Ong Siew May (OSM) Professorship

We are pleased to welcome the following distinguished professors for this semester: Prof Sho Yutaka and Ar Huang Sheng-Yuan, who will share their expertise by guiding MArch students in AR5802 – Options Design Research Studio 2. Additionally, Prof Alain Bourdin will offer two courses, AR5956D – Topics In Design And Built Environment 4 (After Olympic Games In Paris: Towards A New Definition Of Mega Urban Projects) and AR5956E – Topics In Design And Built Environment 5 (French Main Cities Facing Metropolization).

Yutaka SHO (Dr)
Partner and co-founder of the non-profit architecture firm General Architecture Collaborative (GAC) and also serves as a professor of architecture at Meiji University in Tokyo, Japan

I am grateful and very excited to serve as the Ong Siew May Professor. It is especially meaningful to receive this honour this year, as I have just returned to Tokyo after living most of my life in the US and working in Rwanda. I took a leap of faith for many reasons, but a significant one was to continue working with people who are traditionally excluded from accessing good design. This time, however, I hope to work as a member of the same community. Asia is a community of interconnected regions, albeit with internal and external conflicts. And NUS students are certainly part of that community. I am eager to “stay with the (Asian) trouble” to support a circular ecology and diverse society through design. I look forward to collaborating with you all.

HUANG Sheng-Yuan (Ar)
Principal of Fieldoffice Architects in Yilan, Taiwan and is currently a professor at Chung Yuan University, Taiwan, as well as a visiting professor at Tokyo Tech in 2023

“「時間的有限」是世間最美好的事，
向天地山水學習，
相信能為浮現歷史的多樣做出貢獻，
就算動作太大，也要練習用空間說出抵抗的可能。
(黃聲遠 2025春天) “
“The limited life” may be the most beautiful thing in the world.
Learn from the sky, earth, mountain and water,
Believe we could contribute to the diverse history,
Even the action might be too much, still practice with space to express the possibility of resistance.
(HUANG Sheng-Yuan in 2025 spring)

Alain BOURDIN (Dr)
Professor of “Urbanism” (Urban Planning and Urban Design) at the Raymond Lemaire Center for Heritage Preservation at the University of Louvain (K.U.Leuven) and participates in teaching and research activities at ESSEC’s Chair of Urban Economics on both the Paris and Rabat campuses

I’m a French academic living in the historic Marais district of Paris. I began my academic career as a sociologist before becoming a professor of urbanism (urban planning and urban design). I have taught at the universities of Tours, Toulouse, Geneva, Louvain, Paris, and Beirut, in both sociology and urban planning. I’ve also had numerous exchanges with universities in Latin America, particularly Brazil, where I have frequently visited. I have been the director of the Institut Français d’Urbanisme (a training and research centre). My research interests include urban heritage policies (historic districts and currently industrial heritage), major development projects, urban cultures, urban lifestyles, and residents’ expectations of the city, as well as the organisation of city production by public authorities and professionals. I look forward to seeing you in Singapore and sharing experiences during the next semester.