Sam Conrad Joyce
Director and Lab Founder

Sam has extensive experience in practice and research, having worked as an Associate at Foster + Partners primarily as part of the Applied Research and Development Team, developing novel architecture and engineering interfaces for design whilst working on a number of high profile projects, including Apple Campus, Bloomberg HQ London, and the New Mexico City Airport. Before that working at the intersection between structural engineering and computational design at engineering firm Buro Happold.

His doctoral research which has been carried out at the University of Bath Architecture Department and the University of Bristol Systems Centre focuses on the application of novel computing to explore and optimise design space in design and engineering practice. Currently he is an Associate Professor with a joint appointment with Architecture and Sustainable Design (ASD), and Design and Artificial Intelligence (DAI).


Nazim Ibrahim
Senior Researcher
Computational Designer

Nazim has more than five years of experience as a researcher. Previously he has worked at the Centre for Sustainable Asian Cities (CSAC) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) as a Research Associate where he contributed to several major research projects and undertook multiple projects as a freelance consultant.

His work focuses on the use of parametric tools and computational workflows in the exploration and evaluation of various design related issues. He earned his Masters in Architecture from NUS where he explored the use of parametric tools and digital fabrication technologies at various stages of design. He is a firm believer that computation design should be employed extensively to resolve the complex issues faced by design and architecture. He currently works as a Senior Researcher in the Meta Design Lab, exploring web frameworks in creating generative design environments.


Stefan Tuchen
Senior Researcher
Airport Experience & Architecture

Despite being an architect by training, Stefan continuously centres his work on the intersections with other disciplines. He moves seamlessly between theory and philosophy, social sustainability, strategic planning, among others, to drive user-centric designs of all scales and categories—be it built-environment, processes, services, or technologies.

Stefan graduated with a master’s in architecture, specialising in airport planning and design, from the Technische Universität (TU) Braunschweig. He worked with architectural firms in Germany and Singapore before taking on a position at SUTD, where he now heads Airport Experience research, as part of Meta Design Lab.


Hong T. A. Nguyen
Research Fellow
Urban and Transportation Planning, Travel Behavior Analysis

Hong NGUYEN is a Research Fellow at SUTD, as part of Meta Design Lab. Her current research project focuses on airport users’ experience and behavior to support the goal of improving a premium traveler experience.

She received her Ph.D. in Urban and Transportation Planning from Hiroshima University (Japan). Previously she worked at Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering (Hiroshima University) as a researcher where she contributed to some research projects related to urban public transport, travel time expenditure, natural disaster management and big data, autonomous vehicles. Her research interests are urban and transportation planning, travel behavior analysis, behavioral science, data science, GIS, and sustainability.


Rima Hazra
Research Fellow
Machine Learning, NLP, Information Retrieval

Rima is a senior research fellow at Singapore University of Technology and Design working with Dr. Soujanya Poria and Dr. Sam Conrad Joyce. She has obtained her PhD from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. During the PhD, she worked under the guidance of Prof. Animesh Mukherjee and Prof. Bibhas Adhikari.

Her main research interest lies in intersection of information retrieval, natural language processing, large language models, machine learning and complex networks. At IIT Kharagpur she was a member of Complex Network Research Group (CNeRG).


Henry Lim
Research Assistant
Machine Learning, Analytics

Henry is a graduate from SUTD as part of the Engineering Systems and Design Pillar. He has an interest in field of business and data analytics. With experience applying, analytics, machine learning, and LLM's to government and industry projects in both commercial and research settings.


Kyaw (Clifford) Zwathant
Research Assistant
Data Visualization, Health and Architecture

Clifford is a Master of Architecture graduate from Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). His master thesis project explores the domestication of healthcare in collaboration with Changi General Hospital (CGH).

He was once an intern for the Meta Design Lab during his undergraduate studies and performed visualization works for the Lab. His interest lies in population health, visualizations, data analytics and urban planning.


Amelia Tan
Research Assistant
Urban Science, Planning, and Wellness

Amelia is a graduate of the Masters of Urban Science, Policy and Planning (MUSPP) course in SUTD, completing a study on pedestrianisation in Tiong Bahru for her thesis through a participatory methodology. With previous experience as a research assistant in NUS and a background in Nursing (BSc, NUS), her interest lies in the intersection of the environment and health, and more broadly well-being in urban settings.

Currently working as a Research Assistant in Meta Design Lab, she is curious about data storytelling and how spaces can be better planned and designed to support a sustainable and healthy future.


Shreyas Kumar
Research Assistant
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Shreyas is a computer engineering graduate with a specialisation in Large Scale Data Systems. His background currently lies in applied machine learning for Internet of Things, but he also has applied experience in image processing, computer vision and working with time series data. He has a keen interest in applying AI solutions to the fields of medicine, engineering and am passionate about helping individuals understand the insights from data through story telling.


Jiajie Dong
Research Assistant
Machine Learning, Large Language Models

Jiajie is a graduate with a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science and Design. He works on applying machine learning to projects. Specifically using Large Language Models and other ML methods to new data sets.


Khushbu Maheshwary
Senior Research Assistant
Digital Fabrication, Product Innovation and Airport Experience

Khushbu is a member of the Airport Experience Project team. Her involvement encompassing activities conducting detailed data collection to extracting insightful analyses for product development.She is lead product hardware developer. Her work involves crafting solutions that are not only technologically advanced but also user-centric, ensuring a seamless and enjoyable journey for travelers.

Holding a master's degree in Innovation by Design from SUTD. She has collaborated with multiple research labs in IIT Guwahati, IISC Bengaluru, IDC-SUTD, and IDC-MIT. Her contributions span a wide range of ground breaking projects, such as enhancing hand mobility in young students, improving disaster reporting and management systems, innovating in food waste management, and advancing spatial intelligence.


PhD Students


Juan David Salazar
PhD Candidate

Juan David earned a B.Sc in Civil Engineering from the National University of Colombia and a M.Sc in Civil Engineering and Management from National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan. As a civil engineer, he gained experience in structural design for small-scale buildings. And contributed to road projects in Colombia, working with both the hydraulic and hydrology teams to design drainage systems.

His master's research focused on leveraging Virtual Reality (VR) technology to enhance the design process, particularly in creating more flexible and reconfigurable spaces through the integration of robotic furniture in small condominiums. His interests centre around the application of new digital technologies in the built environment, with the aim of designing spaces that are not only more sustainable but also embrace principles of circularity, flexibility, and adaptability.


Xin Wang
PhD Candidate

Xin Wang received her M.Arch. Degree from the Architectural Association London. She worked on different scales and types of projects that focusing on structure, material, details etc. She was also consultant for BIG Architects, tackling parametric façade design for the Astana National Library project.


Alumni Students


Yvonne Wong
PhD Graduate

After obtaining her MSc in Advanced Structural Engineering at Imperial College London in 2015, Yvonne returned to Singapore to practice as an engineer for 3 years. Her practical experience and involvement in a wide range of projects in Singapore led to her understanding and interest in the design workflow and process of the construction industry. She hopes that her PhD work can streamline and improve this design process, bringing value to the built environment she is passionate about.


Verina Cristie
PhD Graduate

Verina’s background is computer science with specialisation in computer graphics, visualisation, and game development. She received her Master’s Degree in Digital Media Technology from the School of Computer Engineering in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in 2014 under ASEAN graduate scholarship program.

Pursuing her passion in design, architecture, and urbanism, she did internship on lighting control system user interface in Berkeley Education Alliance Research Singapore and research assistantship in SEC’s Future Cities Laboratory on utilising gaming technology for urban exploration. Currently she is working towards a PhD with the Meta Design Lab seeking to understand the intersection between computational design and human initiatives in the web infrastructures. For more information about Verina’s work, visit https://creativerina.wordpress.com


Collaborators, Previous Members, and Affiliates


Aana Agrawal
Affiliate – Previous Research Assistant – Planning and Urban Analysis

Aanal is now a pioneering Net Zero Manager at PwC, supporting companies transition to more sustainable aviation strategies.

Aana is an experienced transdisciplinary urban researcher, toolmaker, and parametric designer, with key focus on how to develop built environments that supports change and adaptation. Her work focuses on developing conceptual, methodological and operational, as well as spatial frameworks that can highlight the role of airport systems to urban development beyond the cities. She worked extensively on the future of Airports Project whilst at Meta Design Lab.

Aana graduated with master’s in urban planning from National University of Singapore with a thesis on Aerotropolis – The Age of New Urbanism; followed by Asian Masters of Urbanism from Tongji University, China. Earlier, she has worked as an Urban Planner at CPG Corporation Pvt. Ltd and was a research assistant at National University of Singapore.


Bianchi Dy
Affiliate – Previous Senior Research Assistant – Analytics and Data Vis

Bianchi now studies at MIT working on a Masters in City Planning.

She worked as a at the lab from 2018 to 2023. Focusing on data visualisation, analytics, and assistive AI projects. Her interests lie in the development of decision support and design exploration tools for architects, urban planners, and engineers.

Bianchi’s background is originally in Environmental Engineering. She obtained her bachelor’s degree at Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) under the Singapore Cooperation Programme. Her previous work involved the front-end development of a Rhinoceros API and a Grasshopper plug-in for the sortal grammar Interpreter, a computational engine for architectural and urban planning shape grammars.


Ahmed Meeran
Affiliate – Previous Research Assistant – Generative Design & AI

Ahmed now works in commercial R and D company ST Engineering, working on future Satellite Image Processing using AI.

He worked worked in the Meta Design Lab first as a Graduate Student of the SUTD M.Eng programme of Innovation by Design (MIbD) from 2019 to 2021. And then as a Researcher from 2021 to 2023, applying AI, analytics, and generative design to Digital Twin proejcts, as we well as the future of aviation. Ahmed also holds a degree from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT KGP) in Architecture (Hons.) and minored in Economics (Hons.).

His interests lie in sustainability and policy planning for the design of new age urban settlements. With a diverse and a multi-disciplinary skillset, Ahmed aims to solve some of the key challenges in the confluence of these important domains. Ahmed supports this with skills in design computation, product engineering, analytics, statistics, and data visualisation. Ahmed is also a keen geography enthusiast. www.demiahmed.tech


Meriky Lo-Alexander
Affiliate – Previous Research Assistant – Social Science Health and Urbanism

Meriky now is pursuing a PhD in architecture and planning at The University of Auckland

She worked for the lab during 2023. Focusing on researching urban analytics across domains such as urban wellness, mass transport, and citizen agent engagement. Exploring the use of qualitative and qualitative data for objective and subjective insights.


Partners

Some of our valued collaborators:



Work with us

If you have an interesting project or proposal we'd love to hear from you and see how we can collaborate together.
Please e-mail : sam_joyce [at] sutd.edu.sg


Work for us

We're always looking for talented people. If you think you have the right mix of tech and design know how get in touch. We are actively looking for good researcher and PhD candidates.
Please e-mail : sam_joyce [at] sutd.edu.sg


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© META Design Lab
Singapore University of Technology and Design, 8 Somapah Rd, Singapore, 487372
T: +65 6499 7454   E: sam_joyce [at] sutd.edu.sg