The visit
He met Assistant Professor F. Peter Ortner, coordinator of SUTD’s Master of Architecture and PhD programmes in Architecture and Sustainable Design, and Professor Lim Seh Chun, former Provost of SUTD, and toured the university’s facilities, including its fabrication laboratory.
What stood out, he wrote, was not only the intellectual vibrancy of the campus but the boldness with which SUTD, as a young university, has positioned itself in the global academic and innovation landscape. In a relatively short time it has built a compelling narrative around design led interdisciplinary learning, rooted in relevance, agility and ambition.
The conversation
The discussions explored synergies and striking parallels between SUTD and the School of Future Environments: a shared commitment to sustainability and emerging technologies, and comparable visions for future focused architectural education. Both institutions bring design and engineering together in ways that older universities, organised around separate faculties, often find difficult.
As design, climate and urbanisation challenges grow more complex, he argued, purposeful collaboration between forward thinking institutions holds the potential to open new educational frontiers. For AUT, a partner like SUTD offers a model of how a young university can build international standing quickly through a clear identity.
Why Singapore
Singapore has become one of the world’s reference points for planning, building regulation and digital government. Its national consent and building information platforms, which he later cited in his commentary on New Zealand’s consent reform, show how a small, well governed country can lead in digital construction. A university partner there offers access to that experience as well as to a strong research community.