Three weeks into masterplanning a squatter/religious area in Yangon, Myanmar... and the end's a week away. Working (and leading) a 12-member group wouldn't be my cup of tea on any occasion, but at least for this one, things are starting to look up.

Basically, we're resettling squatters into a 150 000 sq m area, and developing zones of commercial activity, religious activity as well as an entertainment/transportation hub. Approx two-thirds of that area is dedicated for mass-housing, the design of which will constitute the individual design aspect of this semester's project.

Our approach has thus far been rather pragmatic. Rational, yes; inspiring, not quite. I guess it's part of what the tutor's pushing for - "real" design - and the highly contextual nature of the project makes rationalism a clear option.

Anyhow, a couple of images:

The five-day urban workshop has come to a close, and the symposium (fancy name for crit/discussion session!) quite aptly wrapped up our weeklong efforts. Mr Acebillo, the workshop conductor (masterplanner of the city of Barcelona, which won the RIBA gold medal several years ago - yes, the city won... View full entry

Received a comment about computer software usage (whether we're taught that). Software's 'taught' (most of the time it's just introduced, and the students will pick them up, much on their own accord) at Year 2 level. There's a range - AutoCAD, Microstation, Sketchup, Revit, and 3D Studio Max / Viz... View full entry

The second semester kicks off tomorrow with an Urban Workshop by Josep Acebillo, invited to conduct the workshop. Mr Acebillo is the urban planning advisor of the Barcelona Town Council. The workshop takes up one week, at the end of which, we're supposed to design a housing scheme (which would tie... View full entry

The fourth year at NUS generally focuses on design for communities. Semester 1 dealt with masterplanning, and then creating an urban intervention. Some of the work from the previous semester follows: Studio masterplan on the Tanjong Pagar / Duxton Plain / Singapore River in Singapore, with the... View full entry

Greetings. My name's Tan Szue Hann, a fourth year architecture undergrad at NUS. I've been through six semesters in this school (one on exchange at TU Delft), and it's given me much insight into the field of architecture from both east and west (although the tendency is for students to favour... View full entry