President’s Design Award 2007
Esplanade Concert Hall, Singapore.
27 November 2007
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TAXI Design Network's Event Coverage crew attended The President’s Design Award, held at Singapore’s Esplanade Concert Hall on 27 November 2007.
Into its second year, the distinguished honor acknowledges local design talents and their iconic works that have made a mark in the international design scene.
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The President’s Design Award got phunk’d this year.
Alongside Singapore’s top design luminaries, visual maverick :phunk studio held court at the prestigious ceremony, where eminent achievements across seven disciplines were duly recognized with the President’s Design Award, Singapore’s highest accolade accorded to designs and designers whose contributions have made a great impact on the art, design, cultural and urban landscape of Singapore.
The Award comprises two categories: Designers of the Year recognizes individuals based on body of works and contribution while Design of the Year is awarded to specific design projects.
An international jury of four specialist panels covers the different disciplines under the vast design umbrella. The 15 members include Mrs. Cheong-Chua Koon Hean, CEO of Urban Redevelopment Authority (Singapore); Mr. Toyo Ito, founder of Toyo Ito & Associates (Japan), Architects; Mr. Arnold Wasserman, chairman of The Idea Factory (San Francisco/Singapore); Prof. Peter Zec, president of International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID), red dot GmbH & Co. KG and Design Zentrum and professor for Business Communications, University of Applied Sciences Berlin (Germany); Mr. Don Ryun Chang, president-elect of International Council of Graphic Design Association (ICOGRADA) and department chair of Visual Communications Design in Hongik University (Korea) as well as Mr. Simon Waterfall, president of D&AD (UK).
This year, 14 acclaimed individuals and designs (seven from each category) encompassing Architecture & Urban Design; Exhibition Design; Fashion Design; Interior Design; Landscape Design; Product & Industrial Design and Visual Communication received the award this year. Only nine recipients were honored last year.
Director of DesignSingapore Council Dr. Milton Tan sees this as a shining testament of Singapore’s design fraternity’s impact on global design. He believes that its strategic position will catapult Singapore into a key international design capital that will nurture an innovative, yet culturally diverse, design community with distinctive design perspectives. “Singapore has a good design base, this coupled with growing design awareness offers opportunities for collaboration with international partners.”
If the President’s Design Award is a declaration of the significance Singapore design has on the global arena, the mark of excellence also makes a statement of the city’s growing recognition of the influence and values of design that presents an edge for business and national competitiveness, like Philips Singapore Learning Centre, one of the winners of Design of the Year.
The centre facilitates the user’s learning process in an environment designed for interaction between people and Philips’ extensive range of medical devices. Designer Low Cheaw Hwei’s clever execution mirrors Philips’ philosophy of capturing the essence of contemporary design through a minimalist approach that abolishes conventional space-consumers like waiting hall and auditorium. Under the magical luminosity of specially designed lamps, a new spatial realm opens up an experience that encourages smoother interaction between users and their environment.
LOOK Architects’ attention is focused on details. For Bishan Community Library, Look Boon Gee and his team overcame a modest budget and program to inject a dose of delightful details — semi-public/private spaces for reading, splayed treatment of the east wall windows, graphics and carpet design — into the deceptively simple-looking structure, preserving a commitment to good design with virtuosity.
Residential building 1 Moulmein Rise demonstrates WOHA’s clarity of thinking throughout the planning and construction stages. From how the building engages the ground to its command of the skyline, designers Wong Mun Summ and Richard Hassell and their team proved that intelligent architecture and urban design can create excellent living spaces in high-rise residential towers. The jury is impressed with how design is resolved holistically and within context and feels that WOHA has set an extremely high quality benchmark for future projects with the highly sophisticated 1 Moulmein Rise.
Kay Ngee Tan Architects changed an ordinary bookstore and in the process, transformed the consumer experience. Tan Kay Ngee and his team beckon shoppers to experience a whole new shopping concept at PageOne Bookstore at Vivocity with Matisse-like white fluid shapes floating on the ceiling. With each step they take, shelves of various heights and sizes, housing a sea of books, publications and paraphernalia, lead them on a path that opens up to a breathtaking view of the harbor front.
The Finger Players captivated audience with an installation-cum-stage performance that provokes viewers to rethink the meaning of design in a metaphysical way. Designer Lim Wei Ling and her team hung from batons are countless strings with cans are attached to the ends. When a performer pulls a can, he lifts up another can attached to the other end of the thread, revealing special messages. Through an intertwined network of accidents and inevitability, the players begin to establish relationships with one another, a reflection of the lives in the contemporary world.
Pediguard™ is another human-centered approach that employs rigorous problem analysis and intelligent use of materials and technology to develop a smart hand drill for spinal surgery. Back ailment is the most common universal medical condition. As one of the medical procedures performed most frequently, it also has one of the highest failure rates because misplaced screws end up in soft tissue or nerve tissue instead of the spinal bone. Ulrich Schraudolph of PSB Technologies Pte Ltd guides the surgeon to the correct position by electronically sensing tissue density through the Pediguard™.
Design isn’t all radical innovation with technological breakthrough or new venture entrepreneurship. The Dell 966 All-In-One Photo Printer is proof that sometimes, it’s simply a constant, progressive improvement of existing products. Michael Ellis Smith and his team redefined a piece of office equipment and turned it into a sleek, multi-purpose consumer appliance you would want to see in your home by paying special attention to user interface interaction design.
Just as steadfast, Casey Gan and Lim Swe Ting of Cicada Pte Ltd have been producing consistent, high quality landscape designs. As the undisputed recipients of the Designer of the Year, their meticulous attention to detail — right down to the texture of the pavement — have left a deep impression on the jury.
Mok Wei Wei of W Architects Pte Ltd is highly regarded for his sensitive approach and strong technical abilities. His body of work throughout these 25 years characterizes thoughtfulness, introspection and precise articulation, and he drew the jury’s fascination with his designs, which could be radical and contextual at the same time with examples such as the poetic sequence of spaces within a family home and the bold incision into a monument to reveal the National Museum dome.
Lim Sau Hoong is another high achiever, garnering creative accolades the likes of Clio, One Show and D&AD awards. Her versatility is evident in the myriad of projects for prominent companies like McDonald’s, Song Ericsson, Electrolux, Carrier, CapitaLand and China CCTV. Her works bear a signature style that is serene, sophisticated and never fails to stir the innermost human emotions. The jury sees her as an international storyteller and a great ambassador for Singapore design.
As the first Singaporean in the nation’s history to design the entire series of circulating notes, Eng Siak Loy, hailed as a Grand Master, has a long and successful career, punctuated with numerous exhibitions and awards many would be envious of. This award not only acknowledges the artist’s dedication and his legacy of work for future generations; it pays tribute to the thriving tradition of arts and crafts in a digital design-inundated city.
Andrew Gn might not have been able to accept his award in person, but he is certainly not one to miss the spotlight. The prolific designer has been making waves on fashion catwalks in Paris, Milan, Tokyo and New York. His eponymous labels, well-loved by high profile clientele which includes Celine Dion and Jessica de Rothschild, sells in more than 90 boutiques and departments stores worldwide. The jury sees in his achievements a symbol of emerging individuality that epitomizes the confidence of Singapore fashion designers in developing their distinctive styles.
Blessed with an instinctive nose for entrepreneurship, Ban Yinh Jheow dreamt up Stikfas (the concept of Stick and Fasten) and made history with a cult phenomenon: Stikfas Pte Ltd is the first Singapore design company to co-brand and outward-license its products to major international companies that includes Electronic Arts, Hasbro and Tomy. The jury cites Stikfas as an inspirational exemplar of innovation, technology and development, a delightful surprise in an 8cm tall modular figure.
Jackson Tan, Alvin Tan, Melvin Chee and William Chan have been flying the Singapore flag sky high in the international design arena since the inception of :phunk studio in 1996. To the jury, the dynamic multi-disciplinary design firm exemplifies a fresh new visual energy in local design scene with its intelligent aesthetics and impressive diversity in visual communication projects spanning graphic design publications to audio-visual graphic installations.
Besides keeping Singapore’s finger on the pulse of groundbreaking design, the group has been busy putting homegrown creative talent on the global map of recognition.
Looking at the list of recipients, each a visionary in their right, Singapore is right on track to build a new generation of design-conscious citizens and a nation where the unpredictable vibrancy of design is valued and celebrated.
Design fever has hit Singapore and it doesn’t look like it will subside any time soon. Prof. Don Ryun Chang’s says it all: Phunk on, dudes!
Photos courtesy of Design Singapore Council
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