Digital design is driven by thinking in structures and systems, translated in patterns of order and their interaction. The joint studio is an introduction into such design thinking and emphasizes the exploration of spatial organizational patterns, in various levels of abstraction and scale through the integration of computational methods and workflows. The studio is part of a collaboration with Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and will explore the role of Hawker centers as civic spaces in Singapore. Within the studio, computational methods and techniques will be developed to study the relation between the centre and the city across scales and its underlying flows of difference data streams such as people, material, and culture. This knowledge will be used to speculate on proposals for new types of hawker centers in Singapore aiming at the connection of urban and green systems into a new urban typology.

The studio is organized as an experimental design lab. Computational explorations are complemented by physical exploration through the integration of the robotic arm, as well as theoretical grounding. Studio teaching is supported by intense skill-building workshops & discussion rounds.