Yale-NUS shines at Singapore Design Week 2023

Singapore Design Week 2023, held from 21 September to 1 October 2023, brought an explosion of creativity and colour across the city, with more than 80 events held based on the theme of ‘Better by Design’. Two members of the Yale-NUS community – Assistant Professor of Social Sciences (Urban Studies) Joshua Comaroff and  Yale-NUS alumnus Ishmam Ahmed (Class of 2023) – participated in this celebration of innovative, sustainable and inclusive design, reflecting Yale-NUS’s emphasis on ingenuity and interdisciplinary exploration.

Asst Prof Comaroff, an expert in the realms of innovation and design excellence took on the role of curator and presented an interactive showcase, FI&LD, at the LASALLE College of the Arts. The exhibition invites visitors to explore the state of practice in inclusive design, offering a window into the future of design where accessibility and inclusivity reign supreme, It highlighted many exemplary inclusive design projects from Singapore and around the world.

Lekker Architects – a studio co-founded by Asst Prof Comaroff – recently clinched the prestigious President*s Design Award (P*DA) for their groundbreaking work, Hack Care: Tips and Tricks for a Dementia-friendly Home. The book offers a variety of strategies for hacking residential furniture, products, and spaces in ways that will make them more supportive for people with dementia and their caregivers. This recognition underscores the exceptional caliber of talent within the Yale-NUS community.

In an interview in The Straits Times about the concept behind FI&LD, Asst Prof Comaroff highlighted that the showcase enabled designers to start conversations about inclusivity not just as a social initiative, but also as an “adventure” in researching human experiences and enabling more meaningful interactions. He emphasised the need to pay attention to the diversity of users in order to create more complex and thoughtful design solutions that are accessible to everyone. He added that “creating an inclusive space does not only involve architecture, but all aspects that influence the way people experience their lives in the built environment.”

Exhibit curated by Asst Prof Comaroff, featuring Ishmam Ahmed’s display in the top right corner. Photo by Don Wong.

Meanwhile, the spotlight was also on Yale-NUS alumnus Ishmam Ahmed (Class of 2023). His final year capstone project in Yale-NUS, titled ’Mind the Gap: Accommodating Neurodiversity in Singapore’s MRT’ was featured as part of FI&LD, and centres on accommodating neurodiversity in Singapore’s Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system.

Ishmam has always been interested in how the built environment has the potential to care for and improve the lives of its inhabitants. At Yale-NUS, he was able to explore this altruistic dimension of design, and better understand the people he wanted to design for, through opportunities such as working the Yale-NUS Accessibility Maps and during his Yale-NUS coordinated internship in Bangkok just last year, where he had the opportunity to design an inclusive playground for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

“Through my many school and summer projects, I had the opportunity to explore how inclusive and mindful design could improve the lives of a range of users. These included senior citizens, migrant workers, birds and urban animals, minorities living in ethnic enclaves, wheelchair users, and children on the spectrum – users whose needs are often disregarded in the construction of space.”

His capstone project on the needs of neurodivergent users of public space was a continuation of this interest in the inclusive potential of design. This time however, the inspiration was more personal. Ishmam shared, “I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in September 2022, so I chose to represent neurodivergent individuals with ADHD and ASD because I realised I was in a unique position to have an insider’s perspective of how spaces can exclude us – and I just wanted to expand that through research.” He wanted to use his capstone project as an opportunity to better understand the needs of people like him, and raise awareness for such conditions.

Ishmam Ahmed (Class of 2023) with his exhibit at Singapore Design Week, which ran from 21 September to 1 October 2023. Photo by Ishmam Ahmed.

Through his capstone project, Ishmam hoped to bridge the huge gap that currently exists between disability discourse and design practice, with the project culminating in a series of proposals and design recommendations to enable a more inclusive transit experience for all.

Ishmam expressed his gratitude for the ways in which Yale-NUS supported his work, by giving him the tools to critically examine and challenge how things are “the way they are”, and imagine how things could instead be. “Assistant Professor Comaroff is a big inspiration, and he has had a huge impact on my work and even the way I think about inclusive design. He’s a big player in Singapore’s inclusive design space (his firm designed the first inclusive school, and the first quiet/sensory room in Singapore) – and just having the opportunity to work with him on two Summer Research Projects in my first and second year have steered me right to this area of research,” said Ishmam.

As Singapore Design Week continues to captivate design enthusiasts from around the world each year, the contributions of Asst Prof Joshua Comaroff and Yale-NUS alumnus Ishmam Ahmed stand as shining examples of the College’s commitment to innovation, inclusivity, and the power of design to transform lives, serving as a testament to the potential that emerges when the worlds of academia and creativity collide.