Architect couple among top design award recipients

President's Design Award nod also given to projects like seniors' urban village

The husband-and-wife architect team (left) behind Pinnacle@Duxton, Ms Belinda Huang and Mr Khoo Peng Beng, are recognised for developing socially meaningful, community-focused projects and for their contributions in mentoring. Ms Kelley Cheng (right) of The Press Room won acclaim for her body of work and for nurturing the local creative community. ST PHOTOS: DESMOND WEE, YONG LI XUAN

The husband-and-wife architect team behind Pinnacle@Duxton, Singapore's first 50-storey public housing development, are among the recipients of Singapore's highest honours for design this year.

Mr Khoo Peng Beng and Ms Belinda Huang, recognised for developing socially meaningful, community-focused projects and for their contributions in mentoring, received a Designer of the Year award from President Halimah Yacob at the Istana yesterday.

Madam Halimah also conferred the President's Design Award (PDA) 2020 on another Designer of the Year and nine Design of the Year recipients for contributing to economic, cultural and community transformation, raising the quality of life and making ground-breaking achievements in design.

These include a public school in Sabah carved out of shipping containers and a tropical urban village for seniors.

"Each award-winning project is a unique testimony to how design can be used to empower lives, uplift communities and propel innovation," said Madam Halimah, guest of honour at the biennial award's presentation.

The honours are jointly handed out by the Urban Redevelopment Authority and the DesignSingapore Council (DSG). Established in 2006, the PDA was previously an annual affair but was relaunched as a biennial award in 2017.

The design for Pinnacle@Duxton by Mr Khoo and Ms Huang, directors of ARC Studio Architecture + Urbanism, showed how "superdensity" developments can offer new ways of living up in the air.

The other Designer of the Year award went to Ms Kelley Cheng, creative director of The Press Room, who won acclaim for her outstanding body of work encompassing visual communications, publishing and exhibition design and also for tirelessly working to champion and nurture Singapore's creative community.

A total of 129 submissions across various disciplines such as architecture, interior design, visual communications, spatial design and engineering were received, reflecting the critical role of design in shaping how communities live, learn, work and play.

Among the nine projects that received the Design of the Year award was the Etania Green School.

The school, designed by Mr Prasoon Kumar and Mr Robert Verrijt from Billion Bricks, is a source of experiential learning as well as a place of pride and dignity for stateless children and communities in Sabah. Etania, which opened in 2018, is made up of five shipping containers, recycled timber and an iron roof, for 350 children of migrant labourers.

Other projects include Kampung Admiralty, designed by architects Wong Mun Summ and Pearl Chee from Woha Architects, and Goodlife! Makan, by architect Seah Chee Huang from DP Architects.

The former is a village for seniors that features a tropical urban "kampung" concept, with spaces that reintegrate Singapore's silver generation into the community, while the latter is an open community kitchen for seniors in Marine Terrace to prepare daily meals.

DSG executive director Mark Wee said that this iteration of the PDA takes place amid an unusually trying time when societies and economies are in a state of flux.

He added: "The turbulent changes are a stark reminder that as designers, we can serve a higher purpose by seeking to solve societal challenges to create a better world."

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 01, 2021, with the headline Architect couple among top design award recipients. Subscribe