JOHOR BAHRU, Oct 14 – The Faculty of Built Environment and Surveying (FABU) at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) hosted a two-day international collaboration with the SASI Creative School of Architecture (SCSA) from India on 7 to 8th October 2025 at the UTM Johor Bahru campus. This event was another milestone in the UTM-SCSA Twinning Collaboration, an academic partnership aimed at promoting global design thinking, intercultural learning, and academic exchange among architecture students.
This event marks the fifth year of collaboration between both institutions. A total of 35 participants from SCSA took part, including 34 second-year Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch) students and one faculty coordinator, Ar. M. Arun Shankar. The delegation began their visit to UTM with a guided tour of the FABU Student Gallery and Design Studios, where they were introduced to the works and learning culture of UTM architecture students. The visit continued with a meet-and-greet session with the Dean of FABU and the Head of Department of Architecture, who welcomed the SCSA representatives and discussed future collaborative initiatives between UTM and SCSA.
The visit focused on hands-on learning and knowledge sharing between the two institutions. Participants engaged in a series of lectures, workshops, and collaborative studio sessions to explore the intersection of observation, design empathy, and contextual creativity. The first lecture, “Psychology of Colour and Sensory Experience in Kindergarten Design,” by Ar. Ts. Hanis Nazurah Abu Hassan, encouraged participants to design learning environments for early childhood by incorporating colour psychology, playful spaces, and sensory exploration. This connected human emotion with design intentions.
The second lecture, “Design Begins with Observation – Connecting History, People and Place”, by Dr. ‘Adila Zakaria taught students that meaningful design starts with awareness. They learnt about reading behaviours, emotions, and relationships between people and their surroundings. The session helped them understand how observation becomes the first act of empathy; they bridge the gap between seeing and creating.
In the following workshop, students participated in a creative design session: “Exploring Playful Learning Spaces”. Through this workshop, participants were guided by facilitators from UTM architecture students in designing a learning space in kindergarten that incorporated the input from the lecture series. The “Design Swap” activity, where UTM and SASI students exchanged project ideas and developed each other’s concepts, was a highlight of the program. This activity allowed students to reinterpret their partner’s design by adding cultural insights, creativity, and empathy, which reflected the spirit of global design collaboration.
The Department of Architecture, FABU, coordinated the programme with support from UTM International (UTMI). According to the Head of Department, Assoc. Prof. Ar. Dr. Lim Yaik Wah, the collaboration shows UTM’s commitment to fostering design awareness that goes beyond borders.
“This initiative not only strengthens academic partnership but also builds empathy, creativity, and cross-cultural understanding among the students from different countries.”
The two-day programme concluded with a certificate presentation and a group photo session, marking another successful step toward long-term academic collaboration between UTM and SCSA. Through initiatives like this, UTM continues to strengthen its role as a global technology university, promoting design education that is inclusive, sustainable, and connected internationally.
Source: UTM NewsHub