No.1

Research
Renewable
Materials
How can we lower the carbon impact of built structures, which contribute 40% to the global emissions? 

We focus on renewable materials and hybrid systems with renewable parts, critically assessing their impact.

No.2

Research
Reconfigurable
Construction
How do we plan buildings for uncertain futures, with changing demographics and functional demands? 

We develop frameworks and tools for flexible building designs.

No.4

Teaching
Design
How do we actually design? 

In Architecture Studios Design is cultivated as a critical discourse. Design Thinking and Innovation introduces 1st year students to design methodology and to framing ill-defined problems.

No.5

Teaching
Architecture
Technology
How do we construct buildings, what are conscious material choices, how can we measure their performance? 

Architecture Science + Technology provides the fundamental knowledge in Building Technologies.

No.6

Design
Practice
Realised
How do we abandon conventions and design buildings that articulate their functional demands?

We develop unique building designs, extend material and construction boundaries, and refine their tectonic expressions.
Architectural design as a cultural practice, operating along the intersections between design and technology
Design + Technology

Over the past years, we have worked in different configurations of cross-disciplinary teams, with expertises connecting to architectural research, education and practical experiments. Architecture has been at the core of our competences and the focal point of our work.

Principle 1: Architecture is a design discipline.

We approach the following areas through the lens of architectural design:

  • Design as a driver for academic research
  • Design in education, as methodology, as a discourse and as preparation for professional practice
  • Design as creative practice and place for experimentation


Principle 2: Architecture connects design and technology.

Architectural design’s main purpose is to create spatial constructs and to transition from idea to realisation. Our work operates on the intersection between design and technology, and it operates on a range of scales between materials/components and their impact on built structures in high-density urban environments.

Principle 3: Design is a creative process, and design is open-ended.

Creative processes tackle problems with varying degrees of complexity, from well-defined, to ill-defined and wicked problems. Design does not have a clearly determined end goal, and the design process is transformative and hence not predetermined.

Principle 4: Design deals with uncertainties.

Design anticipates future conditions, and while its strives for the transformation of objects and conditions it also reflective on the past: both in historical dimensions as well as in the dimensions of the design process itself.

Principle 5: Design processes are iterative.

They revisit particular problems in a positive feedback loop. The design process can be interpreted as a chronological process (it is directed), but it allows nodes to be revisited and adjusted (it contains loops).

Design as a way of thinking, a rigorous and critical process of identifying challenges and transforming them into opportunities.
Design Methodology
Architecture and design are collaborative efforts, and they require a structural understanding of relations outside of domain knowledge.*

* Peter G. Rowe in "Design Thinking in the Digital Age (2017)

People

Michael Budig is an enthusiastic architect, educator and researcher, who is keen on operating along the cultural intersections between design and technology. He investigates in renewable and reconfigurable architecture, driven by computational design and construction, and the desire to provide innovative solutions for a decarbonisation in the built environment.

He is Assistant Professor in Architecture and Sustainable Design (ASD) at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), director of the REAL Lab for Research in Renewable and Reconfigurable Architecture. His research focuses on renewable materials and reconfigurable architecture driven by computational design and digital fabrication. He provides innovations for the decarbonisation, digitalisation and changing demographics in the built environment.

He teaches Design to first year students (Design Thinking and Innovation), Design Studios for undergraduate and graduate students, and building technology in the undergraduate curriculum (Architecture Science and Technology), and he coordinated the PhD programme at ASD between 2019 and 2021.

He is appointed Young Urban Leader with the World Cities Summit and serves as a member to various committees such as the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) in Singapore and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).

Selected Projects
Latest News
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Load-Bearing Capacities and Pseudo-Ductility of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced New Zealand Pine Timber Beams
Journal Paper
Co-Author and Adviser
https://www.mdpi.com/2504-477X/6/8/239
1/3/2022
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199
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Application of an adapted FMEA framework for robot-inclusivity of built environments’
Publication
Co-author and academic mentor
Nature Scientific Reports
doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-06902-4
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-06902-4
1/3/2022
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198
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Research Studies in Sustainable Construction
Research Project
PI
Research collaboration with Hilti Corporation, Liechtenstein
197
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Singapore Science and Engineering Fair (SSEF) 2022
Juror
Organised by the Ministry of Education (MOE), the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and the Science Centre Singapore (SCS)
The SSEF is affiliated to the prestigious Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), which is regarded as the Olympics of science competitions.
1/3/2022
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Toolkits for Renewable and Regenerative Buildings
Publication
in Future Urban Habitation: Transdisciplinary Perspectives, Conceptions, and Designs
Book chapter, publication March 2022
Devni Acharya1, Emma Boucher2, Richard Boyd2, Michael Budig3, Elisa Magnini2, Neil Walmsley1; 1 Arup Singapore, 2 Arup London, 3 SUTD
ISBN 978-1-119-73485-7
Editors: Heckmann, O. and Siew, M.K.
Wiley-Blackwell
21/4/2022
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Sparks Challenge with URA Singapore 2022
Juror
Invited to be a juror for a design competition on installations in public spaces
1/4/2022
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192
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Homecoming exhibition
Exhibition
Future Hybrid Highrise Commune
URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority) Gallery, Singapore
1/1/2022
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CAADRIA 2022
Scientific Appointment
Peer Review
Association for Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia, University of Sydney, Australia
26/10/2021
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188
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Renewable Materials and Regenerative Architecture
Lecture
Woxsen University International Lecture Series, Hyderabad
Invited Lecture, online
7/10/2021
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Design Intelligence - Archifest Digital Craft Session
Lecture
Panel Moderationn, organised by Singapore Polytechnic
Online
PRS Tectonic Accentuations

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