Freedom to Learn and Independent Campus (Merdeka Belajar- Kampus Merdeka or MBKM) was established by Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud) in 2020, creating challenges for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). HEIs needs adaptation strategies to set up and implement the program. This article aims to discuss the adaptation strategies to be consider by HEIs in order to implement participative and collaborative learning for the new curriculum framework, especially in design-based study program for architecture major. Data collection method was done by survey, distributed questionnaires, interviewing the curriculum executant, and literature study. Data analysis was carried out using quantitative distributive method for questionnaires and qualitative textual analysis for interview data. As the result, there are five adaptation strategies found. They are (1) identifying similar program that already been conducted, (2) giving students freedom to choose by providing variation of program, (3) constructing a set of devices to perform the new curriculum, (4) integrating program funding with funder, and (5) starting simple activitties.