AF Exhibition

30 Sep — 28 Oct 2023, Tue — Sun
10 am — 8:30 pm 
Festival House @ 45, 47 Sultan Gate
Free admission

The Archifest Exhibition is an annual staple of the Festival that showcases new industry-shaping projects from Singapore and the region. This year, the  AF Exhibition held at the Festival House presents visitors with statements, doubts, and provocations surrounding the festival theme “Interim: Acts of Adaptation”.

The Exhibition explores how architecture’s relationship with time and change shapes our buildings, cities, and environments.

It seeks to provoke reflection and imagination on the possible modes of architectural action that open up once we begin to read our city and its structures as mutable. We first acknowledge the effect of time on the city starting from Kampong Gelam.

The Exhibition features a wide range of exhibitor works and projects, including contributions from the Archifest Curatorial Team, as well as designers and architects invited to contribute to notions of the “Interim”. The Exhibition aims to give visitors the opportunity to playfully engage with the theme.

The Exhibition will be available at the Festival House at 45, 47 Sultan Gate from 10am – 8.30pm daily from Tuesdays to Sundays.

#1

Interim Atlas

The Interim manifests across the globe in the Atlas.

Local and global emerging designers are invited to propose their stances on the Interim as a new architectural paradigm. Over 35 contributors from differing geographical contexts reflect on how their their practising ethos and aspirations could evolve given the distinct environments they work in.

Visitors are invited to tear off sheets from each Interim instance to compile into their own personal set of Interim definitions.

Projects

Living Room of the Lim-Peh Household
A Frame for Living
Cigondewah Water Wheel
Nusantara Maritory Biocracy
Camp KL Modular Shelter
City in Which We Live
Bamboo Pavilion
Plotting City
Pink Chilli in a Bowl
Sarang Billboard Along the Expressway
Enclosures
Land Rivalries
Temporary Grid Structure
Past. Present. Future.
Land as Interim
Interim Urban Agriculture
Life Goes On in the Interim!
Prefab Housing System
Interim Modularity
Process of Becoming
While We Are Embattled
Surreal Juxtaposition in Tai Kok Tsui
Towards Entropy
Temporary Microcity-Hyperfurniture
This Land is Your Land
The City of Well-Being
Haunting Beauty in Urban Degradation
Shaw Tower
The Canvas Wall
Reinterpreting Interim Urban Spaces
Autonomous Interim
Redefining Urban Living
Integrating Dementia an Interim Life Phase
Interim Shoreline
Emphasizing AI as Interim
Interim Interface
Songhwa Street
Contributors
Generiek, Ghent (BE)
E9A, Kuala Lumpur (MY)
Office SA with Tisna Sanjaya, Bandung (ID)
Alban Mannisi / Scapethical, Seoul (KR)
Future Frameworks, Kuala Lumpur (MY)
Lee Hyeri, Tokyo (JP)
Raphaël Ascoli / Blue Temple, Yangon (MM)
BARE, Seoul (KR)
Isabelle & Manuel Der Hagopian, Singapore (SG)
No-to-scale*, Kuala Lumpur (MY)
RC Architects, Mumbai; Bangalore (IN)
Studio Karya, Petaling Jaya (MY)
Studio DOHGAM, Seoul (KR)
0718architects, Seoul (KR)
ARA Studio, Surabaya (ID)
COMMON + RMIT Architecture, Melbourne (AU)
COMU LLC, Miyagi Kagoshima (JP); Banda Aceh (ID)
MIIM Office for Architecture, Kuala Lumpur (MY); Taipei (TW)
SPOA, Jakarta (ID)
Jane Chua / Plural Studio, Singapore (SG)
Human Architects, Hong Kong (HK)
Human Wu, Hong Kong (HK)
Oculi Architects, Singapore (SG)
SEED Design, Singapore (SG); Bangkok (TH); Milan (IT)
The Open Workshop, San Fransisco (CA)
WY-TO Group, Singapore (SG)
Sounak Das, Den Bosch (NL)
Shaw Towers Realty Pte Ltd, Singapore (SG)
Fiona Tan / Atelier IF , Singapore (SG)
INTACT STUDIO_l 就地建筑, Shenzhen (CN)
Kar-men Cheng, Singapore (SG), London (UK)
PLP Architecture, London (UK)
Laura Arpiainen, Aalto University (FI)
Akai Chew + Spatial Anatomy with OFTRT, Singapore (SG)
Jennifer Gautama + Audrey Chia, Singapore (SG)
Jason Hilgefort, Hong Kong (HK)
Paektusan Architectural Institute, Pyongyang (KP)

#2

Interim Glossary

The Glossary captures moments of the Interim in Singapore. These 10 instances of Singapore caught in the Interim are colloquial definitions of sorts, plucked out of our city’s growing dictionary of a changing and adaptive landscape. 

This photographic compendium by architectural photographer Fabian Ong offers a fresh perspective on the “Interim” theme by grounding it in the particularities of Singapore’s culture, climate, exigencies and people. It prompts readers to reflect on the city’s adaptability and the creative ways in which growth and transitions are woven into Singapore’s urban fabric. 

Featured Places

Golden Mile Complex
Golden Mile Tower
State Courts Singapore
Pearl’s Hill
Tanjong Pagar Railway Station
Tanjong Pagar Distripark
Spottiswoode Park
34 Upper Cross Street
Lor 32 Geylang
Behind ESSO Lor 38 Geylang

#3

Interim Cinema

Cosy interior of the Interim Cinema

Interim Cinema highlights the role of visual culture in shaping the urban programmes and collective memory along Beach Road over the years. As a re-creation of a mini theatre, Interim Cinema acts as a convener to facilitate discourse and reflection on various architectural and land redevelopment practices in this area.

Interim Cinema features a documentation of Shaw Tower as a case study of the city in interim, along with a videographic line-up about various aspects of architecture and the city. Interim Cinema is a joint project by Shaw Towers Realty Pte Ltd and the Archifest Curatorial Team.

Shaw Tower is currently undergoing redevelopment. Read more about it here.

03:00
Shaw Towers Realty Pte Ltd in conjunction with Archifest Curatorial Team

Located at the intersection of Beach Road and Middle Road, Shaw Tower’s landmark presence and developmental trajectory reflects the government’s broader ambitions to shape the Ophir-Rochor Corridor as part of the nation’s second Central Business District, complementing the financial district at Marina Bay and Raffles Place. Key elements rich in architectural and cultural symbolism have been retained from the former Shaw Tower and will be installed in the new Shaw Tower, in continuity from its iconic past.

View of the city through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the former Shaw Tower

19:35
Kevin Siyuan

Drawing inspiration from the visual style of acclaimed director Wes Anderson, known for films like “Asteroid City” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” this new architectural film chronicles the homeland and landscape of Singapore. Directed by Kevin Siyuan, this is the second volume of “A Wes Anderson-ish Singapore” released. This documentary was previewed on Singapore’s National Day and focuses on the urban planning, architecture, parks, and the people of Singapore.

Hwa Chong Institution

03:30
PLP Architecture, PLP Labs

Welcome to the Symbiocene, the next era in human history in which civilization and nature entertain a symbiotic relationship. We believe architects and designers have a definitive role in designing the day-to-day experience of the Symbiocene. However, this future requires deliberate action. Therefore, we are working (growing) towards this future by exploring the building properties of mycelium, a renewable and biodegradable material. As seen here, by fusing the natural characteristics of fungi and engineering of 3D printed wood shells, mycelium may be grown into an infinite number of configurations with astonishing precision. Modular mycelium building blocks are just the beginning.

Mycelium, PLP Labs

00:30 each
No-to-scale*, Studio Dohgam, Common + RMIT, Intact Studio, Jennifer Gautama + Audrey Chia

Experience the Interim Atlas in video. These instances of the Interim, transcribed in the Interim Atlas, are previewed through the eyes of their creators. 

Interim instance by no-to-scale*

5 films by Studio GROSS

Swiss Architecture Museum (S AM), 2022

Make Do With Now Exhibition in S AM, Basel


Holes in the House, Mio Tsuneyama + Fuminori Nousaku, Tokyo, Japan
13:31

Chidori Bunka, dot architects, Osaka, Japan
13:33

Various Projects, 403architecture [dajiba], Hamamatsu, Japan
11:58

Mokuchin Recipe, CHAr, Tokyo, Japan
11:30

Various Projects, tomito architecture, Yokohama, Japan
11:31

“Make Do With Now” was an exhibition at the S AM Swiss Architecture Museum, Basel from Nov 2022 – Mar 2023. The exhibition introduces the thinking of a new generation of architects in Japan today, who have entered professional practice following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Fukushima nuclear disaster. This generation is developing a range of critical, ecological, and social approaches that creatively “make do” with limited resources. 5 films by Studio Gross demonstrate the responses of these emerging practices to urgent problems of the present.

Chidori Bunka, dot architects, Osaka, Japan

07:00
Arup

“Abundance” is a short design fiction film set in a near-future London and follows a day in the life of a regenerative designer as they interact with the communities, technologies and systems to show what a regenerative London might look like. It aims to inspire designers to consider our collective regenerative future. The film featured at the London Design Festival alongside an exhibition, Regenerative Futures, featuring props and prototypes from researchers and designers working in the regenerative design space.

Abundance, ARUP

Urban Redevelopment Authority, Nanyang Technological University (Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information)

Kampong Gelam: Connecting the Community
06:47
Gazetted as a conservation area in 1989, Kampong Gelam earliest shophouses can be found at Haji Lane. These two-storey shophouses are of the simple Early Shophouse style, characterised by minimal plaster ornamentations and low ceiling height. Today some of these shophouses have been creatively transformed into canvases of art – enriching the area with colour and new experiences while drawing more to wander in to make new memories.

Kampong Gelam Enterprise
04:56
Kampong Gelam is where you will find one of the ‘world’s coolest streets’, but how has the historic district thread a delicate balance to remain connected with generations of past and present, while retaining and celebrating the district’s rich heritage in the years to come?

Kampong Gelam: Our Trades, Our Memories
05:38
Once the seat of Malay royalty, the Kampong Gelam area was characterised by many traditional businesses that catered to the Malay/Muslim community and beyond. While the trades in the area have diversified and changed over the years, a strong focus on textiles, perfumes, and a variety of Muslim cuisine remain alongside newer shops and eateries – bringing about a revival in connecting locals and beyond to the area.

Explore Kampong Gelam’s architecture, historic trades and plans for continuity in these videos by URA.

Kampong Gelam Enterprise, URA

#4

Interim Installations

The Pavilion is traditionally the centrepiece of Archifest. This year, in keeping with the theme of Interim, the pavilion is diffracted into multiple lightweight urban installations dispersed across Kampong Gelam.

These installations are supported by the Urban Redevelopment Authority, as part of the Kampong Gelam Place Plan. The installations are funded by the Lively Places Fund, which encourages residents to initiate community-driven place-making projects like these that seek to make public spaces around Singapore more delightful and memorable, for all to enjoy.

The Archifest Installations are an inaugural programme of Singapore Archifest. In this display, witness the design process behind these installations before heading outdoors to explore them yourself.

Read more about the Archifest Installations here.

AF Urban Installations distributed around Kampong Gelam

#5

Building Building

When is a building complete? In this exhibition by photographer Fabian Ong, witness two existing buildings become “new” buildings and explore the concept of building as a continuous process. This exhibition provokes reflection on what is the building, and questions the relationship between the building as a final state and as an evolving act.

Building Building Photographic Exhibition by Fabian Ong

About the Designer

Fabian Ong is an architecture-trained photographer based in Singapore and greater Asia. Upon obtaining his Master’s degree from the National University of Singapore, he practiced at several notable architectural design firms. In 2016, he was invited by the Japanese periodical A+U and Shinkenchiku to be their in-house photojournalist in Japan, Europe, North America, and Asia. Fabian is concurrently developing his art photography practice with a focus on natural and constructed landscapes.
Find his work on @fabian_ong_ on Instagram, and on www.fabianongphotography.com

#6

Interim Works

The SIA-YAL Inter-IHL Young Architects Meet (YAM) 2023 is an annual student sharing session manifested as a 1-day design sprint and following exhibition. The exhibition displays the students’ work-in-progress across different institutes of higher learning, in the form of sketches, drawings, videos and more.

The YAM Exhibition will feature over 30 students' works

#7

Reimagining Singapore’s Industrial Landscape

How can brownfield sites in Singapore be adapted into productive landscapes? How can we imagine the future of our city, given its unique history and contextual needs? In this snippet exhibition by JTC, explore ideas for the adaptive reuse of industrial sites in Singapore as our nation continues to evolve.

To explore ways to optimise land, create new spaces for growth industries, and devise conducive work environments, JTC called for a Request for Proposal and invited local and international design professionals to submit concept proposals for the rejuvenation of two mature industrial estates: Yishun and Kallang-Kolam Ayer.

The full exhibition by JTC showcases the exciting blue-sky ideas that reimagine what manufacturing in a city can be, located at URA Centre Atrium from 15 Sep – 20 Oct 2023.

Read more about the exhibition here.

#8

Interim Library

Explore a curated series of books that examine the city in transition. Ranging from established titles to new, these books are authored or provided by our partners and expand the discourse of Archifest about the city whose layers are always evolving.

Interior of Wardah Books
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Danny Wicaksono
studiodasar

Indonesia

Danny Wicaksono completed his architectural education at Trisakti University, Jakarta, in 2006. In 2007 he worked for Adi Purnomo  (mamostudio) and in 2010 he joined andramatin for a brief period. He founded studiodasar in 2014. In the past decade his works are not limited to designing buildings. He writes, curates architectural exhibitions, directing a design festival, and designing a masterplan for a better living space. He was also involved in the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, as two time Technical Reviewer in 2019 and 2022. Danny Wicaksono is a member of The International Committee for Architectural Critics (CICA) and now share his time residing in Bintaro and Tubaba, Indonesia.

Yuma Shinohara
Swiss Architecture Museum

Switzerland

Yuma Shinohara is a curator at the S AM Swiss Architecture Museum. Before joining the S AM, he held editorial and curatorial positions at Storefront for Art and Architecture, Ruby Press, the Academy of Arts Berlin, and the Canadian Centre for Architecture. At the S AM, Shinohara has curated the exhibition Make Do With Now (2022), co-curated the exhibitions Swim City (2019) and Beton (2021), and overseen the adaptation of Access of All (2021) in collaboration with the Architecture Museum of TU Munich and the Institute of Architecture of the University of Applied Arts Northwest Switzerland. He has lectured and served as visiting critic at institutions such as the EPFL, ETH Zurich, Bauhaus University Weimar, University of Waterloo, and the Architectural Institute of Japan. He graduated in comparative literature and society from Columbia University in New York.

Mio Tsuneyama
Studio mnm

Japan

Mio Tsuneyama is a Japanese architect and founder of Studio mnm. She began her study of architecture at Tokyo University of Science (TUS), Japan and completed at École Polytechnique Fédéral de Lausanne (EPFL) in 2008 as Swiss Government International Scholarships student, where she taught as a visiting professor in 2022-2023. She worked as an architect at HHF Architects in Basel after her study until she went back to Tokyo to start her own practice Studio mnm in 2012. 

Mio has built her career in the academic field since then as she taught at TUS as Assistant Professor and Junior Associate Professor since 2013. She also teaches at several private universities in Japan and has begun to teach as a guest professor at EPFL in 2022 and as Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University.

Studio mnm’s most notable project is “House for Seven People” (2013), a renovation of the single family house into shared house which received a special mention as an exhibited project of Japanese Pavilion for national pavilion in the 15th International Architecture Exhibition, and “Holes in the House” (2017-), which she renovates while living there with her partner Fuminori Nosaku.

Nazmi Anuar
E9A

Malaysia

Nazmi Anuar is an architect and educator based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He is a partner at the architectural research practice E9A, a collaborator with the collective New Office and runs Normal Architecture in addition to his teaching post at the School of Architecture, Building and Design, Taylor’s University. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture from UPM and a Postgraduate Masters in Architecture and Urban Design from The Berlage, TU Delft. His first book Background Frame Platform was published by Suburbia Projects in 2021.

Charles Lai
aona architects

Hong Kong

Charles Lai is an architect (RIBA) and researcher in the history and conservation of Hong Kong and Asian modern architecture. He received his PhD degree in architectural history from the University of Hong Kong Department of Architecture, and diploma degree from the AA School of Architecture in London. 

He currently teaches at the PolyU and the Lingnan University. Charles is also a member of the DOCOMOMO HK Chapter. Charles is founder and director of the architectural studio & heritage conservation consultancy, aona, and co-founder of a digital marketing and experience curatorial company Culture Lab. and focuses primarily on design, heritage conservation, research and curatorial works related to built heritage and architectural history. Charles also writes regularly for academic journals and columns. His research interests include the history of modern architecture in East and Southeast Asia, the material culture and history of Shanghai plaster, as well as the conservation of historical built heritages.

Yunhee Choi + Jinhong Jeon
BARE

South Korea

Yunhee Choi is a registered architect(UK) and has studied architecture at Cambridge University and the Architectural Association School of Architecture. She has practised at Doojin Hwang Architects(KR), Wilkinson Eyre Architects (UK) and Jason Bruges Studio (UK) where she was responsible for a number of public art and architecture projects. She was a Visiting Professor at Korea National University of Arts, Public City Architect of Seoul, and a co-curator of the Seoul Exhibition at the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2021. She is currently serving as Deputy Director for the inaugural exhibitions of The Korea National Museum of Urbanism and Architecture.

 

Jinhong Jeon graduated from Architectural Association School of Architecture (UK) and has worked at OMA (NL) and Space Group(KR) where he was involved in a wide range of international projects and competitions. He was an Adjunct Professor at Korea National University of Arts and a co-curator of the Seoul Exhibition at the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2021. He is currently serving as Deputy Director for the inaugural exhibitions of The Korea National Museum of Urbanism and Architecture.

Deanna Dzulkifli

Producer

Deanna is an independent producer working with a range of forms, from dance and performance art to visual arts and music. Recent producing work include Third Wheeling by Awkward Party with restaurant Artichoke for Singapore Art Week 2023. She has also held positions at ARTSG as Talks Manager, programme coordinator at Dance Nucleus and is currently the Company Manager of The Observatory.

Mok Cui Yin

Producer

Cui is an in(ter)dependent producer and facilitator who has produced for independent artists across arts disciplines, and for organisations including Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, The Substation, Asia Network for Dance, Dance Nucleus, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, Asian Film Archive, Arts House Limited, and the National Arts Council.

Hanif Ramadan

Curator

Hanif is an Indonesian architectural designer based in Jakarta and Singapore. He graduated with a Masters in Architecture and Urban Design at Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy, and gained experience as a professional architect in Jakarta, Tokyo, Milan, and Singapore. He is very much interested in architectural practice as a means of framework, cultural work, and research. Currently, he practices as an architect that responds from the smallest detail of architecture to the bigger scale of a complex environment.

Rachel Fong

Curatorial Assistant

Rachel is currently a rising third-year undergraduate at Yale-NUS College, majoring in Urban Studies and minoring in English Literature. Her education has allowed her to pursue intersecting interests in language, sociology, art, and the built environment. She views architecture and urbanity as an intrinsic site of identity formation, and is particularly interested in the practice of intentional idling as a means of informal autoethnographic inquiry.

Fadhilah Nordin

Curator

Fadhilah is an M.Arch graduate from Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). She has since worked on a range of projects across different scales, from detailing a cabinet all the way to drawing broad lines that demarcate a future road. Fadhilah has a particular interest in patterns and behaviours, predicting and observing how single design interventions affect how people use and move through spaces. Outside of work, she is usually thinking of a new business idea or trying to make cycling her main mode of transport one day at a time.

Chew Yunqing

Curator

Yunqing is invested in architecture as a mode of theoretical inquiry to provoke human understanding. Her current top 5 interests include:

  1. The relationship between the Particular (building) and the Multiple (city).
  2. Typology of gatherings across no. of pax and scale.
  3. Crowdfunding small-scale developments.
  4. Reading the ‘architecture’ of literary and philosophical texts as central to understanding them.
  5. Platform to sell artists’ drafts and studies.

Lai Chee Kien

Chee Kien is a registered architect in Singapore, and researches on histories of art, architecture, settlements, urbanism and landscapes in Southeast Asia. Chee Kien’s works on architectural history are widely published in the region, earning his reputation as a leading voice in local architectural history and conservation. He has been sitting on the URA Conservation Advisory Panel since 2012.

Teo Yee Chin
Red Bean Architects

Singapore
Interface

Teo Yee Chin is a registered architect based in Singapore. He graduated with M. Arch from Harvard GSD in 2003 and BA(Arch) from NUS in 1999. He has taught architectural design at NUS and SUTD, and has published opinion articles in The Straits Times and various architectural journals. After working with various offices including William Lim Associates and Kay Ngee Tan Architects, he founded Red Bean Architects in 2009, a practice that seeks to foster spatial and historical continuity in the city. Notable works of the practice include the 2016 Singapore Pavilion at Venice Biennale, House X, Common Ground and Delta Sport Centre. Yee Chin has always believed in, and practised, writing as a creative tool to think with. In addition to contributing critical reviews to journals and the press, he was formerly Chief Editor of leading architectural journal The Singapore Architect. Concurrent with managing Red Bean Architects, he is now also a doctoral candidate in human geography at NUS, studying the production of rural space in Taiwan as part of a broader investigation into sustainability beyond the tidy frame of the city-state.

Sarah Ichioka
Desire Lines

Singapore
Process

Sarah Mineko Ichioka is an urbanist, strategist, curator and writer. She leads Desire Lines, a strategic consultancy for environmental, cultural, and social-impact initiatives and organizations. Her latest book, Flourish: Design Paradigms for Our Planetary Emergency, co-authored with Michael Pawlyn, proposes a bold  set of regenerative design principles for addressing our compound environmental and social crises. Sarah has been recognized as a World Cities Summit Young Leader, one of the Global Public Interest Design 100, and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. In previous roles she has explored the intersections of cities, society and ecology within leading international institutions of culture, policy and research, including as Director of The Architecture Foundation (UK). A recent Designing Cities for All Fellow at Pakhuis de Zwijger (Netherlands), Sarah currently serves on the advisory boards of the Klosters Forum (Switzerland) and Participate in Design (Singapore). Sarah’s critical writing has been published by Triennale di Milano, La Biennale di Venezia, Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture and the Serpentine Gallery. Her work has been featured in outlets including the Financial Times, Channel News Asia, BBC London and Bloomberg CityLab.

Craig Miller
Heatherwick Studio

United Kingdom
Interface

As Project Leader, Craig Miller has led some of Heatherwick Studio’s largest and most complex commissions. After joining in 2008, Miller spent five years in Hong Kong delivering the rejuvenation of Pacific Place. Returning to London, he then led a team on the 1,000 Trees project (Shanghai) and a new-build office for Google. More recently, he has played leading roles on the ongoing transformation of London’s Olympia Exhibition Centre, EDEN—a nature-infused residential tower in Singapore and Changi T5 (in collaboration with KPF). Having lived in Singapore for 4 years, Miller now leads the Shanghai studio – Heatherwick’s first permanent presence outside of London.

Freek Persyn
51N4E

Belgium
Adaptation

Freek Persyn is a co-founder of the office 51N4E, a spatial design practice focused on urban and social transformation. 51N4E works on a wide range of scales, from strategy to realization, and designs the built environment with an affinity for both the physical and the invisible dimensions of space. The work of 51N4E received the most attention for its adaptive reuse projects in Central Europe and for its intense engagement with Albania. Since 2019, Freek Persyn combines his partnership at 51N4E with the professorship of Architecture and Urban Transformation at the ETH Zürich.

Momoyo Kaijima
Atelier Bow-Wow

Japan
Process

Momoyo Kaijima (b. 1969, Tokyo JP) graduated from the Faculty of Domestic Science at Japan Women’s University in 1991. She founded Atelier Bow-Wow with Yoshiharu Tsukamoto in 1992. In 1994, she received her master degree from the Tokyo Institute of Technology. During 1996–1997, she was a guest student with a scholarship from Switzerland at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich (ETHZ). In 2000 she completed her post-graduate program at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. She served as an assistant professor at the Art and Design School of the University of Tsukuba since 2000, and as an associate professor from 2009 to 2022. In 2012 she received the RIBA International Fellowship. Since 2017 she has been serving as a Professor of Architectural Behaviorology at ETHZ. She taught at Harvard GSD (2003, 2016), guest professor at ETHZ (2005-07), as well as at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (2011-12), Rice University (2014-15), Delft University of Technology (2015-16), and Columbia University (2017). While engaging in design projects for houses, public buildings and station plazas, she has conducted numerous investigations of the city through architecture such as Made in Tokyo and Pet Architecture. She was the curator of Japan Pavilion at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. In 2022, she received the Wolf Prize Laureate in Architecture.

Dongwoo Yim
PRAUD

South Korea
Adaptation

Dongwoo is an architect, urbanist, writer, and educator. He is the co-founder and principal of PRAUD as well as assistant professor at Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Design in Hongik University. As an urbanist, his research focuses on revisiting urban production as a tool for developing a circular economy and sustainable social chain. Also, as an architect, Dongwoo explores typologies in architecture that not only examines contemporary architectural language but also creates urban phenomena in a collective manner. He is the award winner of Architectural League Prize 2013 and the participating artist to 2014 Venice Biennale Korean Pavilion, the Golden Lion winner. Dongwoo was the co-curator of Pyongyang Sallim in 2017 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, co-curator of the Cities exhibition in the 2019 SBAU, and the general co-curator of the Cities Exhibition in the 2019 SBAU, and the general director of Daegu Global Studio 2023. His publications include “AD Magazine: Productive Urbanism: The Meta Industrial City (Wiley)”, “A Language of Contemporary Architecture: An Index of Topology and Typology (Routledge)”, and “Unprecedented Pyongyang (Actar)” amongst others.

Betty Ng
COLLECTIVE

Hong Kong
Interface

Betty is the Founder and Director at COLLECTIVE, a RIBA Chartered Practice. She is a Registered Architect in the Netherlands, a RIBA Chartered Architect in the United Kingdom and an Associate member of the AIA, United States. Betty holds an M. Arch. Post Graduate Degree from Harvard University and a B. Arch. Professional Degree from Cornell University. Betty is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), co-teaching Master Architecture Design Studio with COLLECTIVE Directors Chi-Yan Chan and Juan Minguez. She is previously Visiting Professor of Architecture at the National University of Singapore, Adjunct Assistant Professor at CUHK advising Master Thesis, and Assistant Professor at the University of Hong Kong. She has also acted as External Examiner and Final Review Jury at RMIT, SUTD, NUS, CUHK and HKU. Prior to setting up COLLECTIVE, Betty was Design Director at OMA Rotterdam with Pritzker Prize Laureate Rem Koolhaas, she co-led the winning proposal for the Axel Springer Media Headquarters in Berlin, the Hermitage Museum Art Repository in St. Petersburg and the West Kowloon Cultural District Master Plan in Hong Kong among many projects.

Ma Yansong
MAD Architects

China
Keynote

Ma Yansong is recognized as an important voice in the new generation of architects. As the first Chinese architect to win an overseas landmark-building project, Ma is committed to developing futuristic, organic, and technologically-advanced designs that embody a contemporary interpretation of the Eastern affinity for nature. With a vision for the city of the future based in the spiritual and emotional needs of residents, he endeavors to create a balance between humanity, the city, and the environment. Founded MAD Architects in 2004 and how has offices in Beijing (China), Los Angeles (USA) and Rome (Italy), Ma leads design across various scales globally for different needs of social groups, such as urban complexes and infrastructures, museums and theaters, kindergarten, public housing. Parallel to his design practice, he has also been exploring with the public the cultural values of cities and architecture through exhibitions, publications and art works. In 2022, MAD Architects was recognized as “Best Cultural Firm” by Fast Company, and became the first architectural firm to win this award in China. From 2019 to 2021, Ma was awarded as “China’s Most Influential Designer” for three years by Architectural Digest. In 2016, he was honored as “Certification of Recognition” by City of Los Angeles. In 2010 he became he the first architect from China to receive a RIBA international fellowship. In 2006, he was awarded the “Young Architects Award” by the Architectural League of New York. Ma holds a Master’s Degree in Architecture from Yale University, and a Bachelor’s degree from the Beijing Institute of Civil Engineering and Architecture.

Danny Wicaksono
studiodasar

Indonesia
Adaptation

Danny Wicaksono completed his architectural education at Trisakti University, Jakarta, in 2006. In 2007 he worked for Adi Purnomo  (mamostudio) and in 2010 he joined andramatin for a brief period. He founded studiodasar in 2014. In the past decade his works are not limited to designing buildings. He writes, curates architectural exhibitions, directing a design festival, and designing a masterplan for a better living space. He was also involved in the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, as two time Technical Reviewer in 2019 and 2022. Danny Wicaksono is a member of The International Committee for Architectural Critics (CICA) and now share his time residing in Bintaro and Tubaba, Indonesia.

Andra Matin
andramatin

Indonesia
Process

Andra Matin – both the man and the firm, andramatin, are known for their clean and modern approach to architecture. The works of andramatin have been a constant reflection of contemporary take on traditional values, that are based on its context and its sensitivity to the environment. Aside from his architectural projects, Andra Matin is also one of the founders of Arsitek Muda Indonesia (AMI – eng: Young Architects of Indonesia), and has been a part of the progress in Indonesian architecture. He also has released books under a publication that opens up discussions about architecture, along with being a frequent lecturer at universities, seminars, and architectural events both in Indonesia and in international events. His latest installation titled Elevation has been granted a Special Mention Award at the 16th Venice Biennale, for its traditional sense and its contemporary take. Inspired by his great love of travel, Andra Matin continues to search out more knowledge and experiences, in order to further celebrate the architecture of Indonesia. In addition, one of their projects, Bandara Blimbingsari in Banyuwangi, was selected as one of the winners of Aga Khan Awards for Architecture in 2022.

Singapore Archifest 2023 takes to the city in a wide array of conferences, installations, workshops, talks, tours and more. This year, the festival centres around the Kampong Gelam Precinct that reveals the evolution of the Malay royalty grounds, while locating many modernist buildings awaiting rejuvenation, all forming an interim urban trace of Singapore’ national development. With Kampong Gelam as our site of experimentation and demonstration of the interim, Archifest activates the city like never before.

Aurelia Chan

Curator

Aurelia is an architectural designer with an affinity for small moments and big narratives in the city. With a particular interest in urban marginality and slum developments in the region, Aurelia performs informal inquiries into the leftover spaces of urban environments. In the day, Aurelia engages with architecture in diagrams, words and sunshine, and in the evening she explores theoretical manifestations of space and culture.

Chong Lingxiu

Curator

Lingxiu Chong (AADip, Assoc. AlA) is a Singaporean architectural designer and educator based in San Francisco. She studied at the Architectural Association in London, and proceeded to practice with a focus on adaptive re-use and conservation, with Collective Studio and Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in Asia, and Page & Turnbull in California. Lingxiu currently teaches at California College of the Arts and the Architectural Association, and works with like-minded individuals and organisations on projects of various formats to build community and culture.

Calvin Chua

Festival Director

Calvin Chua practices at the intersection of design, planning and advocacy. He runs Spatial Anatomy, a research-oriented design practice with an interest in urban adaptation and transformation. In parallel, Calvin teaches at SUTD and was most recently a Visiting Professor at the Korea National University of Arts. Complementing his practice, Calvin engages the wider design community through writing for international magazines and exhibiting at various international biennales, including Seoul and Venice. Recognised for his distinct approach to design practice, Calvin was an Asia 21 Next Generation Fellow in 2022 and a finalist for the Lisbon Triennale Debut Award 2022. A registered architect in the UK, Calvin graduated from the Architectural Association School of Architecture.