Closing the year of SG60: 20 creative voices on the future of design in Singapore

Interior designer Peter Tay turns to a project outside Singapore, the Teshima Art Museum in Japan, as an expression of where spatial design might be heading. To him, it is “a profound architectural experience that dissolves the boundary between building and landscape, between art and architecture, and between nature and human creation”. The structure feels as if it is rising from the land, and its choreography of light, water and form creates what he sees as a continuous, living environment.

Singapore, in his view, is evolving in a similar direction, becoming “a highly art-driven, culturally expressive and spatially fluid city,” where architecture, interiors and landscapes are “integrated, holistic environments where spaces flow and boundaries soften”.

Hybridisation also emerges as a defining thread in the future of Singapore design. To industrial designer Karyn Lim, this evolution is already embedded in the way we speak. She recalls using the word “gostan” in conversation, a term originating from the nautical phrase “go astern”, which is, to her, a reminder of how languages merge and transform here.

“Singlish is a vibrant language that has evolved from the mix of cultures and influences on Singapore,” she says, noting that our visual culture may be undergoing a similar shift. Just as you can identify a Singaporean the moment you hear them, she suggests we may soon recognise a Singaporean design the moment we see it, an identity shaped by layered histories and blended references.

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To interior designer Dennis Cheok of Upstrs_, hybridisation is a reality in the creative community. Reflecting on a recent project, the Bauhaus, he describes watching a music video produced by his client, Leonard Soosay, while surrounded by works from product designer Mario Tsai, graphic artist Morgan Sorensen and artist-musician Djohan Johari.

“Our collective creative scenes here have matured enough to stand on their own,” he says. To him, the convergence of design, art, music and film in a single space is a “loaded moment”, one that signals a future in which disciplines overlap more freely and Singapore’s creative confidence continues to deepen.

To Sacha Leong, co-founder of Nice Projects, this sense of convergence is equally present in the spaces that anchor Singapore’s creative communities. He returns often to Aa Furniture, a lifestyle store he admires for its mix of vintage furniture, homewares, and regular markets that champion local creatives. “It has become a meeting place for an interesting and diverse community,” he says, appreciating how its curated point of view brings different worlds together.

President’s Design Awards 2025 Designer of the Year Gabriel Tan sees this idea of blending influences taking shape through collaboration, particularly in the meeting of design and craftsmanship.

He points to the handmade door handles at The Coconut Club at New Bahru, created by local maker Ng Si Ying for Nice Projects and Lo & Behold Group, as a glimpse of what he hopes to see more of. “Where interior designers and local craftspeople work together, even in a small intervention like this, shows a good way forward,” he says.

In Singapore’s evolving urban landscape, the future of design is also being shaped by how people live together, as well as how the past and present continue to speak to each other.

Reflecting on her strolls past the House of Tan Yeok Nee, recently restored by DP Architects, interior designer Amanda Pang of AMP Design Co says: “I’m always in awe of Singapore, a city where heritage and modernity coexist as a dialogue.” What inspires her most is how historical structures are “continuously reimagined, their functions changing, yet their spirit preserved”. To her, this exchange forms the foundation of a design future rooted in “character and sense of place”, a reminder that progress and preservation can enrich each other.

“One space I envision in Singapore’s future is the return of the multigenerational home,” adds The Mill’s Roy Teo. To him, this is not nostalgia, but a pragmatic and meaningful response to an ageing population.

He describes it as “a thoughtful spatial evolution”, one that supports emotional and economic sustainability while deepening family bonds. The challenge is to design “adaptable, human-centred spaces that evolve with the people who inhabit them”, offering privacy and connection.

In an era when AI tools make it dangerously easy to default to short-cuts, Chang Yong Ter of Chang Architects believes the path forward lies in a return to intuition. His NUS tutor, Prof Kong Shee Chong, once told him: “To be original is to return to the origin.”

To Chang, that origin is his inner compass. As he puts it: “While Singapore advances rapidly in AI, we must remain its masters, not its slaves. AI operates through logic and algorithms built on data; intuition arises from consciousness, experience and emotion—depths AI cannot reach.”

He points to the display cabinet at the portal to the parents’ corner at Wondrous Light Children’s House as an example: a piece conceived intuitively, then realised with the assistance of AI and the fabrication technologies of Superstructure, the interdisciplinary practice that bridges design and production.

To 2nd Edition founder Hilary Loh, this return to deeper intelligence extends into the material world. She points to the Vibia Array lighting collection by London-based designer Umut Yamac.

“It reflects a future in which Asian craft narratives, circular-economy thinking and identity-driven upcycling shape Singapore design through authenticity, craftsmanship and deeper connection,” she says. Though created abroad, the collection embodies values that resonate with Singapore’s own direction: a sensitivity to material meaning, the elevation of humble craft into sculptural forms, and a commitment to refined design.

Over the decades, Singapore has evolved its mission from a “Garden City” to a “City in a Garden” to, most recently, a “City in Nature”, an ambition many designers take pride in and continue to interpret through their own work. Perhaps most visibly to the world, this vision is manifested in new hospitality developments and award-winning attractions across the island.

To Jackie Lai of Jia Studios, Woha Architects’ Parkroyal Collection Pickering remains a benchmark of this. Standing within its suspended gardens, he says, “feels like stepping into the future of Singapore design.” To him, this early vision “paved the way for what I believe is the future… high-rise environments that are lush, sustainable, and restorative.”

Lim Choon Hong of Xtra sees this evolution carried forward in the Mandai Rainforest Resort by Wow Architects. He was struck not only by its lush setting, but by the way the architecture draws directly from the surrounding ecosystem.

He highlights the precast concrete panels, “inspired by pangolin scales and forest-bark textures”, a detail that grounds the building in the habitat it sits within. To him, the resort “truly demonstrates how creative our Singapore architects and designers can be”. It affirms, he says, a pride in living in a city where the respect for nature is woven deeply into its built environment.

Race Wong, CEO of The DreamR Project, feels the Singapore Edition Hotel offers a more urban expression of this same ethos. She finds its lobby a compelling glimpse of the future, showing “how to bring nature indoors without creating chaos”.

The travertine curves, muted palette and controlled greenery form, in her words, a “blank canvas” that feels timeless. She sees this as a reminder that Singapore’s design future will be defined not only by its greenery, but by the calm, clarity and longevity with which it is expressed.

To Hafary Holdings’ Eric Low, this convergence of nature and technology finds its ultimate expression in Gardens by the Bay. “It is a bold blend of biophilic design, advanced engineering, and urban imagination,” he says.

The harmony between nature and innovation embodied by the Supertrees, cooled conservatories and immersive garden architecture is, in his view, the trajectory of our built environment: places where engineering enables ecological performance, and where landscape and structures shape each other.

PDA’s other Designer of the Year 2025, architect Alan Tay of Formwerkz Architects, pushes this idea into the vertical city with his ongoing project, TMW Maxwell. He describes it as “towers of sky terraces, a vertical park, a new third space”, expressing the convergence of Singapore’s biophilic ambition, urban density and appetite for innovation.

With 324 homes in a single 20-storey tower, it treats greenery as an organising framework rather than ornamentation, signalling  a future in which homes and communal spaces feel suspended within a continuous landscape, even as they rise within the city.

In the domestic realm, the future of design may rest on how sensitively our homes respond to the senses. Gani & Co founder Amilia Gani sees acoustics becoming essential as buildings grow more compact and families live closer together. “One of HDB residents’ major complaints is noise pollution,” she notes, which has led her to consider “an empathetic interior solution that is possible for homeowners in the future”.

She believes acoustic design “will get more popular in commercial and residential spaces”, especially as new options emerge, ranging from soft furnishings to purpose-designed ceiling as well as wall treatments. Brands such as Pepperwall, which integrates acoustic performance into lighting and surface solutions, point to how sound management can be addressed without compromising the visual coherence of a space.

“As we look to the future, Singapore design will move far beyond aesthetics and towards supporting human physiology,” says Design Intervention founder Nikki Hunt. Her attention has been on circadian-responsive lighting, which “subtly shifts in colour, intensity and even position throughout the day to mirror the rhythm of tropical daylight”.

In a city where people spend over 90 per cent of their lives indoors, she sees dynamic lighting as fundamental to good living. To Hunt, the future home “helps us sleep better, feel calmer, and stay healthier for longer”.

Her award-winning interior project at Ardmore Park features a finely tuned lighting scheme that mirrors the shifts of tropical daylight, creating a living atmosphere that guides the body through the waking, working and resting cycles.

Building on this attention to sensory comfort, Jerald Tew of Spin Fans sees the next step in home design emerging through everyday fixtures that respond intelligently to their environment.

He points to the ceiling fan as an example of “the fusion of smart technology with tactile, sustainable materials in everyday objects”. “Fans are no longer passive fixtures,” he notes, highlighting IoT connectivity and adaptive speed control that adjust to the climate and user behaviour.

“I truly feel women are the future of design in Singapore,” says multi-hyphenate creative Tyler Wisler, founder of Disrupt Design, pointing to brands such as Atelier V&A and Lavavella as examples of how fresh perspectives are expanding the local design language.

Through their “unique lens of the world”, he notes, designers are gaining access to “gorgeous locally made products grounded in the language of design” that serve to enrich and elevate various interior environments.

Designer and material explorer Ng Sze Kiat of Bewilder feels that the future of Singapore design may lie in looking more closely at what nature has understood long before us. His answer is distilled into a single entity: “Mushroom”. As he puts it: “It has existed longer than us, yet we are still discovering many things about it. We can eat it, make things with it, grow a building with it—the possibilities are endless.”

In that open-ended potential, including the promise of mycelium as a regenerative material, he sees a profound reminder that the natural world still holds solutions waiting to be uncovered, and that future materials may grow from systems we have yet to fully appreciate.

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