Pour&Ponder: Why Buildings Aren't Real

🗓️: Friday, 16th Oct 2026

🕡: Doors open at 7:00 PM

📍: Alma House Lobby Lounge

Are buildings real? They are made of materials (like concrete and wood and glass) and appear to us as straightforward facts in the world. But what if this presumption is untrue?

Join us as we explore the unexpected links between a range of subjects, Singapore’s ghosts, professional wrestling, disability, and the topological models of Jacques Lacan, to explore the possibility that our architectures are, at root, hallucinogenic fictions.

What to expect

45-minute keynote.

Curated Q&A & discussion. Share your “aha” moments and trade insights with other guests.

Drinks. Kick back with a glass of wine or beer, or opt for a non-alcoholic option—tea, coffee, and soft drinks available.

Our lead speaker will be Joshua Comaroff. Educated at Amherst, Harvard, and UCLA, Joshua is a cultural geographer and practicing designer. He is Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture at NUS and co-founder of Lekker Architects, a practice that merges design with social science to explore new typologies in inclusion and “affective” architectures. Joshua is the co-author of Horror in Architecture (Minnesota, 2023), and author of Spectropolis: The Enchantment of Capital in Singapore (Minnesota, 2025).

Pour & Ponder is a roving lecture-over-drinks series, blending passionate ideas from experts with fun drinks to spark discussions beyond campus walls.