WAIC Welcomed International Students from UNC for a Workshop on Water Architecture and Climate Resilience

On Friday, 5 June 2026, the Water Adaptation Innovation Center (WAIC), Faculty of Architecture, RMUTT, welcomed a group of international students and staff from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as part of an academic exchange and workshop program organized in collaboration with Yunus Thailand Foundation.

The activity focused on the topic of Water Architecture and Climate Resilience, introducing participants to adaptive design approaches and innovative strategies for responding to water-related challenges in urban environments. During the lecture session, WAIC shared perspectives on flood resilience, climate adaptation, and the relationship between architecture, infrastructure, and water systems in Thailand.

As part of the workshop, participants were guided through several ongoing research and innovation projects developed by WAIC and the Faculty of Architecture. These included the Underground Rainwater Storage System and the WaterCube prototype, which demonstrate practical approaches toward flood mitigation, water retention, and resilient urban infrastructure.

The group also visited various facilities within the faculty and research center, including:

* WAIC Research Center

* 3D Printing and Digital Fabrication Room

* Woodworking and Prototype Workshop Space

* Other creative learning and experimentation facilities

The visit created an opportunity for knowledge exchange between international students, researchers, and faculty members, while encouraging discussion on future collaboration in the fields of architecture, sustainability, and climate adaptation. WAIC would like to thank all participants, collaborators, and supporting organizations for making this activity successful and meaningful.

Amphibious Urbanism: Toward the Future of Resilient Design

This book emerges from the international summer program “Amphibious Transformation by Design,” a collaborative initiative bringing together students and faculty from Thailand, Indonesia, and the Netherlands to confront one of the most urgent challenges of our time:

“How can cities learn to live with water?”

Through joint studio work, field investigations, and cultural exchange, students from Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi (RMUTT), Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS), Indonesia, and King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT) collectively explored urban areas vulnerable to flooding. They proposed design approaches that transcend the conventional boundaries between “land” and “water.” Guided by faculty members from diverse disciplines, their work forms the foundation of this book.

Amphibious Urbanism introduces a new paradigm of urban design—one that does not view water as an obstacle, but as an “agent of transformation.” Through adaptive infrastructure, floating spaces, participatory design processes, and policy-oriented tools for urban management, the book offers a conceptual framework for creating cities that are not only resilient to crisis, but also regenerative, inclusive, and vibrant. Drawing on case studies from Southeast Asia and the Netherlands, the book serves as an invitation to action for designers, planners, and decision-makers to collaboratively shape a future in which amphibious living—coexisting with water—becomes a source of identity, innovation, and urban strength in the contemporary era.

Now Available: Amphibious Urbanism

Price: 950 THB

Shipping not included

Limited copies available

The book can be ordered via Facebook page:   Water Adaptation Innovation Center.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17tAgoAEyv/

RMUTT Builds on Award-Winning Success Toward Real-World Application

The Institute of Research and Development, Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi (RMUTT) extends its congratulations to the research team from the Faculty of Architecture, under the Water Adaptation Innovation Center (WAIC).

On 3 February 2026, the WAIC project was selected as one of five outstanding prototype teams with strong potential to further develop their innovation for real-world application. The selection was made from 50 gold medal–winning innovation teams from the IPITEx (Thailand Inventors’ Day & International Intellectual Property, Invention, Innovation and Technology Exposition) that participated in an intensive development process. As a result, the team received continuation funding of 50,000 THB to further advance their innovation.

This achievement took place under the Post IPITEx Innovation Acceleration Program, themed
“Advancing IPITEx Award-Winning Innovations Toward Practical Implementation,”
held as part of the event “February 2 – Inventors’ Day @ NRCT” at Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat Conference Room, NRCT Building 1.

The program aims to nurture award-winning innovations to achieve technological readiness and enable practical application, both commercially and socially. This is accomplished through a hands-on learning process, including workshops, Project-Based Learning (PBL), user-centered understanding through empathy-based design, as well as Technology Readiness Level (TRL) assessments and gap analysis to systematically prepare innovations for further development and scaling.

This initiative therefore represents a “prototype of success” in effectively translating research and innovation outcomes into tangible real-world use.