Social Design in Practice: SoDL’s Inaugural Conference and Exhibition
The Department hosted the inaugural Designing the Social conference on 5 February 2026. Organised by Social Design Lab (SoDL) co-founder Assoc Prof Lilian Chee, together with RAs Rachel Fong and Joelle Hung and SA Jamie Loh, the conference explored how architecture can foster new forms of sociality and care amid urban and ecological challenges. It positioned social design as an experimental practice that reshapes social relations through space. Opening the conference, Assoc Prof Chee described a shift away from the “singular, heroic object” towards architecture as a relational, socially embedded process. She argued that social design draws on multiple ways of acting and knowing—decentring the architect as sole author and reframing the role as a facilitator working alongside “citizen experts”.
ASST PROF JOSHUA COMAROFF WITH GUEST PANELLISTS
The conference featured two thematic sessions:
In “Reworking Broken Systems”, moderated by Asst Prof Dorothy Tang, speakers Prof Hélène Frichot (University of Melbourne), Prof Lori A. Brown, FAIA (Syracuse University), and Nancy Levinson (Editor-in-Chief, Places Journal) discussed care and repair in creative practice; feminist epistemologies and their role in reconfiguring reproductive healthcare; and repair in architecture as both a material act and a political stance.
In “Designing through Lived Space”, moderated by Asst Prof Joshua Comaroff, speakers Prof John K.C. Liu (National Taiwan University), Marianna Janowicz (Edit Collective; University of the Arts London), and Prof Peggy Deamer (Yale University) examined community knowledge through storytelling and collective action; the often-invisible worlds of reproductive labour; and ways to challenge the capitalist architectural curriculum to cultivate a new “architectural citizen”.
Together, the sessions framed social design as an ongoing assemblage of people, materials, and environments committed to collective repair. Assoc Prof Chee added, “We hope designers will be inspired to treat space not just as a container but as a catalyst for human connection. This approach could generate ideas on how we could better relate to each other.”
Prof Jeff Hou (HOD) closed the conference by reflecting on his work with diverse Pacific Rim communities, underscoring social design’s multifaceted and meaningful role.
“Social design is inherently messy. It resists tidy frameworks, requires patience with ambiguity, and thrives on the unpredictable dynamics of more-than-human relationships. It is precisely in this messiness that genuine creativity, adaptability and transformation can emerge.”
—Assoc Prof Lilian Chee
PROF TEO KIE LEONG DELIVERING THE OPENING ADDRESS
Following the conclusion of SoDL’s inaugural conference, Prof Teo Kie Leong, Dean of CDE, opened the Assembling the Social exhibition that evening. He reflected on how design decisions shape relationships and everyday life. “Design and engineering solutions have the most impact when they take into consideration technical and economic factors, as well as what binds and connects us all,” he said.
Featuring 12 socially engaged practices from around the world, the exhibition brings together architects, artists, designers, educators, and community activists working across different contexts and scales. Assembling the Social also marks a significant milestone for SoDL, which was established in 2025 to bring together teaching, research, and public engagement around socially engaged design.
Speaking at the opening, SoDL co-director Assoc Prof Thomas Kong, organiser of the exhibition, said it represented “a brilliant assembly of artists, designers, educators, architects, urban designers and planners, and their different approaches to the four pillars of care, nurture, repair, and imagination.”
ASSOC PROF TAN BENG KIANG WITH HER FORMER STUDENT, LARRY YEUNG (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, P!D)
Among the works featured is that of Assoc Prof Tan Beng Kiang, an educator and registered architect whose long-standing commitment to participatory community design has shaped service-learning and community-based projects in Singapore and across ASEAN.
Highlighting Assoc Prof Tan’s work, Prof Teo said, “It is particularly meaningful that this exhibition showcases projects developed together with his students, demonstrating how socially engaged design is carried forward through teaching, mentorship and learning in action.”
“You have created a space for critical reflection and shown that design can remain deeply human, ethical and social.”
—Prof Teo Kie Leong
The exhibition also includes the work of Emmanuel Pratt, co-founder and Executive Director of the Sweet Water Foundation in Chicago. Since 2014, Pratt and his collaborators have transformed six neighbouring city blocks on Chicago’s South Side into The CommonWealth, a community-led campus combining urban ecology, civic arts, agroecology, and lifelong learning.
The Assembling the Social exhibition runs until 8 March 2026 at the Level 1 gallery of SDE 3.
To learn more, visit here.
View the photo album here.
The article above was adapted from the NUS College of Design and Engineering.