As architecture is a discipline that combines ideas of habitation with material organisation, the architect is therefore necessarily a producer of both intellectual and material goods. The original definition of the architect as master builder makes clear the role of making as fundamental knowledge of architecture. Produce was born out of the need to bridge the disjunction between designer and fabricator/contractor where, especially for complex designs, this is often left to interpretation in a ‘broken telephone’ workflow. This results in, at best, a shadow of the original design intent, and at worst the first item to be value-engineered out due to overpricing for uncertainty.

Produce was thus established in 2013 with six people and a three-axis CNC milling machine in a factory-office space in Singapore’s Eunos area – a supplier/fabricator-rich industrial estate, and fertile ground for the ‘design and make’ trajectory that it was set on. Produce has since moved to Sungei Kadut Industrial Area, staying true to its roots – a design practice inseparable from fabrication, actualising ideas for the city through the design of objects, spaces and buildings.

By integrating the design studio with a workshop, Produce has the ability to test, experience and make proposals at a 1:1 scale with its precision prototyping machines. This forms an integral part of the design and evaluation process – an iterative loop that sieves out unworkable solutions and inefficiencies from the get-go of the design process. Many benefits come from shifting a substantial portion of the design process to the front; it is easier to swallow than delays and abortive work, and is thus reflected in the reduction of cost and uncertainty. But most importantly, it opens up possibilities for what can be done, especially for construction methods where there are no precedents.

Produce is not a studio built on established categories, but on the pursuit of discovery – searching for fertile grounds in the grey zones between craft and technology, phenomenology and parametricism, culture and economics. Produce operates at many scales, treating every project and material as something unique and worth rediscovering, ensuring relevance in an ever-changing society, taking ownership of modes of production, and pushing the progression of the industry as a whole.

Photography: Daniel Chia, Edward Hendricks and Derrick Lim.