Click on the pillars below for the respective descriptions.
Architecture and Sustainable Design (ASD) at SUTD has been conceived to serve the emerging critical needs of a world in transition and a profession evermore engaged with the evolution of business, technology, and socioeconomic institutions worldwide. ASD at SUTD distinguishes itself by equally focusing on the immediate present and future need of architecture and on a traditional course framework that concentrates on technological innovation, design creativity and cultural sensitivity. ASD students will be exposed to real estate valuations, finance, environmental studies, computer-aided design and construction, and information and parametric model building. Students will also be afforded plenty of opportunity to confront global problems such as energy and resources, changing manufacturing norms, structural shifts in demographic and economic frameworks, etc.
The philosophical and strategic foundations of the ASD considers architecture and urban futures from a strong engineering perspective that emphasises—
- performance and efficiency,
- systems perspectives and management,
- environmental consciousness and business innovation, and
- advanced design methodologies.
In addition, ASD at SUTD will place equal emphasis on understanding the cultural and institutional opportunities and challenges that are necessary elements for a transformation of our built environment toward a sustainable future.
Teaching in ASD will be comprised of a hands-on, industry-oriented approach that treats all design situations as opportunities for a cutting-edge creative approach that is thoroughly rooted in the economic, technical, and social frameworks of contemporary society. Active learning with strong emphasis on learning-by-doing will permeate every class offered. Students will be introduced to the very latest architectural technologies and systems for resource efficient buildings and ecologically responsible urban design. This will include the latest developments in smart and environmentally responsive materials as well as passive and low energy building systems. In addition, the urbanisation of the world in the coming several decades will add 3 billion people to urban populations, an amount equal to all city-dwellers today. Therefore, ASD has targeted teaching and research in the urban context for special attention. Several classes will be offered that address the need for educating the architect to be able to deal with the important issues of future cities including critical resource constraints, the need for energy efficient and humane housing, rapid urbanisation, transportation planning, and land use transformations. Students in the latter terms of their studies in ASD will be introduced to the work of the SUTD International Design Centre with the intent of providing them with opportunities to be actively involved with researchers and on-going research work.
Find out more about the
individual ASD subjects.
Apart from detailed knowledge in architecture, graduates from ASD are expected to possess:
- an inclusive perspective and approach to the cultural and historical aspects of the design of buildings and cities in every region of the world,
- a hands-on aptitude to building technologies and the systems of sustainable buildings,
- a holistic understanding of the ways in which digital technologies, both in design and manufacturing, are changing our approach to the built environment, and
- a keen sense of the interdisciplinary nature and intensely active learning process in which design is conceived and realised.
Students are expected to be technical leaders with entrepreneurial spirits who provide workable creative solutions to answer present and future urbanisation architectural needs. The ASD pillar will provide a basis for architectural practice internationally. This will be done with certification from the Singapore Board of Architects and other architectural education accreditation organisations such as those in US or China. The intent will be to provide the SUTD ASD student with the potential to practice globally, bringing to their work a high level of technical competency and scientific knowledge while being attuned to the business opportunities and cultural resonances that will make their design proposals most effective. ASD graduates will be prepared for positions in architectural and urban design, environmental design, construction, and real-estate management and development, as well as for post-graduate academic programmes in architecture, civil engineering, and business.
The curriculum of the EPD pillar prepares students for leadership in the conception, design, implementation, and operation of innovative technology-intensive products, with emphasis on products whose development cuts across traditional disciplinary boundaries. The product sectors currently addressed are electronics, energy, machinery, and transportation. The pillar features commitment to educational and research excellence, multidisciplinary interaction, and a focus on product development that includes close engagement with industry.
Students in EPD have an opportunity to take foundational subjects in both tracks (mechanical and electronic devices). They will then focus on their device, artefact, and process areas as they progress. The common pillar subjects include: an Introduction to Probability and Statistics, Signals and Systems, and Feedback Control.
Additionally, students take device-specific subjects. In the Electronic Devices track, these include Circuits & Electronics, Electromagnetics & Applications, Product Engineering & Design, and Design and Fabrication of Microelectromechanical Systems, Microelectronic Circuits & Devices, and Digital Systems Laboratory. In the Mechanical Devices track, the subjects include students focusing on Structures and Materials, Engineering Design and Project Engineering, Fluid Mechanics, Thermal Systems for Power and the Environment, and Dynamics. There are also elective subjects that allow freedom to delve more deeply into areas of interest and a two-term capstone subject that provides an integrative multidisciplinary experience.
Find out more about the
individual EPD (mechanical devices) and
EPD (electronic devices) subjects.
The educational goals are to provide graduates with a deep understanding of the technical fundamentals and with skills and capabilities for leading the development of new products, processes or methodologies. EPD graduates will be prepared for positions in engineering and product development, robotic systems, automated systems, the aerospace and automotive industries, consumer home and industrial products and processes, consumer electronics and digital media, biomedical/healthcare, and manufacturing, for post-graduate academic programmes in mechanical or electrical engineering and business, and for positions as consultants in their respective fields.
Engineering systems entail large, complex systems whose performance and function depend both on their technology and on the socio-economic context within which they operate. Students in the ESD pillar will study the modelling, design, optimisation, and management of large, complex engineering and engineered systems. The ESD curriculum is structured to provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to be the future system architects and leaders of engineering systems. Students will learn to analyse, design and operate an engineering system with a global perspective, and will have extensive, guided experiences at doing so in a range of contexts. Their knowledge and skills are applicable across many types of engineering systems, including:
- Transportation Systems,
- Supply Chains and Manufacturing Systems,
- Health Care Delivery Systems,
- Energy Transmission and Distribution Systems,
- Telecommunication Systems,
- Infrastructure Systems,
- Environmental Systems, and
- Information-Intensive Service Systems including financial services and retailing.
Subjects that ESD students can expect to take include: Introduction to Engineering Systems (including a project on analysis, modelling, and control of an existing system), Applied Probability for Engineering Systems, Optimisation, Applied Statistics, a two-subject sequence specific to an application stream (i.e., one subject on the relevant technology and another on the operations engineering for the application context), Simulation, Network Modelling, System Architecture, System Dynamics, Engineering Systems Analysis for Design, seminars in entrepreneurship, social responsibility, and project management, which will be offered as a series of modules that complement and support student projects, starting in the second year. Several electives are also chosen by students as part applications streams. Apart from the core subjects related to ESD, all students will also take subjects to learn about the socio-economic contexts within which Engineering Systems operate.
Find out more about the
individual ESD subjects.
ESD graduates will be prepared for positions as system analysts or project leaders in a wide range of private and public sectors from healthcare, biomedical and pharmaceutical, energy, transportation and logistics, aviation, supply chains, and telecommunications, to manufacturing, petro-chemical, defence industry, research organisations, financial services and banking, retail, and entertainment and hospitality. ESD graduates will also be prepared for careers in consulting as well as for various post-graduate academic programmes in industrial or systems engineering and business, among others.
The ISTD pillar focuses on "Information Technology" broadly — from computer systems through software engineering to artificial intelligence — with a particular emphasis on how information systems interact with the embedding context: through data analysis and human interfaces, both of which play a major role.
The curriculum that ISTD students can expect includes subjects in Software Engineering, Computer Architecture, Algorithms, Computer Systems, Databases, User Interfaces and Machine Learning, as well as project subjects in their disciplinary area and a capstone design project. Project subjects teach basic concepts in a disciplinary area and combine software engineering and algorithms to implement a project in areas such as robotics and embedded computation; compilers, and operating systems; parallel and distributed systems; and web design and implementation among others. Several electives related to their choice of applications focus are also required.
Find out more about the
individual ISTD subjects.
ISTD graduates will be prepared for positions in software design and development, telecommunications, data analytics, consulting, IT security as well as various post-graduate academic programmes in computer science, IT, and business. This includes Google, Microsoft, IBM, etc.