Thesis Supervisory Panels as the New Design Studio Paradigm in UTM Master of Architecture Programme

Abstract

The UTM’s M.Arch programme revitalized its Design Studio programme, also known as the Architectural Design Thesis (ADT), when it introduced the Thesis Supervisory Panel system in 2013. Developed as an expansion from the preceding 5-year B.Arch and 3+3 Integration programme, the ADT expanded the previous 2-stage final year Design Studio spanning over two semesters into four, introducing the TSP, implementing the vertical studio and allowing students to choose their own paths. The programme was developed from the Workbase system, a hands-on, master-led Design Studio approach influenced by Ecole des Beaux Arts and Bauhaus. The authors intend to tell the story of the programme and its changes throughout the years. This paper records the growth and development of the TSPs in the M.Arch programme, tracing its origin in the Workbase practiced since the 1980s with data collected from the Thesis Coordinator’s files, departmental publications and documentations and have been organized in a simple narrative. By framing the narrative on the back story of the TSPs, the paper offer better understanding on the inner workings of the UTM M.Arch studio programme  and encourages improving and strengthening the established system and opens up new studies that could enrich and diversify it further.