Your Weekend Itinerary to ArchiFest 2014
PUBLISHED September 15th, 2014 10:00 pm | UPDATED January 20th, 2016 02:22 pm
Crowds, love them or hate them, are something we have to deal with on a daily basis in our little metropolis. Aptly, ArchiFest, the annual festival that celebrates design, architecture, and urban living, will be exploring the theme Crowd with exhibition, tours, and talks this year. We know you busy bees don’t have much time to take everything in, so here are our suggested half-day itineraries over the first two weekends – have fun!
27 September, Saturday
9.30am-1.30pm: Tiong Bahru Architour
Start bright and early with a heritage tour of our oh-so-hipster Tiong Bahru estate by The Architecture Society of National University of Singapore. Not only do you get to see the interiors of the Tiong Bahru Air Raid Shelter and a Pre-War apartment, an unusual bird’s eye view of the entire estate await. Also expect an insider’s perspective of the challenges of conserving Tiong Bahru. To book your spot, head over to Peatix.
There are two more Architours available on the 27th (and seven throughout the whole festival) – one takes you to HDB Centre of Building Research, ACE The Place Community Centre, and NUH medical centre while the other makes its rounds to The Sandcrawler, Oxley Residence, and Parks + Associates Office. See website for more information.
1.30pm – 2.30pm: Refuel at Toby’s Estate Pop-Up or MBS
The good people of Toby’s Estate will be an anchor at the ArchiFest Pavilion, which means they’ll be there throughout the festival, from 26 September to 11 October.
2.30pm – 3.30pm: Design Greenhouse by Naiise
Known best for its quirky Singapore souvenirs, local multi-designer e-tailer Naiise presents its first pop-up showcase at the ArchiFest Pavilion. Taking on the look and feel of a community greenhouse garden, the pop-up reflects the collective capitalism of our local design scene, which is becoming increasingly dynamic with the collaborative efforts of designer, studios, and consumers. So check out cool stuff designed and made in Singapore by emerging and established designers.
28 September, Sunday
10am-12pm: Home Farming by The Wholesome Co., a ArchiFest x Haystakt Workshop
Learn key home-farming knowledge and skills from the folks at The Wholesome Co., who are trying to revive the vernacular farm-to-table food culture – they host food-growing workshops and supperclubs allowing guests to interact with their food directly! Get your hands dirty and build your own farms in this 2-hour workshop with the upcycled materials provided. Topics covered include the high-rise building friendly ‘Growing Microgreens’ and ‘Vertical Farming’. See website for details on registration.
1pm-3pm: Urban Lab – Student Showcase
After lunch, check out the collection of student works of various design schools in response to the brief this year – People. Place. Material. In understanding the relationship between people and space, the students are stepping up to the plate by designing according to the needs of those who inhabit the space. For example, the School of Design & Environment of Ngee Ann Polytechnic re-imagine the neighbourhood of Little India, where design intervention could mitigate the needs of migrant workers with that of local business owners and residents in the area.
4 October, Saturday
4pm-6pm: Obscura, an ArchiFest x Haystakt Workshop
In line with the theme, the organizers have partnered up with crowd-pricing platform Haystakt to curate a series of Crowd Pricing Workshops for the public to participate in. Rather than buy a smart phone projector, why not try your hand at making your own? Designed by industrial designer Tiffany Loy, the Obscura is a super low-tech solution to projecting images and directing sound from your smart phone. See website for registration details and Haystakt for the crowd-priced product.
7pm-10pm: Crowded, powered by PechaKucha
Presented in the Pecha Kucha format, Crowded gathers people from various creative fields to share their ideas, experiences, and passions. Each speaker has 20 slides and 20 seconds for each slide, so it’s going to be a very educational and magical night by the bay at the ArchiFest Pavilion!
5 October, Sunday
10am-12pm: Bugis to Bras Basah – Past/Present Perfect
Stroll through the colourful neighbourhoods of Bugis and Bras Basah, which used to host kampungs, the European part of town, and Catholic schools (and still do, to some extent). Now home to buildings that range from the controversial to the gazetted for conservation, the tour takes you on a rediscovery of Victoria Street, Middle Road, Queen Street, and Waterloo Street – discussions of award-winning projects by homegrown architecture practices WOHA and SCDA included. Book your spot at Architecture Walks Singapore.
2pm-6pm: SA Sessions
Organized by Singapore Architect magazine, the SA Sassions is a more casual forum that allows closer interaction and engagement between young architects and designers, as well as the public, and distinguished speakers from local architecture or design firms like Genome Architects, Red Bean Architects, studiogoto, and wynk;collaborative.
Archifest 2014 runs from 26 September to 11 October 2014 at Marina Bay Sands Event Plaza, Expo & Convention Center, 10 Bayfront Ave, Singapore 018956. Architours and other third-party events will take place in various locations around Singapore. For more information, see website or Facebook Page.
