SINGAPORE 2050

Subtitled “Architects Save the World and Bring Joy to Millions” this 2009 concept combined a design studio with a major international conference presentation to explore future scenarios for Singapore in the Year 2050. The task that the studio posed was to make Singapore safe from rising sea levels while shrinking the ecological footprint of the country to the size of the island. The projects tested new cross- programmed infrastructure, urban and architectural typologies to address the pressing issues of water, food and energy security. Proposals include residential power plants, multilevel factory / agri-villages, and resort dykes.

WOHA concurrently developed a masterplan for all of Singapore island and explored four different cross-programmed typologies (Sun City, Bay of Tides, East Coast Parkway, Jurong Plantations), each combining a seawall (the CPR = Coastal Protection Ring) with alternative energy harvesting (solar or tidal) and residential, industrial / commercial or leisure use. As outline for the studio, hypothetical planning guidelines for all coastal plots of the island were developed, including elements like energy production, water rights, biodiversity index and ecosystem requirements as well as the Eventual Submersion Design Concept to ensure that the implementation of this massive infrastructure remains an enjoyable one at all stages.

An exhibition formed part of the ICSID World Design Congress 2009, “Design Difference: Designing our World 2050” and WOHA produced a newspaper - the “Strange Times” - that presented this new Singapore in a familiar format, complete with lifestyle, food, advertisements and classified sections that has proved remarkably prescient - many of the predictions have come true in the years since.

The materials were exhibited in the Art Science Museum in Singapore in 2020.