NUS Landscape Architecture

08/10/2026

MLA Options Studio Field Report
LANDSCAPES OF EMPOWERMENT : Towards an inclusive city

The Landscapes of Empowerment: Towards an Inclusive City studio fieldwork comprised three site visits conducted between 18 August and 3 October 2026. The fieldwork included a visit to URA City Gallery on 18 August, visits to Sembawang, Rainbow Centre (Admiralty Hill campus), Kampung Admiralty and HDB Exhibition Gallery on 20 August, and a visit to Enabling Village on 3 October, Singapore.

The studio centers on reimagining Sembawang as a model for inclusive design, with a primary focus on Persons with Disabilities (PWDs). Students are challenged to move landscape architecture beyond standard accessibility, drawing inspiration from the lived experiences of vulnerable groups to design spaces that foster belonging, empowerment, independent living, and community integration. By integrating multi-agency urban planning, ecological stewardship, and social policy, the studio encourages constructive engagement with Singapore’s ongoing master planning efforts.

Immersive site visits to the Enabling Village and Rainbow Centre ground these concepts in practice. At the Enabling Village, a sensory tour facilitated by Ludus Lab and led by their PWD guide, Brenda Khoo, offered invaluable firsthand insights into navigating the site, illuminating key spatial nuances, barrier-free mobility, and integrated assistive technologies. This experience prompted students to consider how such localized models can be scaled across HDB precincts, the wider city, and the nation. Meanwhile, the Rainbow Centre Admiralty Hill campus—located directly within the studio’s site boundary—offers immediate opportunities to study integration with surrounding communities. A comprehensive site survey of Sembawang further allowed students to analyze real-world terrain, heritage, and development constraints.

Special Thanks to Collaborators

Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), Physical Planning (North) Team:
Barnabas Sim, Claire Chong, Xia Wannuo, Mohammed Fahmy bin Razali

Rainbow Centre:
Jean Loo Qingwen, Jannice Lim Jiaxin, Adeline Chan Jiaping, Emmanuel Prabhu, K*m Kinfai

07/10/2026

MLA Options Studio Field Report
CALCULATED RESTORATION : Towards the purposeful and measured design of restorative landscapes of high-rise residential estates in Singapore

The Calculated Restoration field trips to the Singapore Botanic Gardens served as an integral component of the Master of Landscape Architecture option design studio led by tutor Ervine Lin. The studio seeks to redesign an existing high-rise public housing estate, with a focus on spaces that promote mental restoration. Two short but targeted field trips were made to the Singapore Botanic Gardens, where students explored restorative landscapes through lived experience.

From the onset, students were exposed to the various theories supporting the restorative benefits of nature exposure: attention restoration theory, the biophilia hypothesis, perceived sensory dimensions, therapeutic gardens, the contemplative landscape model, fractal geometries, and so on. However, literature cannot replace lived experience.

The first field trip was led by Dr. Angelia Sia, Deputy Director from NParks, who shared the strategies put forward to promote the salutogenic benefits of urban greening at the national scale, while introducing us to the Saraca Stream Nature Immersion Trail, Asia's first certified forest therapy trail.

The next was a forest bathing workshop led by Ms. Yap Youmin, a pioneer of Forest Therapy from Singapore, certified Nature and Forest Therapy Guide, and founder of Forest with You. Here, theories and public policies were left behind, giving way to purposeful slowing down and multi-sensory engagement with the natural elements around us. The goal is to let students understand for themselves how restoration feels, in order to better design spaces for it.

Special thanks to Collaborators:
Dr. Angelia Sia, NParks
Yap Youmin, Forest with You

06/10/2026

The Rainbow House field trip to Casa de Oxumarê in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, was an integral component of the Master of Landscape Architecture option design studio led by tutor Gareth Doherty. The studio focuses on Casa de Oxumarê—the House of the Energy of the Rainbow.

From September 19–26, 2026, students explored its highly designed landscape and the spatial and material principles transmitted across generations through ritual practice, observation, and engagement with the land.

Afro-Brazilian sacred groves, or terreiros, are landscapes where plants, buildings, rituals, deities, and generations of knowledge are brought into relation. They can be understood, in part, as combinations of urban farm and monastery, where nature is cultivated as an integral part of Afro-Brazilian spiritual life.

As Salvador expands and densifies, terreiros face increasing pressure and encroachment on their green areas, even as rituals extend into public spaces across the city. Through fieldwork and design, the studio addresses three interconnected challenges: stabilizing Casa de Oxumarê’s steep slopes; reconsidering the arrangement of its buildings and sacred spaces; and strengthening its relationship with the surrounding city over the next 100 years.

Rather than approaching Casa de Oxumarê simply as a site upon which to design, the studio asks what can be learned by designing with a landscape whose spatial knowledge has been cultivated across generations.

Special thanks to Collaborators：
Casa de Oxumarê ()
Moisés Lino e Silva, Federal University of Bahia ()
Camila Gomes Sant’Anna, University of Brasília ()
Bruna Azevedo, Federal University of Bahia
Fábio Velame, Federal University of Bahia (.fabio)
Adriano Mascarenhas, Sotero Architects ()
Aerial view. Photo by Leonardo Finotti ()

03/10/2026

Design excellence: Advance landscape design expertise through progressive studios that build critical inquiry, experimentation and authorship.

Critical and professional practice: Develop adaptable competencies through interdisciplinary learning, emerging technologies, research and practice.

Situated perspectives: Grounded in Singapore and SEA+, frame ambitious landscape questions and contribute transformative design propositions.

Admission:
https://cde.nus.edu.sg/arch/admission/master-of-landscape-architecture/

Scholarship,Fellowship:
https://cde.nus.edu.sg/arch/programmes/master-of-landscape-architecture/scholarships-awards-and-grants/

MLA Home:
https://cde.nus.edu.sg/arch/programmes/master-of-landscape-architecture/

24/08/2026

On August 13, 2026, the NUS Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) program hosted its annual Welcome Pizza Party at the SDE4 Rain Garden, bringing together incoming and continuing students, faculty members, and program leadership to inaugurate the new academic year.

Designed to foster an immediate sense of belonging and collaborative culture, this year’s event featured an interactive welcome installation. Incoming students engaged in creative self-introductions, sketching self-portraits, and exchanging peer aspirations, effectively bridging studio cohorts from day one.

A key highlight of the orientation was the official rollout of the MLA Peer Buddy Program. This mentorship initiative pairs each incoming first-year student with a senior MLA2 peer, providing personalized guidance, academic support, and insights into design studio culture.

06/08/2026

12/07/2026

The MLA Studio “Politics of Conservation” has been shortlisted for the World Landscape Architecture (WLA) University Studio Award world landscape architecture .

The studio demonstrates the wider MLA programme’s long-term dedication to addressing socio-ecological challenges in Southeast Asia, one of the world’s most critical and dynamic arenas for landscape architecture. Focusing on Northern Thailand, the “Politics of Conservation” studio explores culturally engaged conservation approaches within a region-specific context.

Students’ learning experiences unfold along four major landscape corridors situated at the forefront of ongoing cultural and natural conservation debates. Their final projects have been exhibited in major regional events, including a month-long show at the Lanna Architecture Center as part of the 2025 Chiang Mai Design Week, raising public awareness and stimulating dialogue about natural and cultural landscape conservation.

Instructor: Dr. Xiaoxuan Lu
Students: Shruthakeerthi Karthikeyan, Whaley Yi Wang, Jadel Zhang Xinyao, Shu Yao, Kejie Li, Ryan Chen Zhuoran, Emily Du Xinyang, Jiaying Chen, Vivian Qi Kexin, Yulia Zhou Yao, Lydia Li Mu

11/06/2026

BLA 4, MLA 1 Option Studio
Computational Waters
Final reviews showcased computational design approaches to water security in West Java’s headwaters, translating restoration strategies into measurable hydrological benefits through simulation, scientific rigor, and landscape imagination.

11/06/2026

BLA 4, MLA 1 Option Studio
Highland Tapestry
The projects in this studio examined the forest edge of Tanah Rata, translating ecological research, indigenous knowledge, and community engagement into regenerative landscape strategies for a more resilient and equitable future.

11/06/2026

BLA 4, MLA 1 Option Studio
Post Mega Games
The second rendition of this studio reimagined Tokyo’s former Olympic Village through landscape-led urban surgery, proposing targeted interventions that transformed post-Games challenges into resilient, adaptive, and socially productive futures.