Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m very happy to join you this evening. Let me start by wishing all of you a very happy National Day, and also wishing DP Architects and all your partners a very happy 50th anniversary celebration.

 

Over the past 50 years, DP Architects has played a very significant role in building and shaping Singapore’s urban landscape. We have key projects like People’s Park Complex and Golden Mile Complex in the 1960s, Wisma Atria in the 1980s, the Esplanade in 2002, and more recently, the Singapore Sports Hub. These are just some of the many projects that you will find with DP Architects’ imprint, and many of them are featured in today’s exhibition.

 

I want to thank everyone in DP Architects for your contributions over the last 50 years, starting with the pioneers of the firm – Mr Koh Seow Chuan, Mr William Lim and Mr Tay Kheng Soon who founded Design Partnership in 1967, and were later joined by Mr Gan Eng Oon and Mr Chan Sui Him. These pioneers have handed over the torch to subsequent leadership teams, including the current CEO Ms Angelene Chan. And through it all, the firm has continued to expand, and grow from strength to strength. Today, DP is the largest architectural firm locally, and also the tenth-largest worldwide. For Singapore to have the tenth-largest firm in the world, it's quite something. DP Architect is truly a remarkable home-grown success story that all of us can take pride in. Let's give another round of applause to DP.

 

The work that you and all other architects do are of crucial importance because it has a very real impact on the lives of Singaporeans. We all know that poorly-designed cities can easily end up becoming a high-rise concrete jungle – we end up with a stressful and alienating place to live and work in.

 

On the other hand, well-designed buildings, homes, neighbourhoods, with greenery and public spaces can improve our well-being and happiness. That’s an objective I’m sure we all share and feel strongly about.

 

We have many opportunities to make things happen, because we are not done building Singapore yet. In fact, we have a major pipeline of infrastructure projects coming up over the next decade and beyond. We are expanding Changi International Airport with Terminal 5, we are expanding our Tuas mega port. We have new districts like Jurong with the High Speed Rail, Woodlands with the Rapid Transit System coming up, and eventually, we will have spaces in the Southern Waterfront and Punggol, and Paya Lebar, which will be developed. These are all potentially game-changing projects.

 

As we embark on these projects, we cannot just continue with the status quo. We should not be designing and building in the same way as we have done in the past, but must innovate and find better ways of doing things.

 

So, what are some of these new and better ways of doing things? I will offer three suggestions. First, we must build more productively with fewer manpower resources. There are many new technological advancements in construction to tap on. It is not just an engineering matter. I know the architects amongst you may say: “Leave it to the engineers and contractors!”. But architects also need to be familiar with these technologies and lead the efforts together with engineers to push for more productive methods of building.

 

Second, we must build more collaboratively. The current process of building, as all of you can attest to, in large remains very linear – it goes from the developer to the architect and engineer, and then the contractor is left to build. Perhaps projects in DP are done differently, because you are ahead of the curve and are very progressive. But I know many projects are done this way in a very linear fashion. In today’s complex environment, we cannot afford to operate in silos. We need more multi-disciplinary collaboration between architects, engineers and contractors.

 

So I am glad that DP Architects itself has evolved and built up such in-house capabilities, with its different specialist arms. And you have taken the lead in tools like Building Information Modelling (BIM). In fact, I understand that you have set up a BIM task force quite some time ago, and it has evolved into a multi-disciplinary Design Intelligence Unit to look at intelligent design and improve coordination between all consultants. I am very glad that DP is taking the lead, and I hope that you will inspire other architecture firms to do the same.

 

Third, we must build with people at our centre. We all know that human beings prefer certain aspects of architecture over others. We want to look at greenery and nature; we like to walk along a street that relates to the human scale and local identity. Good architecture is not just about artistic design and building structure; it’s also about open space, healthy living and social interaction.

 

I would like to share a story from a book I read recently, on street design. I quote from the book: “The best architectural design of the last half century was almost always more concerned with making objects than making places … The public realm suffered badly as a result”. Perhaps there’s some truth in it; perhaps it’s exaggerated. But I think it’s a lesson that all of us can bear in mind. Architecture is more than just about making objects and nice, artistic buildings, but also about making places liveable and human-centric.

 

This reminded me of what Mr Lee Kuan Yew said in an interview with Dr Liu Thai Ker some years back: “Singapore must retain the sense of space ... There must be a sense of playing fields [and] recreational areas for children and old people – a sense that this is a full country with all the facilities which you expect of a large country but in a confined space”. Now this is the essence of our challenge – how do we achieve that in our little red dot?

 

That is a task for our architects and planners to focus on. It requires in-depth study and better understanding of how buildings, streets and spaces affect our feelings and behaviours. Hopefully through that process, we can develop new ideas that will make Singapore the most liveable modern city in the world.

 

There are many exciting opportunities ahead for all of us to look forward to. We can push the boundaries of architecture and urban design, and build our future Singapore.

 

I look forward to continued collaboration with DP Architects and our architectural community in Singapore in this endeavour. Perhaps, in 50 years’ time, we can have another major jubilee exhibition like this for DP Architects, with many more projects to showcase to our children and grandchildren.

 

Thank you and my heartiest congratulations once again to DP Architects on your 50th Anniversary!