M A R C H II D E S IG N R E S E A R C H TH ESIS O FFERIN GS Picture credit: Yee Chenxin, Jonathan
FORM Tutor: François Blanciak What should a significant architectural project look like? How can it come into existence within the ecological context of architecture, and a strained economy of attention? In light of current debates on what is— fundamentally—a building, this thesis topic will focus broadly on the issue of form in architecture—a notion so contentious that it is often presented as necessarily “following” particular variables. What these are, and why they surface at specific moments in history, will be investigated, with a particular emphasis on the study of precedents in order to envision architectural outputs that transcend solutionism. IN PURSUIT OF OPTIMISM Tutor: Hans Brouwer Today’s outlook seems to be obsessed with the pessimistic. Our co-dependence on the media has inadvertently drawn us into its worldview and modus operandi: to chase the disaster in order to capture eyeballs (tragedy sells). If we remove ourselves from the ‘here’, ‘now’ and ‘terrifying future’, and look at our journey as a species, we see that we have always been masters of adaptation and change. Homo sapiens’ success lies in our ability to take adversity and use it as an agent of designed change. It is this insatiable positivism and curiosity that has led us on this amazing journey to where we are today.
Picture credit: Zeno Lee Pei Rong
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REMOTE PRACTICES: A MINOR ARCHITECTURE AND ITS DISTANT ARCHIVES Tutor: Lilian Chee Assisted by: Wong Zi Hao Remote Practices is concerned with disciplinary boundaries, seen in architecture’s acts of improvising and transposing; the (mis)alignments intrinsic to its distance from the built environment it conceives, and its “promiscuous mix of the real and the abstract.” This studio will further accentuate such distance and dissonance by concerning itself with architecture’s peripheral subjects. It argues for the necessity of a “minor architecture”, founded along the seams of the discipline. Located in tropical Southeast Asia, the studio engages the region’s uncategorised subjects: mythic environments, shapeshifting practices, and/or its often anecdotal knowledge. Students will select one peripheral phenomenon found in S.E.A’s climatic peculiarities of health and environment, post/trans/colonial histories, the rural-urban transition, traditions in the aftermath of modernisation, etc. They are to co-locate themselves in a corresponding archive, a distant site which embeds expert knowledge of their chosen periphery. The studio’s outcomes—“architecture [that] makes its appearance other than architecture” —will further define the boundaries and forms of a “minor architecture”. EMERGING CIVIC URBANISMS: DESIGNING FOR SOCIAL IMPACT Tutor: Cho Im Sik
The post-pandemic outlook which we now confront, does not need to be one of gloom and doom. Yes, we are confronted with a multitude of deeply concerning problems. From the global issues of climate change, food scarcity and inequity, to the personal ones of identity, screen addiction and social media dependence. This studio is interested in taking these challenges as opportunities to envisage design changes inspired by an undaunting positive belief, that architecture is up to the task to foresee futures that not only address the underlying problems but can go beyond them to create futures that are better in every way.
With rising awareness of the impacts of environmental degradation and growing polarisation, various forms of civic urbanisms are emerging as an alternative to the growth-oriented and market-driven urban development. This implies an awakened desire for a new paradigm based on more sustainable ways of life, which contributed to a greater emphasis on wellbeing, social inclusion, environmental consciousness, and active participation of citizens in decision-making. 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.
ANTIFRAGILE FRAMING Tutor: Cheah Kok Ming
ARCHITECTURE’S BACK LOOP Tutor: Simone Chung
When dining-in restrictions hit Chicago-based Dimo’s Pizza shop during the pandemic, they reinvented themselves by deploying some of their ovens and manpower to produce plastic shields for health-care protection. The transformed business thrived for Dimo despite the adversity and constraints. Nassim Taleb describes “antifragility” as an attribute beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same but the “antifragile” gets better. The studio provides an “antifragile” framework to look at crises, problems or threats for thinking about alternative architectural possibilities. For Dimo’s Pizza, it raises the question of how architecture would change to reconcile the production of pizzas and plastic shields.
Based on ecologist C.S. Holling’s theory, the back loop is the stage in the Anthropocene cycle where hitherto established structures come apart, and individual entities or small groups interact across divides to create something fundamentally original. What undergirds back loop innovation is a spirit of experimentation that is not mutually exclusive to humans or nature. Wakefield (2020, 98) states, “Deciding on one’s own terms where to go from here, can everywhere be a matter of taking infrastructure, architecture, and design in one’s own hands and wielding them as the powers they in fact are”. A recalibration of mindset is essential as we depart from outmoded and limiting ways of thinking and operating in the front loop. The “biopolitics” that Foucault (1997) speaks of cannot be forcefully administered on one level alone. Rather, it invites softer and more plural forms of intervention technologies that stitch together knowledge, practice and design.
F.U.N.3 | INFLEXION POINT Tutor: Fung John Chye Fifty years ago, Buckminster Fuller pre-empted the challenges to human civilisations which are now impending. In Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, he posits the criticality of managing the planet’s finite resources sustainably through a systems view for regenerative living. “Spaceship Earth” is at an inflexion point as cities face the convergence of existential threats—climate crisis, ageing populations, resource scarcity, pandemic, and technological disruptions. Third in the series on Future Urban Neighbourhoods, this studio will explore urban planning and architecture that mitigate the immense problems to invent viable Anthropocene futures through scenarios of sustainable human communities, urban environments, and deep technologies in 2050 and beyond. ADAPTIVE TROPICAL BUILDINGS UNDER LARGE SPAN ROOFS Tutor: Florian Heinzelmann The roof—or atap—is an essential element in vernacular architecture, but also in contemporary buildings such as mall atriums, hawker centers, and many others. The interior of large roof structures does not get sufficient daylight and ventilation via vertical facades. The roof surface itself has to manage both. This must be negotiated between solar heat gains versus visual and other requirements. Daylight availability and direction are variables, and apertures therefore need to react by either changing their geometry or material properties. Students are invited to research, simulate, design, and prototype functioning adaptive daylight systems; including other passive climatic strategies for a building typology at a tropical location of their choice. CITY - CULTURE – CONSERVATION Tutor: Ho Puay Peng This thesis offering will look at the social and cultural contexts behind design initiatives. How might a design project form a locus for symbolism, cultural representation, or the expression of identity? In exploring answers to this, students will embark on a journey of uncovering the meaning behind conceptions of society, community, and cultural manifestation. Observation and critical discourse will be essential to the process; these will be applied to questioning students’ views of individual or national identity. Along the way, the juxtaposition of time and space in architectural production would not only be a key factor examined in this journey, but may also be a product of the journey itself. This thesis offering would also complement a research interest in the areas of heritage conservation, adaptive reuse, and intervention in historical buildings and neighbourhoods.
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