Dezeen School Shows: a research laboratory for climate justice in the Pacific nation of Tuvalu is among the projects by students at Singapore University of Technology and Design.

Also featured is a project investigating concrete production using 3D printers and a toolkit for dementia patients to design their own homes.

Singapore University of Technology and Design

Institution: Singapore University of Technology and Design
Course: Master of Architecture
Tutor: Peter Ortner

School statement:

"The masters of architecture programme at the Architecture and Sustainable Design (ASD) pillar represents the deep investigation into the technology and research infused design perused by Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD).

"This is an accelerated course held over three terms, principally comprising practice, studio and thesis elements.

"It is designed to orientate and focus students through a longer term thesis-based design methodology and project, and to realise new visions of novel creative and social design futures."

Tropical Uplift by Chan Xinze

"Amidst the challenges of global warming in an already hot and humid tropical climate, this thesis reimagines public housing in Singapore through the lens of passive and sustainable cooling.

"The central question explored is: can natural wind be a reliable means to keep residents cool?

"Using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations, iterative studies of various massing geometries were conducted to understand the interactions between wind and built form, and utilise identified wind patterns to inform the placement of housing and communal programmes.

"These findings were integrated into the design of housing units, residential blocks and overall site planning, resulting in a prototypical precinct where wind flow is cooling and consistent."

Student: Chan Xinze
Course: 20.512 Thesis
Tutor: Peter Ortner
Email: xinze_chan[at]mymail.sutd.edu.sg

Stitch! by Danesh Ajith

"This thesis frames Singapore's expressways as connective infrastructure rather than as barriers.

"It explores how spaces above and adjacent to expressways can be activated to foster walkability and human-centric connections, addressing long-standing disconnections between neighbourhoods.

"Using one of the most complex expressway intersections in Singapore as a test site, the project proposes a modular, adaptable design framework called The Stitch, integrating elevated walkways and adaptable public spaces.

"The framework aims to bridge fragmented urban areas, enhancing connectivity while reducing carbon impact.

"By challenging conventional perceptions of infrastructure as static and utilitarian, this thesis envisions a more layered, interactive urban fabric that promotes coexistence."

Student: Danesh Ajith
Course: 20.512 Thesis
Tutor: Peter Ortner
Email: danesh_ajith[at]mymail.sutd.edu.sg

Beyond: Building Empowerment in Your Neighbourhood for Dementia by Tong Yuen Yan Edelyn

"Beyond: Building Empowerment in Your Neighbourhood for Dementia is a dementia-centric participatory design project that invites individuals, especially those often excluded, into the architectural process.

"Using a tactile toolkit and real-time AI visualisations, participants co-design their homes and neighbourhoods with the architect. Each design is then translated into a personalised AR card, as a memory aid and a symbol of ownership.

"The project culminates in a speculative proposal to transform Singapore's HDB void decks into dementia specific homes with individualised storefront spaces, grounded in personal memory and open to community.

"Beyond blends architecture, interaction and care to imagine more inclusive, human-centred futures."

Student: Tong Yuen Yan Edelyn
Course: 20.512 Thesis
Tutor: Jason Lim
Email: edelyn_tong[at]mymail.sutd.edu.sg

DeReX (Decentralised Resource Exchange) by Hannah Summer Lee I-Rei

"Infrastructure can do more than distribute power, it can redistribute agency. DeReX is a speculative coastal prototype that reimagines energy as a shared civic right.

"Set in Sabah, Malaysia, it fuses tidal turbines, blockchain governance and floating architecture into a self-organising system.

"Built from modular parts and powered by the ocean, it lets communities vote, trade and grow through the infrastructure itself.

"As Southeast Asia faces rising seas and uneven energy access, DeReX offers an alternative: not centralised grids, but tidal commons, where every watt and wall is part of a living, breathing cooperative."

Student: Hannah Summer Lee I-Rei
Course: 20.512 Thesis
Tutor: Eva Castro
Email: hannah_leea[at]mymail.sutd.edu.sg

Clementi Courtyards by Mudassar Ahmad S/O Mubashir

"Clementi Courtyards is a food-wellness social hub that uses the courtyard typology to bring together key institutions for a multi-generational support system.

"This thesis aims to improve food security among public housing residents in Singapore by transforming the architecture of social welfare spaces like senior activity centres and family service centres and integrating community kitchens within them.

"The study recognises food as a universal necessity and investigates how this may be used to bond people across generations through the acts of communal farming, cooking and dining, with an increased food literacy as a positive by-product of such interactions."

Student: Mudassar Ahmad S/O Mubashir
Course: 20.512 Thesis
Tutors: Andrew Lee and Lee Tat Haur
Email: mudassar_ahmad[at]mymail.sutd.edu.sg

Emergent Coastscapes by Low Ryan

"Rising sea levels and intensified storm events driven by climate change pose urgent challenges for coastal cities, particularly high-density tropical Asian cities facing population growth and land constraints.

"Conventionally, coastal resilience strategies often rely on grey infrastructure, such as engineered coastlines of stone and concrete.

"While these structures support high-density development, they lack an adaptability to dynamic coastal changes and may cause long-term environmental degradation.

"This thesis reexamines coastal resilience frameworks, proposing a socio-ecological resilience framework as a sustainable and dynamic alternative.

"Using Singapore as a testbed, it integrates nature-based typologies to create adaptive, naturalised urban buffers enhancing coastal resilience."

Student: Low Ryan
Course: 20.512 Thesis
Tutor: Thomas Schroepfer
Email: ryan_low[at]mymail.sutd.edu.sg

Unbound: Planet in Motion by Tang Yi Wei Jennifer

"Unbound: Planet in Motion is a speculative project exploring new frameworks for climate adaptation and planetary justice. At its core is the living lab, a planetary research platform first prototyped in Tuvalu, one of many low-lying Pacific nations threatened by rising seas.

"Kickstarted by international climate funds, it explores how global finance can shape spatial and political futures.

"Governed by a social contract uniting researchers, locals and climate migrants, the living lab is a modular system of lab clusters, satellite labs, test sites and living clusters, scaling with geopolitical interest as a model for community-driven climate action."

Student: Tang Yi Wei Jennifer
Course: 20.512 Thesis
Tutor: Eva Castro
Email: jennifer_tang[at]mymail.sutd.edu.sg

Print, Snap, Build! by Wang Yiwei

"The thesis aims to redefines how builders and designers produce, shape and value concrete by introducing a lightweight intelligent structural assembly (LiSA) system.

"Through generative design, lattice structures are algorithmically optimised to act as both formwork and reinforcement, reducing material waste to produce thin-shell geometries with as little waste as possible.

"The system supports circularity by eliminating disposable moulds and enabling local, low-cost production using widely available desktop 3D printers.

"Rooted in digital craft, LiSA fuses traditional casting techniques with parametric tools, lowering the barrier for fabricating and assembling custom, non-standard concrete components.

"It proposes a new paradigm of design: where complexity is not a premium, but a computational logic inherent to every object."

Student: Wang Yiwei
Course: 20.512 Thesis
Tutor: Stylianos Dritsas
Email: yiwei_wang[at]mymail.sutd.edu.sg

Partnership content

This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and Singapore University of Technology and Design. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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