mutually exclusive regimes, but spaces of porous entanglements where overlapping laws and customs are further obfuscated by illicit and quasi-legal trafficking of goods and human beings. There are as many instances of how states extend their sovereign powers into other states as there are instances of how non-state actors take over the responsibilities and powers once exclusively in the domain of the state. The post-Westphalian Age is thus not a rehearsal of the globalization thesis where the world flattens and the nation-state withers away. Rather, it reveals a world-system of reconfigured sovereignties where nation-states adapt to disruptive technologies and global uncertainties, producing hybrid and dislocated spaces where questions of citizenship, rights, legality and territoriality are no longer as self-evident as before. What are some of the possible sites and architectures of investigation? The following list is by no means exhaustive. Rather, it is to give a general gloss of the ways the nation-state is reconfiguring itself and where ones attention might be directed in developing an architectural thesis for this studio: a. Spaces of Extra-territoriality: these are pockets of spaces within the territory of one nationstate, but is occupied, owned or largely controlled by another nation-state, such that these spaces are often immune from local laws. Examples include foreign embassies, Linggui Reservoir in Johor, Singapore buying farmland in China to produce food for itself, and Batam Island;

b. Spaces of voided sovereignties, such as the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, quasi-legal casino development along the ThaiCambodian border of Poipet or the international waters off Singapore, and refugee camps in Christmas Island; c. Spaces of contested sovereignties, where international law and national sovereignties come into conflict with one another, such as contests over the Spratly Islands, indigenous land rights in Borneo and Indonesia, and extraction of sand from Vietnam and Cambodia for land reclamation in Singapore. The studio begins by reading some of the writings of Willem van Schendel (Sociology), Giorgio Agamben (Political Theory) and Keller Easterling (Architecture). Then, students are to identify a site/sites and formulate an architectural brief that details the purpose of the project and its scope. The brief should also answer “what is the mode of intervention?” For the sake of clarity, this question can take on four possible answers. While some projects eventually straddle across these possibilities, it is still necessary, at the start, to situate the project clearly because it affects everything from how one should develop the thesis to how others evaluate/appreciate it. a. Diagnosis – in this mode, the objective is to diagnose an actual problem and propose an architectural solution for it; b. Critique – in this mode, the objective is to problematize an issue and use architecture as a vehicle to launch a critique on it; and/or c. Visionary – in this mode, the objective is to speculate on potential futures (for better or worse) through a specific lens of inquiry and imagination.

IMAGES SOURCE: POIPET, BORDER BETWEEN THAILAND AND CAMBODIA (SOURCE: LEE KAH WEE, 2016) 90

DR. LEE KAH WEE Assistant Professor akilkw@nus.edu.sg

IMAGES SOURCE: POIPET, BORDER BETWEEN THAILAND AND CAMBODIA (SOURCE: LEE KAH WEE, 2016) 90

ADRIAN LAI Adjunct Assistant Professor greet@meta-studio.com.sg

ARCHITECTURE AS INSTRUMENT OF CIVILISATION The studio will be looking at the instrumentality of architecture in the city and the role they play in civilisation. Taking our cue from the Cathedrals to the Great Train Stations that replaced them as the urban artifacts of European cities, the studio will take great interest in the contemporary structures that influence city-life as we live it. Recognising their instrumentality beyond their symbolic resonance with the cities, cathedrals performed the role of gathering a homogeneous community around it for generations and even centuries well before their consecration. Symbolically and performatively, the central train stations replaced cathedrals as the key idea to understanding the city - heralding the transformation of the city into that of heterogeneity. The idea of the contemporary city – with its clash of cultures, beliefs and values, held loosely but pervasively by desires and its economics – is beginning to contradict the reasons for gathering. Through such a lens, we survey Mitterrand’s Grand Projets in Paris, Fukutake’s Setouchi Islands and Shanghai’s cultural infrastructure to contextualise the trajectory of city-making and the role of architecture.

2 92

The studio will identify the structures that influence city-life. We will predicate it on patterns of habitation, their material organisations and the values attributed to the city-artefacts around us, as we seek out the reason we continue to gather. We will employ diagramming techniques to unearth the invisible cities in our midst, learning to register the patterns nudging our choices as we live out our lives. We will study these against the national projects announced annually by incumbent government leaders and the urban artifacts that explain the forces enabling their continued existence. We will interrogate the need for the New (seemingly in place of the Unique) and the recurrent need for Insta-sharing vein of individual identification with a Common, branding ourselves as belonging to a culture or a tribe (but not quite). Through such iconoclastic processes, we will mine these structuring forces to propose architecture projects instrumental for civilisation - be it coincident or not with the city as we know it. Reading list: 1. The Architecture of the City, Aldo Rossi, 1966 2. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, Marshal McLuhan, 1964 3. Insular Insights, Lars Mueller, 2011 4. https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/nationalday-rally-speech-10-years-of-bold-moves-andbabies 5. Hollow Land, Eyal Weizman, 2012

IMAGE CREDIT: HTTPS://ARTMAP.COM/CULTURGESTLISBON/EXHIBITION/SPLITTINGCUTTING-WRITING-DRAWING-EATING-GORDON-MAT-TA-CLARK-2017 93

ADRIAN LAI Adjunct Assistant Professor greet@meta-studio.com.sg

2 92

IMAGE CREDIT: HTTPS://ARTMAP.COM/CULTURGESTLISBON/EXHIBITION/SPLITTINGCUTTING-WRITING-DRAWING-EATING-GORDON-MAT-TA-CLARK-2017 93

TOMOHISA MIYAUCHI TOMOHISA MIYAUCHI SENIOR LECTURER Senior Lecturer akitm@nus.edu.sg akitm@nus.edu.sg

ARCHITECT AS STRATEGIST An architect needs to be a “super-generalist” to have a Architectural Practice as Entrepreneurship and wide range of capacities and capabilities, collaborate Experimentation with specialists in a variety of fields, address everThe Effect of Technological Advancement on Society changing societal needs, work with different types of and Architectural Practice clients, and be flexible in order to generate unique Housing in Asian Cities, Topics in Japan processes and solutions. The role of an architect is Spirituality and Sustainable Development like that of the conductor of an orchestra: to coordinate Architecture for Local Culture, Community, and Civic all the musicians (here, the architectural consultants) Involvement in harmony with the audience the stakeholders to have Curation in Architecture, Criticism, and Journalism An architect needs to (here, be a “super-generalist” a That said, some of my broad interests are listed below and users of the building) to create the experience wide range of capacities and capabilities, collaborate for your consideration. of a big,with beautiful symphony (here, the activities take ever- http://www.arch.nus.edu.sg/people/cv/tomo.html specialists in a variety of fields, address place atchanging the designed place/building). supersocietal needs, workThe with different types of Architectural Practice as Entrepreneurship and generalist architect needs to be open-minded to the unique clients, and be flexible in order to generate Experimentation world ofprocesses possibilities andsolutions. to learn from and The every role ofpossible an architect is opportunity. As aofsuper-generalist architect myself,to I coordinate like that the conductor of an orchestra: The Effect of Technological Advancement on Society would, therefore, like to be open-minded and have the all the musicians (here, the architectural consultants) and Architectural Practice opportunity to learn and grow with you through each in harmony with the audience (here, the stakeholders thesis project, regardless of the subject. So, even if and users of the building) to create the experience Housing in Asian Cities you are not completely sure about your thesis topic of a big, beautiful symphony (here, the activities take yet, I would be happy to assist in your project as long place at the designed place/building). The superTopics in Japan Spirituality and Sustainable as there is a will to learn, explore, and grow together. generalist architect needs to be open-minded to the Development Architecture for Local Culture That said, some of my broad interests are listed below world of possibilities and to learn from every possible Community, and Civic Involvement for your consideration. opportunity. As a super-generalist architect myself, I would, therefore, like to be open-minded and have the Curation in Architecture, Criticism, and Journalism opportunity to learn and grow with you through each thesis project, regardless of the subject. So, even if you are not completely sure about your thesis topic http://www.arch.nus.edu.sg/people/cv/tomo.html yet, I would be happy to assist in your project as long as there is a will to learn, explore, and grow together.

ARCHITECT AS STRATEGIST

IMAGE CREDIT: LUIGI GHIRRI 2

IMAGES CREDIT: LUIGI GHIRRI

TOMOHISA MIYAUCHI TOMOHISA MIYAUCHI SENIOR LECTURER Senior Lecturer akitm@nus.edu.sg akitm@nus.edu.sg

ARCHITECT AS STRATEGIST

IMAGE CREDIT: LUIGI GHIRRI 2

IMAGES CREDIT: LUIGI GHIRRI

NEO SEI HWA seihwa@tenarchitects.com.sg

BETWEEN A ROCK AND A VERY SOFT PLACE Humankind is extremely adaptable; we inhabit environments as hostile as the parched deserts of the Sahara to the frozen expanse of the Arctic. Yet, ¾ of the world’s population lives on only 5% of the world’s surface, of which almost 55% of the population lives in urban areas, a growing number in highly dense and overcrowded cities. Amazingly, this huge mass of urban population occupying the smallest of footprint is credited with consuming over 2/3 of the world’s energy output (80% coming from burning of fossil fuels) and producing more than 70% of global CO2 emission. There is general consensus this has contributed significantly to climate change. Close to 90% of urban settlements are located along costal area and these have first-hand experience of the devasting impact of climate changes, including raising sea levels, temperamental storms and unseasonable weather fluctuations.

Let’s pause to take stock of the vast arsenal of already available technologically driven solutions and also to use this opportunity to retrace the short journeys of how we built unique cities in unique environments, each typically shaped by a particular combination of accessible resources, local geography and regional climate. These are usually energy efficient, culturally relevant and environmentally friendly. We want to invest in understanding and appreciating available options and to proffer how we can design, build and maintain our built environment without monopolizing the natural environment? The vehicle we eventually choose and the destination we journey towards will be informed by the renewed appreciate of what the past and present can both offer in salvation of our built-environment’s future.

The world has certainly woken up to the problem and have galvanised all manners of resources at international, national and community levels to combat climate change, Architects included. The approaches are varied and solutions countless but usually, the adoption of technology is often present in almost all solutions. At the same time, there are certainly other approaches which are less captivating but still relevant, less driven by technology and more informed by locality, culture and economy.

IMAGES CREDIT: COMPOSITE BY NEO SEI HWA 96

NEO SEI HWA seihwa@tenarchitects.com.sg

IMAGES CREDIT: COMPOSITE BY NEO SEI HWA 96

SHINYA OKUDA Associate Professor akiso@nus.edu.sg

NATURE UNFOLD ADVANCED ARCHITECTONICS DESIGN FOR NATURE-URBANISM SYMBIOSIS IN TROPICAL HIGH-DENSITY ENVIRONMENT THE BREATHING ARCHITECTURE FOR SUSTAINABLE CITIES The world climate is changing. The irreversible departure from the bounds of a country’s old climate has been coined as ‘Climate Departure’. Tropical climate zones, where Singapore locates, are projected to experience this impact the earliest. At COP21 in 2015 in Paris, Singapore commits to reduce carbon emissions by 36% from 2005 level in next 15 years, as an initiative to mitigate the global warming. One of the strongest motivations to review symbiosis between human habitation and natural ecosystem nowadays is that healthy natural resources are renewable and effective carbon absorber, which are the true game changer for the built environment in the global warming era. ADVANCED ARCHITECTONICS DESIGN Advanced Architectonics Design is the approach to design holistically across material, processing, assembly and performance. This is necessary in order to sublime complex and often intertwined contemporary social and programmatic challenges into innovative 3 to 4 dimensional architectural solutions, including sequences of the time. The goal is to be away from biomimicry type of approaches, but rather to deeply digest essence of game-changing phenomena, such as carbon sequestration process, and sublime it as truly sophisticated functionally advanced architectural forms with unique sustainable aesthetics, such as Mass Timber architecture, breathable 3D printed facade for instance.

NATURE-URBANISM SYMBIOSIS Embracing the social mission, the following agenda is short-listed in order to initiate synergies with each student’s interest: 1. Timber-Concrete hybrid high-rise architecture, 2. CLT-PPVC lightweight modular architecture, 3. Passive design strategy for occupancy comfort with tropical greenery, 4. Integrated landscape in high-density urbanism, 5. Symbiosis between sustainable forestry and urbanism, etc. Overall, the Nature Unfold envisions that it raises more awareness on prominent value of sustainable environment, creating symbiotic relationships between nature and urbanism in Southeast Asia and beyond. References Past Thesis: - Tan, Y.Y., 2013, Achieving craftsmanship in ASEAN contemporary architecture: Integrating craft with architecture, NUS. - Ng, J.M., 2015, Applicability of Hybrid Mass Timber Construction System in Contemporary Society in the Tropics, NUS. References Books: - Mayo, J. 2015. Solid Wood: Case Studies in Mass Timber Architecture, Technology and Design. Routledge. - Kapfinger, O. 2009. Hermann Kaufmann Wood Works, SpringerVerlag. - Tropical Modernism: Robson, D., 2007. Beyond Bawa: Modern Masterworks of Monsoon Asia, Thames & Hudson. - Dangel, U. 2009. Sustainable Architecture in Vorarlberg, Birkhäuser. - Global Forest Watch. http://www.globalforestwatch.org/

IMAGE: NA, W.Z., 2015, TROPICAL CROSS LAMINATED TIMBER, NUS. 98

SHINYA OKUDA Associate Professor akiso@nus.edu.sg

IMAGE: NA, W.Z., 2015, TROPICAL CROSS LAMINATED TIMBER, NUS. 98

ONG KER-SHING Associate Professor in Practice akioks@nus.edu.sg

POST-NATURALISM: DIRT, FORM & PERFORMANCE (POST-NATURES PART 1)

“… we’ve gone too far in trying to kill everything around us, and it’s had unintended consequences,”– Rob Dunn From early Modernity to the present day, architecture has been employed to increasingly separate people from the dirty, from natural processes, organic waste and germs. Plumbing, air-conditioning, weathertightness, anti-bacterial or self-cleaning materials, as well as the manicuring of our surrounding landscapes, have all helped to erode human connectedness to a broader ecological system. This attempt to construct a resilient cleanliness occurs against a public health crisis of inflammatory diseases—one which seems to be due, ironically, to the eradication of dirt from our everyday lives. Medical research increasingly argues that the increase in inflammatory “modern” diseases, from cancer to autism and autoimmune misfunction, is directly related to the rise of antibacterial cleaners and pesticides which remove much of the organic micro-biome of both soil and the built environment. The rise of heavyduty detergents and anti-microbial agents such as Roundup presages a world of 2050 in which, by some estimates, half of children will be born with autism and 115 million people will live with dementia .

uncleanliness. Solutions will expand upon historical modes of interaction between buildings and types of “dirt,” from pre-modern building practices, to modern ventilation systems, to domestic animals and other micro-biotic vectors. These will attempt to restore, in part, a type and degree of organic waste in the spaces, surfaces, and systems of the building that will create—in essence—an architecture that is as hospitable at the micro-biotic scale as it is at the human one. This thesis work builds upon the Post-Natures elective research seminar, Architecture and the microbiome, which is offered in Semester 1. Post-Natures is a multi-part studio and thesis series exploring possible interactions between architecture and anthropogenic natures. Recent human interferences in natural systems have created fractured links, fragmented systems and energies—a multi-scalar context for new alignments and interactions. In this series, we will explore how new typologies and material systems may restore or invent new modes of production that combine the architect’s intentions with the input of non-human collaborators; these shift from biome to micro-biome, between building and body and public.

This thesis investigation urges students to imagine an architecture which embraces forms of dirtiness as a matter of urgent public necessity. We will imagine a reversal of the tendencies and values of modern architecture leading to a strategic and designed

IMAGE CREDIT: NIINA COCHRAN, “UNTITLED”, 2012 100

101

ONG KER-SHING Associate Professor in Practice akioks@nus.edu.sg

POST-NATURALISM: DIRT, FORM & PERFORMANCE (POST-NATURES PART 1)

IMAGE CREDIT: NIINA COCHRAN, “UNTITLED”, 2012 100

101

TSUTO SAKAMOTO Senior Lecturer akits@nus.edu.sg

HYPEROBJECTS Hyperobjects, coined by Timothy Morton, signify entities vast in spatio-temporal dimension. Global warming, nuclear radiation, air / soil / water pollutions, massive long-lasting products such as Styrofoam or plastic bags are just a part of them. The Hyperobjects are visible or invisible, and their impacts to our life is beyond our comprehension due to their dimensions, coverage and ubiquity, therefore they are considered as sublime. Morton elaborates their impacts on how we think and/ or how we react to them unconsciously, while enhancing our sensibilities towards non-human objects coexist. The thesis studio starts from understanding the discourse of ecology that derives from this idea of Hyperobjects. Instead of entirely depending on an environmentalist approach that is inherently human-centric, the studio focuses on a coexistence of human and non-human objects – animals, plants, air, geological material, or even the nonnatural objects blended into our life naturally: information device, network and surveillance and so forth. Scrutinizing a variety of relationships formed by these natural and non-natural objects under a specific context, and pursuing new forms of relationship established in future, the thesis studio aims to propose a radical architecture that plays a significant role in the ecological relationship.

Ultimately, the studio’s interest is in how these ecological co-existence of objects changes our life, behaviour and sensibility, instead of controlling them based on our value. The individual students are required to activate their projects by proposing a specific conditions and context, and stating what sort of issues arising from them.

References: Hyperobjects Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World, Timothy Morton, 2013, University of Minesota Press Subnature Architecture’s Other environment, David Gissen, 2009, Princeton Architectural Press Wather Architecture, Jonathan Hill, 2012, Routledge Architectural Theories of the Environment: Posthuman Territory, ed. Ariane Lourie Harrison, 2013, Routledge Notes Around the Doppler Effect and Other Moods of Modernism, Robert Somol and Sarah Whiting, in Constructing a New Agenda architectural Theory 1993-2009, ed. A. Krista Sykes, 2010, Princeton Architecture Press

IMAGE CREDIT: MELVIN TAN 102

103

TSUTO SAKAMOTO Senior Lecturer akits@nus.edu.sg

IMAGE CREDIT: MELVIN TAN 102

103

PETER SIM Adjunct Assistant Professor peter@farm.sg

POSSIBLE WORLDS AN ARCHITECTURE OF SIMULTANEOUS TEMPORALITIES “Architecture proceeds by drawing and writing as well as building – Piranesi’s engravings of imaginary prisons and actual ruins, for example, or the visions of future cities conceived by Antonio Sant’Elia, before he was killed in 1916 in the first world war, aged 28. Similarly with Archigram, whose vivid collages gave form and voice to a generation impatient with the dry prescriptions of mainstream modernists. Like pop artists at around the same time, they wanted their art form to draw energy from the explosions of technology and consumer culture that were happening all around them.” Rowan Moore The world according to Archigram The Observer, Sun 18 Nov 2018 The 1960’s collective Archigram mixed technologically inspired ideas, a new liberalism, and humour to produce some of the most influential works of architecture. They propositioned architecture not just as space, material and form, but as a projective medium to imagining possible ways of living and of critiquing convention and traditional conceptions of the city and the boundaries of architecture. Their imaginings ranged from flippant and whimsical personal wearables to vast megacities. They did much absurd work, some profoundly influential work, and some absurd, yet profoundly influential work.

That was 50 years ago. Architecture has grown up and moved on. But where has it gone and has anything important been left behind? If the cultural revolution, the space race and British provincial humour combined together to create Archigram’s pulsating visions, what is the age that we live in? The present milieu is rich in contradictions, complexity and pressing problems: the age of the internet, the drone, the robot, facial recognition, social media, cyber hacking, urban farming, global warming, space X, the mars rover, Trump, Brexit, Airbnb, uber, veganism, hipsters, tiny homes, co-living/working, electric cars, self-driving cars, floating farms, shrinking ice caps, wind generated power, plastic in fish, liposuction, reality tv, kpop, etc etc etc… We ask: What can architecture become? This studio is interested in architectural propositions which are not only about the future, but can intimate simultaneously an architecture which encapsulates the dreams, desires and narratives of past-present-future.

IMAGE CREDIT: RON HERRON, WALKING CITY ON THE OCEAN, PROJECT (EXTERIOR PERSPECTIVE), 1966. HTTPS://WWW.MOMA.ORG/COLLECTION/WORKS/814 104

105

PETER SIM Adjunct Assistant Professor peter@farm.sg

IMAGE CREDIT: RON HERRON, WALKING CITY ON THE OCEAN, PROJECT (EXTERIOR PERSPECTIVE), 1966. HTTPS://WWW.MOMA.ORG/COLLECTION/WORKS/814 104

105

DR. RUDI STOUFFS Associate Professor stouffs@nus.edu.sg

EXPLORATION DESIGN SPACE EXPLORATION IS S THE IDEA THAT COMPUTERS CAN USEFULLY DEPICT DESIGN AS THE ACT OF EXPLORING ALTERNATIVES (WOODBURY AND BURROW, 2006)

The exploration of design alternatives serves as a means to achieve better- informed designs. Whether adopting computational methods and techniques or exploring alternatives by hand, the objective is to systematically explore a design aspect, issue or part so as to gain a better understanding of the choices and implications thereof. In order to make the systematic exploration of design alternatives a valuable addition to the design process, it is important to carefully define the target and boundaries of this exploration.The target of the exploration is what one wants to achieve with the exploration and is best expressed as a performance measure. The boundaries of the exploration set the stage for defining the exploratory method and for guiding the exploration toward the selected target.

Performance should not be interpreted as merely technical; architecture has always performed socially, semantically, ideologically, and in a basic manner as a shelter (Hagan, 2008). Performance as a guiding design principle invokes a shift in the orientation of architectural theory and practice from what the building is to what it does. It defines the architectural object not by how it appears but, rather, by its capability of affecting, transforming and doing; in other words, by how it performs (Albayrak and Tunçer, 2011).

I encourage students to propose a thesis topic and project that stand to gain from a systematic exploration. I am open to other proposals as well.

Robert F. Woodbury and Andrew L. Burrow, Whither design space?, Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing 20 (2006), pp. 63–82. Susannah Hagan, Digitalia - Architecture and the Digital, the Environmental and the Avant- Garde, Routledge, 2008. Canan Albayrak and Bige Tunçer, Performative architecture as a guideline for transformation, Respecting Fragile Places, Proceedings of the eCAADe 2011 Conference, 21-24 September 2011, Ljubljana, Slovenia.

IMAGE CREDIT: 106

RUDI STOUFFS 107

DR. RUDI STOUFFS Associate Professor stouffs@nus.edu.sg

EXPLORATION DESIGN SPACE EXPLORATION IS S THE IDEA THAT COMPUTERS CAN USEFULLY DEPICT DESIGN AS THE ACT OF EXPLORING ALTERNATIVES (WOODBURY AND BURROW, 2006)

I encourage students to propose a thesis topic and project that stand to gain from a systematic exploration. I am open to other proposals as well.

IMAGE CREDIT: 106

RUDI STOUFFS 107

DR. RUZICA BOZOVIC STAMENOVIC Associate Professor akiruzica@nus.edu.sg

THE CITY OF EXCESS

“….the excessive object and the empty place can never simply be united - structurally, they are the same thing in different modes” (Zizek, S. Mythology, Madness, and Laughter, Continuum, 2009) In this Thesis Studio, we are examining the imminent total disappearance of urban commons and possibilities for their restauration through the agency of our discipline of architecture. This year’s iteration of this overarching topic focuses on Singapore’s issues with omnipresent notion of excess. Surpluses could be resultant of urban lifestyle, prevailing commodification, social and spatial inequalities, cracks in eco equilibrium or generated through urban systems due to their function / malfunction. The optimal performance of the latter is very important for the future of Singapore as a smart city. Therefore, it is worth exploring if the issue of excesses might be mitigated through new ways of merging the smart urban systems with spatial and social fabric of the city.

The fetishism of quantification prevailing in much of smart city discourses just shade the more important reflection on excesses - their sources and constitution and their finale destiny. The categories of excesses are greatly diverse too, ranging from material to immaterial and encompassing all composite variations in between. Regardless of the category, excesses are never entirely governed by their generators. They are either a burden or a blessing, depending on change in observational position. Any excess could also be considered a systemic malformation that directly relates to the struggle over a redistribution of financial and social capital in the city. At the same time, the indulgence and the surplus-enjoyment, as intrinsic human behaviour, complicates the problem of responsibility. The clarification of this essential paradox is up to every student. However, the ensuing agent of change should be architecture articulated as the collective strive to organize, both socially and economically, the city as a self-sustaining community based on ethical communal values. Students are encouraged to examine the issue of excess in the city from different perspectives (theories, images, narratives, techne, bios and zoe) and with different techniques (film, photography, senses, stories, sketches, etc.). Be excited about the type of excesses you focus on, be critical in your approach, imaginative and clear in formulating the questions and creative in finding novel design responses. Enjoy being a designer!

PHOTO R BOZOVIC STAMENOVIC 108

109

DR. RUZICA BOZOVIC STAMENOVIC Associate Professor akiruzica@nus.edu.sg

THE CITY OF EXCESS

PHOTO R BOZOVIC STAMENOVIC 108

109

DR. SWINAL SAMANT RAVINDRANATH Senior Lecturer akisama@nus.edu.sg

POROSITY: THE ARCHITECTURE OF INVAGINATION BY ARCHITECT, RICHARD GOODWIN HTTPS://ARCHITECTUREAU.COM/ARTICLES/POROSITY-THE-ARCHITECTURE-OF-INVAGINATION/

Early modernist planning comprising segregated-use zoning generated CBDs and their mono-functional megatowers. Most planning theorists agree on the functional, environmental, and social benefits of mixing land use (Talen and Knaap 2003) -- particularly the fine-grained mixed-use model (within individual buildings) -- as a crucial component of urban vitality (Rowley 1996; Jacobs 1961). The concept of hybridization sought to address urban/ building inefficiencies, by pulling together different functions, first within urban areas and later within hybrid buildings. Architect, Joseph Fenton (1985)

110

111

DR. SWINAL SAMANT RAVINDRANATH Senior Lecturer akisama@nus.edu.sg

POROSITY: THE ARCHITECTURE OF INVAGINATION BY ARCHITECT, RICHARD GOODWIN HTTPS://ARCHITECTUREAU.COM/ARTICLES/POROSITY-THE-ARCHITECTURE-OF-INVAGINATION/

110

111

TAN SHEE TIONG ADJUNCT ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR TANSHEETIONG@GMAIL.COM

ECO2

Hainan province has been declared by the Chinese central government in April 2018 as a free trade port to be completed in 7 years. In the mean time, major economy of the province has been dominated by housing speculation and tourism. Hainan now has to diversify its economy and parachute talents from all over China with incentives such as housing subsidies. With massive infra-structures that are being planned and to be constructed, rich sub-tropical and tropical ecology of the island are being threatened. It is also an island with earthquakes, typhoons and floods, and planning for resilience is new for most planners.

MArch candidates can select parcels of land to investigate new urban design and typology that are befitting the living, working, production and leisure function in this new ECO2 synergy that is geared for state-of-the-art technology and young entrepreneurs. Site visits will be made. China is now the leader in e-commerce and 5G, and is an emerging giant in frontiers such as AI, VR, and autonomous cars. Reference: ECO2 Cities: Ecological Cities as Economic Cities. 2009. The World Bank. Authors: Suzuki/Dastur/Moffatt/Yabuki

World Bank has argued that only when cities do well in economy, they will have enough resources to look after their ecology. They should not be mutually exclusive. I am working on a master plan to rejuvenate a 20 years old tech park of about 200 ha. in the beautiful tropical city of Sanya in Hainan, surrounding a high speed rail station and nested in lush forest, streams and water bodies. It will be renamed Yalong Bay Eco Valley Innovation Park.

IMAGE CREDIT: (TAN SHEE TIONG) INTERNATIONAL URBAN PLANNING AND DESIGN COMPETITION FOR HAIKOU JIANGDONG DISTRICT HELD IN SEP 2018. ENTRY WAS ONE OF 10 SHORTLISTED AMONG 162 ENTRIES. 112

113

TAN SHEE TIONG ADJUNCT ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR TANSHEETIONG@GMAIL.COM

ECO2

IMAGE CREDIT: (TAN SHEE TIONG) INTERNATIONAL URBAN PLANNING AND DESIGN COMPETITION FOR HAIKOU JIANGDONG DISTRICT HELD IN SEP 2018. ENTRY WAS ONE OF 10 SHORTLISTED AMONG 162 ENTRIES. 112

113

TAN TANKOK KOK HIANG HIANG Professor in Practice kokhiang@forum-architects.com

WEWORKING LEARNING + WEWORKING LEARNING + HEALTHCARE SPACESSPACES HEALTHCARE AN EMBEDDED EMBEDDED STUDIO STUDIO PROGRAMME PROGRAMMEWITH WITHFORUM FORUMARCHITECTS ARCHITECTS The Embedded Studio Programme (ESP) will focus on 1. of the Studio Napkin:Programme Drawing as(ESP) a Design Thinking The Back Embedded will focus on Tool 2. 1.SoloBack Brainstorming: Option Studies A Creative Tool of the Napkin : Drawing as As a Design 3. Lines, ShapesTool and Size in Architecture Thinking 4. 2.Communicating without Speaking Solo Brainstorming: Option Studies As A 5. Sculpting andTool Manipulating Space Creative 3. Lines, Shapes and Size in Architecture Studio with Professor Tan Kok Hiang take place 4. sessions Communicating without Speaking in Forum Architect offices. The design crit is a formal affair 5. Sculpting and Manipulating Space where the student is expected to be well prepared with proper drawings with in appropriate Crits are a Studio sessions Professor formats. Tan Kok Hiang takeonplace once-a-week appointment for 45 crit mins toformal an hour. Be in Forum Architect offices. basis, The design is a affair prepared do a lotismore drawings usual inwith previous where thetostudent expected to bethan well is prepared proper years as examining options wouldCrits be one key drawings in appropriate formats. areof onthe a once-a-week learning points. If there is more than students appointment basis, for 45 mins to an one hour.student, Be prepared to must bemore present for other student crits take advantage do a lot drawings than is usual in to previous years as of learning moments. examining options would be one of the key learning points. If there is more than one student, students must be present for At thestudent end of each crit, students will envision andmoments. agree other crits to take advantage of learning on the deliverables for the next crit with the tutor. This is to the thesis moves along at a steady pace to At ensure the endthat of each crit, students will envision and agree on allow time for learning detailed stages of the This design. the deliverables for theatnext crit with the tutor. is to ensure that the thesis moves along at a steady pace to allow The for learning is intended as close as time format for learning at detailed stages to of mimic the design. possible to real life expectations and timing. The format for learning is intended to mimic as close as The student is encouraged to spend possible to real life expectations and studio timing.time in the office, especially during the design stages, where a senior architect, familiar withtothe selected The student is encouraged spend studioproject time inwill thebe office, designated as a reference especially during the designresource. stages, where a senior architect, familiar with the selected project will be designated as a Students choose between two building types: New referencecan resource. Learning Spaces In K12 Schools, Re-Masterplan of a Polytechnic New Healthcare Facilities. Students canand choose between two building types: New Learning Spaces In K12 Schools, Re-Masterplan of a 1. New Learning Spaces In K12 Schools and RePolytechnic and New Healthcare Facilities. Masterplanning a Polytechnic A will house 1800Instudents is being 1. K12 school New that Learning Spaces K12 Schools and Redesigned and developed in the firm. It is sited in Doha, Masterplanning a Polytechnic Qatar but students are free to select other locations. Issues in the design such a1800 school could touch ondesigned the A K12 school that willofhouse students is being appropriate spatial configurations forinpedagogies, and developed in the firm. It is sited Doha, Qatarwhich but students are free to select other locations. Issues in the design of such a school could touch on the appropriate spatial configurations for pedagogies, which aim to equip 114 2

IMAGE CREDIT: FORUM ARCHITECTS

aim to equip students with thinking and skillsets appropriate forstudents the 21stwith century. Having sameappropriate objectives but at a21st thinking and the skillsets for the tertiary level, another in the practice looks at thelevel, recentury. Having theproject same objectives but at a tertiary masterplanning ofina the polytechnic accommodate new uses and another project practice to looks at the re-masterplanning new teaching method to produce different outcomes. of a polytechnic to accommodate new uses and new teaching method to produce different outcomes. The thesis could examine the impact of technology and e-learning oncould the physical construct of such learning facilities. The thesis examine the impact of technology and Learning outside thephysical classroom requires andfacilities. e-learning on the construct of the suchcareful learning considered spatial forms of in-between spaces. Introduction Learning outside the classroom requires the careful and of maker-spaces, using forms designofas a learningspaces. tool in non-design considered spatial in-between Introduction areas, outdoor learning, dynamics in learning, of maker-spaces, usinggroup design as a learning tool inlearning nonwithout a heuristic approach todynamics learning are just some designteaching, areas, outdoor learning, group in learning, of learning the thinking in education have approach the potential to generate without teaching,which a heuristic to learning new designs. aretypologies just someinofschool the thinking in education which have the potential to generate new typologies in school designs. The student would be able to use the project briefs, site information (should selectbriefs, the same The student wouldthe bestudent able to decide use thetoproject site sites) and reference design materials for the information (shouldthe theresearch student and decide to select the same projects. sites) and reference the research and design materials for the projects. 2. Future Healthcare Facilities A paediatric medical centre, nursing homes, polyclinics and 2. Future Healthcare Facilities senior care centres are some of the healthcare facilities currently beingmedical designed or being built homes, by the practice. Most A paediatric centre, nursing polyclinics and of senior these facilities occurare in suburban settings and are subject care centres some of the healthcare facilities to currently urban planning considerations likebuilt access, connections and being designed or being by the practice. Most impact on the existing living environments. of these facilities occur in suburban settings and are subject to urban planning considerations like access, connections The thesis student examine current healthcare issues and impact on thecan existing living environments. like patient-centric designs and to what extent this is carried through. Technology has examine shrunk medical The thesis student can currentequipment healthcaremaking issues portability of such equipment keytoconsideration when planning like patient-centric designs a and what extent this is carried medical spaces. Tele-healthcare through. Technology has shrunkand medical equipment tele-rehabilitation have also changed thea face of medical making portability of such equipment key consideration consultation protocols. Singapore’s aging population is fast when planning medical spaces. Tele-healthcare and changing how healthcare is delivered, could also tele-rehabilitation have also changedthe thethesis face of medical examine how existing infrastructure, housing can beis fast consultation protocols. Singapore’sand aging population integrated inexpensive holistic changingwith howhealthcare healthcaretoisprovide delivered, the thesisand could also medical care. for example, insteadand of furiously examine howSo, existing infrastructure, housing building can be more nursingwith homes, could existing HDB blocks be converted integrated healthcare to provide inexpensive and holistic formedical such use? care. So, for example, instead of furiously building more nursing homes, could existing HDB blocks be converted for such use?

115 3

TAN TANKOK KOK HIANG HIANG Professor in Practice kokhiang@forum-architects.com

IMAGE CREDIT: FORUM ARCHITECTS

115 3

TEH JOO HENG tjha@tjhas.com.sg

STITCHING URBANISM ROADS ARE THE MOST UBIQUITOUS AND SPATIALLY EXTENSIVE HUMAN FOOTPRINT ON EARTH (FORMAN ET AL. 2003).

5) ACTIVITIES OVERVIEW The studio will be conducted in a seminar and workshop format. Active class participation is expected.

IMAGECREDIT:HTTPS://WWW.TODAYONLINE.COM/SITES/DEFAULT/FILES/STYLES/NEW_APP_ARTICLE_DETAIL/PUBLIC/PHOTOS/43_IMAGES/24130492.JPG;HTTP://WWW.RSP.COM.SG/PHOTO/CD3712F2-E9AC-4ECC-AEC4-1E1422852840/1.JPG;HTTPS://WWW.GREENROOFS.COM/ WPCONTENT/UPLOADS/2018/09/THEHIGHLINE_10.JPG HTTPS://AMP.BUSINESSINSIDER.COM/IMAGES/585AF94 1F10A9A1C008B4ABB-320-240.JPG;HTTPS://IMAGES.ADSTTC.COM/MEDIA/IMAGES/5920/70DF/E58E/CEF3/1700/0633/SLIDESHOW/029_SKYGARD; HTTPS://DEVELOPMENT.ASIA/SITES/DEFAULT/FILES/KORSEOUL-GREENWAY-03.JPGEN_SEOUL_%C2%A9OSSIP.JPG 116

117

TEH JOO HENG tjha@tjhas.com.sg

STITCHING URBANISM ROADS ARE THE MOST UBIQUITOUS AND SPATIALLY EXTENSIVE HUMAN FOOTPRINT ON EARTH (FORMAN ET AL. 2003).

5) ACTIVITIES OVERVIEW The studio will be conducted in a seminar and workshop format. Active class participation is expected.

IMAGECREDIT:HTTPS://WWW.TODAYONLINE.COM/SITES/DEFAULT/FILES/STYLES/NEW_APP_ARTICLE_DETAIL/PUBLIC/PHOTOS/43_IMAGES/24130492.JPG;HTTP://WWW.RSP.COM.SG/PHOTO/CD3712F2-E9AC-4ECC-AEC4-1E1422852840/1.JPG;HTTPS://WWW.GREENROOFS.COM/ WPCONTENT/UPLOADS/2018/09/THEHIGHLINE_10.JPG HTTPS://AMP.BUSINESSINSIDER.COM/IMAGES/585AF94 1F10A9A1C008B4ABB-320-240.JPG;HTTPS://IMAGES.ADSTTC.COM/MEDIA/IMAGES/5920/70DF/E58E/CEF3/1700/0633/SLIDESHOW/029_SKYGARD; HTTPS://DEVELOPMENT.ASIA/SITES/DEFAULT/FILES/KORSEOUL-GREENWAY-03.JPGEN_SEOUL_%C2%A9OSSIP.JPG 116

117

ALAN TAY Adjunct Assistant Professor alantay@formwerkz.com

ARCHITECTURE OF REPAIR “During the annual festival of the Crepissage de la Grand Mosquée, the entire city contributes to the replastering of the mosque’s exterior by kneading into it a mud plaster made from a mixture of butter and fine clay from the alluvial soil of the nearby Niger and Bani Rivers. The men of the community usually take up the task of mixing the construction material. As in the past, musicians entertain them during their labors, while women provide water for the mixture. Elders also contribute through their presence on site, by sitting on terrace walls and giving advice. Mixing work and play, young boys sing, run, and dash everywhere…” Essay Extract on the Great Mosque of Djenne, Mali by Dr.Elisa Dainese The adobe wall of the mosque is decorated with toron which are rodier palm sticks. The toron are scaffolding for the annual repairs of the wall. Similar to thatch in roofing or Kintsugi, the ornaments are the expression of repair. The studio invites architectural speculations and the interrogations of accepted architecture ideals of longevity, durability and newness. By abandoning this obsession with permanence and embracing deterioration, one may derive new mode of material expression, narrative and consumption.

IMAGE CREDIT: GREAT MOSQUE OF DJENNÉ, MALI, 1907 (PHOTO: MARK ABEL, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) 118

119

ALAN TAY Adjunct Assistant Professor alantay@formwerkz.com

IMAGE CREDIT: GREAT MOSQUE OF DJENNÉ, MALI, 1907 (PHOTO: MARK ABEL, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) 118

119

TIAH NAN CHYUAN nanchyuan@farm.sg

NEGOTIATING TOLERANCE “We didn’t let you down, the building let us all down” Fire Commander Lambeth Group Manager Richard Welch Grenfell Inquiry September 2018 All systems build in predictive redundancies to allow for extreme fluctuations. Performances are kept within an acceptable range of safeguarded preconditioned limits, which can be defined by varying social, cultural, political or material values and their respective levels of tolerance. Ongoing inquiry into Grenfell revealed multiple nonlinear lines of failure where these preconditioned limits were breached. Built upon layers of assumptions and aggregation, pre-existing conditions were pushed past the level of tolerance into a new unpredictable state that could fail catastrophically by any single action. Lessons from Grenfell are being translated into reviews of building codes with predictable increase in fixed redundancies. This studio will question if this reactive premise is a sustainable trajectory to counter to increasing complexities. Or does an alternative exist in the realm described by Phineas Harper, or the difference in grammar and tone in the new Euro Codes superseding the British Standards.

“Thatch, Djenné, kintsugi and boro celebrate the constantness of repair and ongoing history of materials. The garment is never finished. The building is always in flux.” Phineas Harper Chief Curator of the Oslo Triennale This studio will attempt to test these values and explore the limits of design by focusing on their extremities. We will question their robustness, assumptions and validity. Adopting mapping techniques an drawings to create frameworks to clash different layers of information, both predictive and emotive. We will look beyond the point of failure and speculate alternative relationships, narratives and opportunities that may exist between these excesses. Resources: 1. https://www.grenfelltowerinquiry.org.uk/ 2. https://www.dezeen.com/2019/06/11/radicalarchitecture-climate-change-opinion-phineas-harper/ 3. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, Susan Cain, 2012 4. https://www.bca.gov.sg/Newsroom/pr25032013_ EC.html 5. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/ government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_ data/file/416099/Background_to_UK_NA_EN1990_ EN1991-2.pdf

IMAGE CREDIT: GREAT MOSQUE OF DJENNE, PHOTO BY RUUD ZWART 120

121

TIAH NAN CHYUAN nanchyuan@farm.sg

IMAGE CREDIT: GREAT MOSQUE OF DJENNE, PHOTO BY RUUD ZWART 120

121

WONG CHONG THAI BOBBY Adjunct Associate Professor akiwct@nus.edu.sg

IMAGE CREDIT: MAN WITH THROWING FLOWERS : COUNTERFORCE.ORG; MEXICO USA BORDER WALL: KPBS; GIRL WITH BALLOON: SARYAN INFO 122

123

WONG CHONG THAI BOBBY Adjunct Associate Professor akiwct@nus.edu.sg

IMAGE CREDIT: MAN WITH THROWING FLOWERS : COUNTERFORCE.ORG; MEXICO USA BORDER WALL: KPBS; GIRL WITH BALLOON: SARYAN INFO 122

123

DR. JOHANNES WIDODO Associate Professor jwidodo@nus.edu.sg

CONSERVING ASIAN MODERN HERITAGE IN THE CONTEXT OF CHANGE

The term “conserving modern heritage” itself is an oxymoron or contradictory, since “modernism” is associated with functionalism, rationality, new materials, openness to innovation, timeless, and always “new”. Thus, conservation of modern heritage shall be viewed as a process of managing change, rather than an attempt to freeze physical artefacts. If we want to keep buildings and sites from the point of view of ecology and sustainability, then we need to embrace the idea of recycling and reusing the old building stocks, to extend its physical life by adaptive reuse while keeping some of the tangible architectural features and intangible heritage values as much as we can, to maintain high levels of authenticity, integrity, viability, and continuity. The conservation design thesis is dealing with a new function in a newly-built structure that is well integrated into historic/significant context/site/ building. The project site is in a historic area within a city in Asia, with existing historic structure(s) in various physical condition (ruined, dilapidated,

or intact). The new design intervention should be able to reveal the qualities of the place, including historical, architectural, cultural, and social significance. The new function should add the economic viability into the existing site/function, also be compatible and appropriate in responding to its immediate physical, social, and environmental contexts. Architecturally, the new design intervention or insertion should integrate well with the existing built and natural context in terms of typology, materiality, aesthetics, and functionality. The project should extend the local community’s cultural and social continuum, and might be able to generate positive influences on architectural practice and conservation policy at various scales and levels. The project should help the public gain a better appreciation of their local heritage, and to be an exemplary demonstration of a good conservation project according to internationally accepted standards (e.g. ICOMOS & UNESCO).

IMAGE CREDIT: LUCKY SHOPHOUSE BY CHANG ARCHITECTS, WINNER OF UNESCO ASIA PACIFIC AWARDS FOR CULTURAL HERITAGE CONSERVATION (JURY COMMENDATION AWARD, 2014). 124

125

DR. JOHANNES WIDODO Associate Professor jwidodo@nus.edu.sg

CONSERVING ASIAN MODERN HERITAGE IN THE CONTEXT OF CHANGE

IMAGE CREDIT: LUCKY SHOPHOUSE BY CHANG ARCHITECTS, WINNER OF UNESCO ASIA PACIFIC AWARDS FOR CULTURAL HERITAGE CONSERVATION (JURY COMMENDATION AWARD, 2014). 124

125

WU YEN YEN yen@gad.com.sg

DEFINING THE VISCERAL Architecture and historical philosopher Manuel De Landa proposes in his seminal text, “A Thousand Years of Non-Linear History”, that there exists an alternate understanding of history and the world through a materialist ontology; one that is counteranthropocentric, non-linear and quite apart from the prevalent scholarly factual and textual understanding of this physical world. From tracing the ages of geographical development in the chapter “Lavas and Magmas”, then to food chains and ecosystems in the chapter “Flesh and Genes”, finally to linguistics and social networks in the form of “Memes and Norms”, De Landa convincingly creates a taxonomy that enables our understanding of the world and behaviour through matter and energy, not just through human thought, ideals and actions. Through this lens, we want to explore and speculate possibilities that are about materiality, force and energy. Such as human, agriculture and animal biomass transference; integration of machine-mass; and data-mass (or mass-less?), as viable, sociophysical trajectories that can take us through another way of seeing our built environment. Simply put, if we were to understand our history and culture through a genealogy of our physical environment, that itself has intelligence and not as product of human action, what would we be looking at and how? Moving up in scale, we want to then extend the research from the importance of our material history and culture into the way these physical entities are organized. The logic of assemblages and self-organisations, hierarchical organisations of companies, institutions and governments, network organisation of communities; now, more than ever, ground-up communities underline citizenry network as equally powerful agents of change and growth as

top-down city planning. Would it surprise you that an ant colony and its organizational logic is able to solve the classic algorithmic Traveling Salesman Problem? Without a calculator, nor human intervention. Matter has a way of manifesting and organizing themselves. Make no mistake. The counterpoint to science is not a touchy-feely emotion, nor fuzzy instinct. There are ways of seeing flux, energy, less-than-stable open loop conditions beyond Classicist science, Parametricism and ‘Zaha Hadid-ism’. There should be. And we shall explore how. Perhaps it is the lack of an alternate understanding that confounds our current confusion in architecture when we try to manifest our inherent, unexplainable biophilia into biomorphic (design that looks like nature), biomimetic (design forms and processes that mimic natural operating systems) and sustainability (balancing our survival with the planet’s via systems and techniques known). Already widely explored in anthropology, philosophy and sociology, there shall be an attempt to advance an equivalent architectural rhetoric across wide ranging potential subjects over the next 2 semesters. Neither hard science nor philosophy, we will tread between the physical, guttural and rational mind; poetic techniques and speculative science: this studio looks for ways to investigate architecture’s struggle in relating to the complex eco-systems of nature; and to develop a syntax for our lesser-known organic past and future. The studio should expect to know little, explore a lot and create definitions anew through critical clarity and dogged investigation. Explorations of materiality and learning as much through the hands of an apprenticeship, as through the mind of tutelage is expected: making, thinking and feeling should go hand in hand.

PHOTO BY JAMES WAINSCOAT 126

127

WU YEN YEN yen@gad.com.sg

PHOTO BY JAMES WAINSCOAT 126

127

DR. YUAN CHAO Assistant Professor akiyuan@nus.edu.sg

CLIMATE SENSITIVE DESIGN LIVABLE AND SUSTAINABLE CITIES

With the rapid urbanization and global climate change, the key challenge in front of us is clear: for planners and architects, it is a difficult balancing act to achieve between unstoppable human desire for development and the finite environmental carrying capacity of our cities. This design stuidio engages students to explore ways to use climate-sensitive technology and design to create buildings that are more human centralized and environmentally responsible. The Studio emphasizes the impact of environmental analysis on design, rather than treating it as a “decoration” in design. The knowledge delivered in the studio allows students not only to develop a climate-related concepts and ideas, but also to identify environmental potential and issues, to develop the corresponding passive design strategies, and to apply simulation tools to optimise architectureal design. It is important to note that climate sensitive design is a systematic approach, which is for decision making from site, building, to envelop design. By carefully discussing and selecting environmental topics suitable for students, this studio provides an opportunity to students to go through the whole procedure, and get the comprehensive understandings on the ethics of climate sensitive design.

Reading List: 1. Brown, G.Z; Dekay, Mark, 2001, Sun, wind & light: architectural design strategies,2nd ed. J. Wiley, New York. “Developed for rapid use during schematic design, this book clarifies relationships between form and energy and gives designers tools for designing...” 2. Bulkeley, Harriet, 2013, Cities and climate change, Routledge, London, New York. “Responding to climate change is a profound challenge. A variety of actors are involved in urban climate governance, with municipal governments, international organisations, and funding bodies pointing to cities as key arenas for response...” 3. Ng, E, 2009, Designing high-density cities for social and environmental sustainability , Earthscan, London. “A distinctive and comprehensive selection of conceptual ideas covering the ‘art and science’ of sustainable city design...”

IMAGE CREDIT: YUAN CHAO, FIRST PLACE, FUTURARC PRIZE 2019 128

129

DR. YUAN CHAO Assistant Professor akiyuan@nus.edu.sg

CLIMATE SENSITIVE DESIGN LIVABLE AND SUSTAINABLE CITIES

IMAGE CREDIT: YUAN CHAO, FIRST PLACE, FUTURARC PRIZE 2019 128

129

DR. ZHANG YE Assistant Professor akizy@nus.edu.sg

SHARING CITY “WE ARE AT A CRITICAL JUNCTURE IN WHICH USERS’ ORGANISING CAN MAKE A CRITICAL DIFFERENCE IN REALISING THE POTENTIAL OF THE SHARING MODEL” - JULIETSCHOR

Central to recent discussions on the Sharing Economy is a tension between valuing sharing as an emancipatory force against the strangleholds of the neoliberal regime, and the potential economic valuation of sharing enterprises as new avenues for capital accumulation. Along this line, Schor (2014) suggests that the Sharing Economy is also now at a “critical juncture”, where it could further develop into an economic juggernaut dominated by ‘business-asusual’, profit-driven corporations, or else transform into an emancipatory social movement that can reconnect social and economic relations in new and empowering ways. Boosters of the Sharing Economy claim that it is fairer, lower-carbon, and more transparent, participatory, and socially- connected is anything more than rhetoric for the large, monied players. Critical proponents of the sharing paradigm also have underscored the emancipatory potential of sharing, which presumes trust and bonding, and possesses an altruistic understone. In addition, sharing as a form of human relation prompts face-to- face encounters that can lead to further openness, convivial neighborly relations or perhaps, a radically different polity.

Sarcastically, however, sharing and the Sharing Economy have yet to be systematically examined in relation to space and the physical urban environment, despite that sharing activities more than often occur in workplaces, communities, and public spaces. In other words, the spatial dimension of sharing has yet to be recognized as an integral variable in elucidating how and why people share in everyday spaces. The thesis investigation will focus on how spatial configurations of architecture and urban environment can engender sharing and conversely, how sharing practices and activities may transform building typologies and urban spaces.

Reference: Schor, Juliet. 2016. “Debating the Sharing Economy” Journal of Self-Governance & Management Economics 4 (3).

IMAGE CREDIT: WWW.FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/96418456@N07/30532767400/ 130

131

DR. ZHANG YE Assistant Professor akizy@nus.edu.sg

SHARING CITY “WE ARE AT A CRITICAL JUNCTURE IN WHICH USERS’ ORGANISING CAN MAKE A CRITICAL DIFFERENCE IN REALISING THE POTENTIAL OF THE SHARING MODEL” - JULIETSCHOR

Reference: Schor, Juliet. 2016. “Debating the Sharing Economy” Journal of Self-Governance & Management Economics 4 (3).

IMAGE CREDIT: WWW.FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/96418456@N07/30532767400/ 130

131