ISD5101 Integrated Studio Project

This module relies on project-based learning to develop skills for systems-thinking. Students are grouped into teams to work on problems at the building scale. The project presents a problem of spatial, technological, and material systems, and specific economic, social and ecological imperatives. Singapore-based experts are invited to guide students along the way in areas requiring specialist knowledge, with industry partners often called in to participate in discussions. Visits to local projects are scheduled in this and other modules. The proposals that emerge from this exercise are varied and reflect, in part, cohort mix and individual backgrounds. Most students investigate a deeper integration of architecture, urban design and planning with energy, water and food systems. Some generate new typologies, morphologies and infrastructure to accommodate these systems; others formulate new policies to drive cities towards self-sufficiency and resilience. All are taught to frame the impact of their decisions in both quantitative and qualitative ways, and appraise problems from multiple vantage points.