Strategic Ecosystems
National Design Ecosystem
| The National Design Ecosystem Masterplan conceptualises a world class design centre in Singapore that investigates, incubates and inspires. |
Aiming for implementation over 5 years from 2020-2024, the brief sits within the larger national context of Singapore’s Design 2025 Masterplan to use design to make Singapore a loveable and innovative city.
The project positions the National Design Centre as a key hub in a vibrant island-wide design ecosystem, complemented by ancillary sites of design production, thinking, showcase and built manifestation.
The study involved analyses at the international, local, neighbourhood and building scales. Spotlighting NDC as a key locus of heritage, built excellence and design concentration, an extensive spatial analysis of the building’s internal programme layouts and use revealed its underutilisation, insularity between tenants’ workspaces, and inconsistent programming.
At the international scale, NDC was benchmarked against eminent overseas design centres in programmatic use, real estate and branding.
At the national scale, co-locating creative entities and related industries contributes to the flourishing of design production. This premise drove a rigorous island-wide mapping of all design businesses, revealing organic creative geographic clusters. Among these, proposals for two such potential satellite design districts were developed: Kolam Ayer as an anchor of Singapore’s circular economy, and Gillman Barracks as a design retreat and incubator.
A detailed analysis of the BBB district also highlighted NDC’s potential as a consolidator of the prolific Image Making firms and education and cultural institutions in the district.
The final outcome was an illustrated Vision Report, with related appendices structured as professional briefs for the client to contract specialist services.
Year 2019 Location Singapore Client Design Singapore Council Collaborators Desire Lines, Colliers International, Indego X Status Completed
At the national scale, co-locating creative entities and related industries contributes to the flourishing of design production. This premise drove a rigorous island-wide mapping of all design businesses, revealing organic creative geographic clusters. Among these, proposals for two such potential satellite design districts were developed: Kolam Ayer as an anchor of Singapore’s circular economy, and Gillman Barracks as a design retreat and incubator.
A detailed analysis of the BBB district also highlighted NDC’s potential as a consolidator of the prolific Image Making firms and education and cultural institutions in the district.
The final outcome was an illustrated Vision Report, with related appendices structured as professional briefs for the client to contract specialist services.
Year 2019 Location Singapore Client Design Singapore Council Collaborators Desire Lines, Colliers International, Indego X Status Completed
