Shaping Climate‑Responsive Architecture: NUS BA Arch Student Project Awarded RIBA Bronze Commendation

We are pleased to announce that BA Arch Year 3 student Chooi En Yu has received a Commendation Award in the RIBA President’s Medals Bronze category. The award acknowledges her exceptional work, built on the knowledge gained and guidance received over the first three years of her architectural education at the NUS Department of Architecture.

“Being selected for this award motivated me to advance the work further. The brief required an in‑depth study of biological systems and the translation of their adaptive behaviours into climate‑responsive architectural strategies, which resonated strongly with my design approach,” she shared. “This recognition has strengthened my confidence in pursuing bold, conceptually driven work. It has reinforced the importance of a clear narrative and strong design statements, and will inform my approach as I prepare for future projects and my master’s thesis.”

PROJECT DRAWING: INFLATA

Her project, titled “Inflata,” is sited at the edge where land meets sea, beside the historic Pasir Panjang Power Station, a former monument to fossil‑fuelled energy. The site is reimagined as a space for resilience and renewal. Inflata adopts a biomimetic approach: it “breathes” in seawater to inflate space, modulate climate, and condition the human body. Rather than resist rising tides, it invites them in.

Inspired by the pufferfish, an organism that inflates by drawing in water to defend itself, the building treats seawater not as a threat but as a catalyst. Much like its natural counterpart, it intakes seawater to increase humidity and thermal stress, creating a dynamic training environment for heat acclimation. Architecture becomes climate: alive, adaptive, and embodied. Seawater flows through its spine; rain is harvested by pivoting roof petals. Energy is generated from waves, with buoys rising with each tide and powering “hydraulic lungs” that animate the spaces. The architecture performs like an organism: pulsing, breathing, alive.

PROJECT MODEL: INFLATA

Inflata reframes the narrative: from flood protection to flood symbiosis, from static form to responsive system. This is not just a building. It is a performance. A future-facing choreography of body, water, and weather, where architecture does not shelter from climate change, but trains us to meet it.

“I would like to sincerely express my gratitude to the Department for the nomination and the opportunity to participate in this competition. This award would not have been possible without the guidance of my studio tutor, Ar. Ng San Son. Through this process, I gained a deeper understanding of how natural systems can inform materiality, spatial organisation, and environmental conditioning. I learned to treat environmental phenomena such as humidity and heat as active design drivers, and to explore how biomimetic logic can produce both speculative and practical architectural outcomes,” said Chooi En Yu.

RIBA President’s Medals
Established in 1836 when the Institute of British Architects awarded the first Silver Medal to George Godwin for his essay on the ‘Nature and Properties of Concrete’, the President’s Medals are the RIBA’s oldest awards and are regarded as the most prestigious prizes in architectural education globally. The current format of the awards dates to 1986, when at the celebration of their 150th anniversary, the Institute replaced a large number of student awards, scholarships and prizes with the Bronze and Silver Medals to reward outstanding design work at RIBA Part 1 and Part 2.  Participation is by direct invitation only to over 500 schools of achitecture located in 100 countries. The winners receive their awards from the RIBA President at a ceremony in December of each year.