ASD Education

The uniqueness of our programme stems from our approach to Teaching and Learning. At SUTD, we believe in an ‘Outside-In’ approach whereby we guide our students to study real-world challenges before conceptualising and realising solutions to them. We also believe in active engagement of our industry partners to impart practical knowledge to our students. Take for example our Sustainable Design Option Studio offered every Spring and Summer term. Every Option studio is unique and differs year to year, depending on the instructors we appoint. These instructors may be our faculty members or established practitioners in the field of architecture, and each of them brings distinct specialty and flavour on the numerous facets of architecture. Apart from giving our students many choices to work on a topic of their interest, studios also expose them to the depths of architecture. In another instance, we have Capstone projects for our final year students, which allow them to work with students from other pillars on industry supported projects. These opportunities enhance interpersonal skills and awareness of current issues and solutions, preparing our students to be industry ready, region ready and future ready.

ASD curriculum is also developed with the industry input. Bringing the industry into our curriculum development allows us to equip our students with the skills and knowledge to meet the needs of tomorrow’s industry. Not to mention, it is mandatory for our students to complete at least one internship stint which is looked after by SUTD Career Development Centre. About 16 weeks are set aside for students to have their internships in between the third and fourth terms and/or in between the fifth and sixth terms. Such internship opportunities give our students the needed exposure to understand what the industry wants, and for these experiences to complement their studies later.

The distinctiveness of our curriculum would not be complete without mention of our focus on developing technologically grounded architecture leaders. In the 21st century, it is important that our students know how to harness technology in their fields of work. By going through a common curriculum in their first three terms, when they will study subjects like Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Humanities and Engineering, our students are given a solid foundation to support their specialization study in their pillar years. Together with our world-class faculty members and facilities, SUTD is in good stead to produce technologically savvy leaders of tomorrow’s world.