Design Act's Finalist Proposal for Singapore World Expo Pavilion

Singapore-based design firm Design Act was a finalist in the competition for the World Expo 2010 Singapore Pavilion organized by the Singapore Tourism Board (for the winning pavilion design by Kay Ngee Tan Architects, click here).

Titled “MY DREAM, OUR VISION”, Design Act’s competition entry uses permutated cubes to generate a spectacular sculpture that is visually stunning and celebrative.

Synonymous with Singapore being efficient, dynamic, cosmopolitan, forward looking, simultaneously futuristic and traditional, the Singapore spirit: 新 (xin, mandarin word for “new”) serves as a key metaphor that relates to the entire spectrum of connotations, associating Singapore 新加坡 (xin jia bo, Singapore’s mandarin name) with being progressive, re-inventive and innovative.

The pavilion is made of an illuminated digital cloud hovering over an ever-changing “green” pasture. It invites you to enter a dark underground space with audio feeds alluding to the background services which serve the city, and catapults you into the bright and white digital cloud, where you are encouraged to post your dreams. Made of 3866 cubes of modular sizes with varying levels of transparency, the pavilion is strategically sloped at the base to allow visitors to experience the ritual of making their dreams becoming a reality.

About the proposed Singapore Pavilion

The Singapore Pavilion at the World Exposition 2010 is driven to present Singapore as the perfect example of a city that holds all the possibilities of transforming the lives of everyone who comes in contact with it. The Pavilion’s key objective is to offer Singapore both as a city of possibilities and a city of dreams and vision. As much as it can transform lives, this city of dreams and vision can embody the idea of possibilities only in as much as lives transform it.

The Pavilion shows the sides of a City that is continually driven by progressive change. This is brought under the umbrella of the powerful trans-lingual word that is also representative of the Singapore spirit: It includes Singapore’s human side, its pulse and excitement, opportunities and achievements. 新.

Visitors to the Pavilion do not merely visit it; they participate in it to make dreams happen. This is very much like the experience of being in Singapore itself. The idea of activity emphasizes the dynamism and vitality of a unique Singaporean experience. Here, the emphasis is on human interactions and connections as the city’s driving force, and that these are already the fabric of a city very much alive to the rubric of sustainability.

The physical structure of the Singapore Pavilion stands out from its surrounding by being designed to look like a cloud, which is closely associated with various dream-like qualities. It has three levels: a sub-level (basement), a ground-level Plaza, and a mezzanine level inside the Pavilions cloud-crown.

It will contain 8 separate chambers of experience, all of which converge to allow the narrative of the Singapore Story to come alive:

The Tunnel
in a journey through the city’s hidden side

The Dream Maker
collective dream-making

Transition through Cloud
and through a sequence of collected dreams

Dream Register
multi-media/sensory interpretation of Singaporean’s dreams

Wishing Tunnel
visitors share their dreams with the world

Dream-harvester
a digital rain experience

Space Warper
disorientates to transit between dream and reality

Green Pasture
the green pasture

A city is organic, made alive by its inhabitants. A living city is the cumulative product of the soul, spirit and experience of its participants. A city of possibilities is an extended identity of the collective aspirations, memories, and dreams of all who live in it, work in it and play in it. Its vitality is a microcosm of the world.

The city is human. The city is SINGAPORE.

About Design Act
Since its inception in 1989, the firm’s belief in the creative process is the reinforcement of synthesizing work-process with multi-disciplinary involvement.

The firm’s works have been featured locally and internationally in the fashionable pages of ISH, Hinge, Interiors (Taipei) and Space magazine. It has also been selected by URA in the `20 under 40’ promising young architects list contributing to Singapore’s architectural and design developments with World Exposition 2005 in Aichi Japan for the Singapore Pavilion and Asia’s biggest nightspot; St James Power Station. As a firm that embraces arts & culture, our designers’ works are shown in the NOKIA art festival, Alliance Francaise and Plastic Kinetic Worms.

Team of Design Act
Randy Chan
Linda Koay
Lee MayAnne
Alexandra Seno
Paul Chang
Kwah Meng Ching
Lim Lee Ching

Project Team
10 Twenty-Eight
Black Design Pte Ltd
Design Act Pte Ltd
Fabulux Pte Ltd
ICON Engineers LLP
KPK Quantity Surveyors
TEP Consultants Pte Ltd

Images: Design Act