Mission

Nurturing Creative Global Designers and Critical Thinkers for the Built Environment To Shape Asia's Future and the World.

History

More than 50 Years of Established Benchmark in Professional Architectural Education Excellence – NUS Architecture is a proven programme, and the only one professionally accredited by The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), Board of Architects (BOA) Singapore and Singapore Institute of Architects(SIA). Our graduates received a rigorous professional education and are ready to contribute to the industry.

The Department celebrated its 50th Anniversary of founding in 2008.

First established in 1958, from its germinal stage in Singapore Polytechnic, it grew into a full-blown programme in the University of Singapore in 1969. In June 2000 it was reorganised from the School of Architecture of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Real Estate into the Department of Architecture of the School of Design and Environment (SDE). Today the Department offers a wide slate of programmes which include landscape architecture, urban design, urban planning and integrated sustainable design.

Programme Structure

A Program that Empowers with Choices – Our students can choose from a whole range of creative paths that fit their design talent and research interests: architecture, landscape, urban design, urban planning and architectural studies. Under a new initiative of "Architecture Plus [+]," students can combine options of study that bring out their fullest potentials.

Inter- and Multi-disciplinarity Quality – NUS Architecture is a department in a comprehensive and globally highly ranked university with a mission to deliver a broad-based education for a Global Citizen & Designer. For this reason, the Department aims to be a comprehensive in its training and research activities. While the academic and research staff of the Department are organised into 4 Research and Teaching Groups (RTG) namely "History, Theory and Criticism", "Urban Studies" and "Design Technology and Sustainability" and "Landscape," design explorations and intellectual productions that straddle across and built on the groups are encouraged.

Programme Focus & Value

Creative, Critical and Contextural Contents – Our students’ design experiences are augmented by hands-on opportunities under communal settings, to promote social and service enterprises. These experiences are supported by access to a wide range of digital prototyping, fabrication and representation technologies.

Social Engagement - The underlying premise of our education is humanistic, communal and embedded in user-centric concerns; and in the best of examples, our teaching approaches combine abstract theory with concrete practices.  Techniques is merely a mean to a social end.

Our Values – NUS Architecture is as good as the dedicated and driven students who enroll in it. We believe that our future designers and thinkers seek inclusiveness, liveability & right livelihood, ethical sustainability, environmental & social responsiveness, conviviality and cultural robustness in our built environments.

Experienced & Distinguished Faculty – Our faculty members have balanced experiences in design and research under diverse settings. They combine their strengths in theory, practice and international exposure to deliver a holistic educational experience.

Alumni, Student Support & Resources

Proven and Distinguished Track Record – NUS Architecture produced many of Singapore’s best design architects, researchers and writers, including 4 of the nation’s President Designer of the Year Award recipients. Our alumni are influential in shaping Singapore’s and the region’s built environment that affect the quality of life of millions now and into the future.

The Department continues to receive support from students, present and past, and the general public. The Architecture Society (TAS) and the Architecture Alumni Association (AAA) were formed in 1980 and 1998 respectively.  Through their generosity and support, for example, an Architecture Endowment Fund, among the first of such fund in the university, was established to promote the students’ academic experience and enrich the Department’s programmes.

NUS Architecture is also supported by endowments like the Ong Siew May Professorship in Architecture , Ong & Ong Travelling Fellowship, funding support from Tan Chin Tuan Foundation, Tun Tan Cheng Lock Scholarships for Asian Architectural and Urban Heritage, and Lee Kip Lin Research Funds for Architectural Research on Singapore.