The President*s Design Award (P*DA) is Singapore’s highest accolade for designers and design projects across all disciplines. Be inspired by the eight recipients of the P*DA 2023 and their extraordinary achievements that have positively impacted the lives of Singaporeans and the wider global community through design excellence. For more details of these recipients, please visit pda.designsingapore.org
(in alphabetical order of the recipient’s last name)
(in alphabetical order of project name)
P*DA Designer of the Year
Leonard Ng Keok Poh
Designation: Country Market Director, Henning Larsen, APAC
Discipline: Landscape Design
“We humans tend to think of nature as being here to provide for us. But we need to ask what we can do for nature, because we rely on it to survive.”
– Leonard Ng
In a career spanning over two decades, landscape architect Leonard Ng has stretched the imagination of what landscape architecture can achieve. Creating inspirational designs that balance the needs of humans, other species, and the environment, Leonard is pivotal in Singapore’s drive towards becoming a ‘City in Nature’.
Ar. Tan Kay Ngee
Designation: Principal Architect, Kay Ngee Tan Architects
Discipline: Architecture
“The more I got into the subject, the more I realised the range of possibilities and dimensions for interpretation in architecture.”
– Ar. Tan Kay Ngee
Architect Tan Kay Ngee finds sources of design inspiration everywhere, from traditional creative forms to everyday life. His expressive and diverse design approach has produced an eclectic body of architectural work, which sits alongside an extensive portfolio of writing about art, architecture, and the city. For Tan, life is about the journey.
P*DA Design of the Year
CapitaSpring
Designer: Bjarke Ingels Group, in collaboration with RSP Architects Planners & Engineers (Pte) Ltd and Carlo Ratti Associati
Discipline: Architecture
“The openings in the facade frame unexpected views of the surroundings both near and far. It has reframed my own experience of the city and the downtown area.” – Brian Yang, Bjarke Ingels Group
At 51 storeys, CapitaSpring is one of the tallest buildings in Singapore. It is also one of the greenest. The mixed-use development’s multi-level green spaces offer a new social realm for the community to come together – be it at the ground level, on a verdant and meandering sky terrace at its mid-point, or at a rooftop urban farm.
Hack Care: Tips and Tricks for a Dementia-friendly Home
Designer: Lekker Architects, in collaboration with Lanzavecchia + Wai
Discipline: Social Design Research
“We wanted to look at how to democratise design so people feel they can do it too.” – Ar. Ong Ker-Shing, Lekker Architects
It may look like a furniture and homeware catalogue, but Hack Care is in fact a timely manifesto outlining how anyone can easily turn their home into one that is friendly to persons with dementia.
The 244-page guide offers practical tips and tricks for hacking existing furniture and products, redefining design as a process of making and experimenting.
R for Repair
Designer: Hans Tan Studio
Discipline: Design Curation
“The emotional connection between a person and an object is one of the biggest sustainable gestures one can think of.” – Hans Tan, Hans Tan Studio
Curatorial project R for Repair redesigned the banal act of repairing into an inspiring and creative endeavour. Presented together in an exhibition, a wide range of repaired objects and repair kits presented a counterpoint to today’s consumerist culture. The beautiful and delightful outcomes showed how desirable sustainability can be.
Singapore Pavilion, Expo 2020 Dubai
Designer: WOHA Architects Pte Ltd
Discipline: Architecture
“We wanted to show how Singapore can be a reference for what a forward-looking, responsible, and liveable city can be.” – Ar. Wong Mun Summ, WOHA Architects
Amidst the desert, the Singapore Pavilion at the World Expo in Dubai was a multi-dimensional garden of lush greenery. The self-sufficient pavilion showcased a seamless integration of nature, architecture, and technology. The biophilic environment demonstrated how buildings and cities can be designed systemically to meet net-zero targets and support regeneration.
State Courts Towers
Designer: Serie + Multiply Consultants Pte Ltd, in collaboration with CPG Consultants Pte Ltd
Discipline: Architecture
“With the removal of the typical building facade or envelope, the definition of what is external and internal became blurred.” – Ar. Colin Wu, CPG Consultants
The State Courts Towers complex reinvents the classical image of courthouses for contemporary times with an unconventional high-rise form. The split towers and open-facade design retain the customary need to segregate user groups, while providing open walkways and gardens in the sky. The ochre-coloured cladding pays homage to the surrounding terracotta roofscape of Chinatown.
Tebet Eco Park
Designer: SIURA Studio Pte Ltd
Discipline: Landscape Design
“When your design can be enjoyed by thousands of people and bring happiness to them, it feels like your hard work has paid off.” – Anton Siura, SIURA Studio
A degraded public park in South Jakarta has been transformed into a natural asset that better manages flooding and is embraced by the local community. Tebet Eco Park not only now draws in a high volume of human visitors, but also attracts wildlife. It represents a successful prototype for a more nature-based, sustainable, and regenerative approach to parks in Jakarta.
