Singapore Tourism Board 60th Anniversary
‘Can or not?’
‘Can.’
That was how it began — a venue visit on a sunny afternoon in July, somewhere along Gloucester Road. We met with the STB team, who voiced their concerns about the conservatory venue: the tiled floor, dulled with wear.
The venue manager assured us it would be polished before the event. We thought instead, let’s make the guests look up.
Preface
We have assumed the role of spatial and temporal curators. Our concept of Time Travel is treated as a design principle woven into the very fabric of the occasion. It lives in the narrative projections that unfurl the STB's history as a living text, and in every considered element that bridges the live event with archival memory. This methodology constructs experience, framing the event as a permeable threshold between epochs.
60 Years in 4 Minutes
Click for Sound
SPATIAL OBSERVATION
On our first visit, we noted the skylight blinds rolled down, presumably to reduce glare, and wondered if they might work for projections. The AV team dismissed the idea, citing the mesh material, but we persuaded them to test it. It worked exactly as imagined, and the question was never raised again.
The room contains several palm trees. In a conventional banquet layout, one could accommodate 100 guests at evenly spaced round tables. But what if the seating were arranged in clusters, like ribbons curling around the palms? Such an arrangement would draw occupants into the space, rather than positioning the palms as mere backdrop. It would foster a sense of spatial intimacy, allowing the architecture—and its construction—to be experienced fully, rather than just seen.
First Projection Test
Existing Blinds
curation consideration
In curating an event, the focus extends beyond objects or décor to the poetics of presence. How people are orientated, how they move, and how they meet each other’s gaze becomes a language of its own—lines of vision, gestures of perception, and the delicate choreography of social interaction. Social occasions are not merely gatherings; they are stages where to see and to be seen can carry as much significance as the conversation itself.
A gala is lit not only by lights and candles, but by reflections shimmering across glasses and ignite in the eyes of guests, transforms fleeting moments into a shared visual resonance. In these orchestrated intersections of perception, presence, and reflection, the event becomes a living composition of its spatial occupants—a study of human interaction, connection, and the language of social gathering.
Renoir, P.-A. (1876) Bal du Moulin de la Galette
tonality
exploration
The anniversary is conceived as an act of time travel—a tribute to Temporality* itself. This is realised through a curated archaeology: bespoke coins and historical vignettes that transport guests to specific moments in Singapore's past.
The concept's vitality is recognised; our task is its refinement. The objective is a seamless immersion, where any sense of gamification dissolves into pure experience. The evening shall not feel like a series of tasks, but like a graceful passage through time—an invitation to wander, not to accomplish.
The proposition extends beyond mere guest-list demographics. It is an inquiry into the social body itself—an acknowledgement of six decades of collective faith and endeavour amongst partners. The lexicon shifted; we adopted the term ‘C-suite’. This introduced a critical tension: the event as a formal, even ‘atas’, apparatus versus the desire for a more intimate, narrative-driven encounter. The central inquiry became not one of style, but of social anatomy: how might the design of an occasion foster a genuine, heart-warming resonance, rather than simply performing its own formality?
Initial Idea of a Gamification Coin
Time Travel in Singapore
Raw footage courtesy of STB
Research: Time. Perception. Memory
Cage, J. (1952) 4′33″
Our Thought on Temporality
Time is silence. It is a measure taken in impermanence: the decay of material, the shift of location, the cycle of light, lost memory, growing hair.
We build against this flux. Through the reconstruction of moments, repetition of actions, and celebration of days… we ground ourselves in the temporary comfort of the past.
Yet it is time alone that builds—and just as certainly destroys—familiarity. To life, time says, with a finality that is both gift and revocation: All Rights Reserved.
Through a series of programmed cues, the live event is woven together with archival moments, intertwining the present with the past.
Time finds its expression through the menu. The progression of dishes traces a cultural chronology: the first course, a Kueh Pie Tee - a Peranakan bite whose origins reside in the early 20th century, yet only found its way into print decades later.
The menu itself is a design of multicultural heritage, a celebration of Singapore’s dining table. From Wing Bean Kerabu to Calamansi Sorbet, the culinary journey distills the nation’s essence: a junction where cultures meet and merge.
spatial expression
The tablescape is a sparse, sculptural composition in varying greens. By selecting flowers with a slender, structural presence, it forms loose and elegant shadows that add depth, transforming the table into a three-dimensional environment to be experienced—a tactile terrain, more than a plane for dining.
Tablescape Mock Up at Bloomsbury Flowers, Covent Garden
Meandering Sights crafted layered scenes—an enveloping environment that unfolded from multiple orientations, inviting conversation from every angle.
behind
the scene
The STB team consists of consummate event professionals, for whom standard events are familiar territory. This presented a unique challenge: to craft an experience that would engage a palate so accustomed to event design. By joining forces with Chef Damian, we grounded this time-travel concept with storytelling projection and authentic heritage flavours.
The 'Stop and Repeat' board, with its lexicon of Singaporean attractions, functioned as a social catalyst. Its curated details served as a visual prompt—an architecture for dialogue that invited the spontaneous exchange of individual memory.
credit
Location: South Kensington, London
Programme: Event
Scope: Spatial Design and Programme Curation
(Incl. Video and Audio Production, Layout, Lighting,
Tablescape and Projection Design, Menu Co-Design,
Stop and Repeat Mural Production)
Chef: Damian D' Silva
Emcee: Jamie Yeo
Stage Manager: Rebecca McRobb
Event Photography: Harry Richards
Event Videography (Raw Footage): Simon Gilmour
Commissioned by: Singapore Tourism Board
and lastly
Singaporean Chocolate
By Janice Wong
