We enlivened public spaces, with care and precaution, to commemorate meaningful events that took place during the pandemic.
Singapore’s iconic New Year’s Eve event Marina Bay Singapore Countdown took on a different format to ensure that the public could usher in the new year safely and meaningfully.
Instead of the usual fireworks display at Marina Bay, two light and projection shows took centrestage — the Shine a Light display with 60 light beams at The Promontory that illuminated the Marina Bay skyline nightly in December, as well as the Share the Moment projection show, which featured artworks depicting acts of kindness on the facades of three Marina Bay landmarks.
Together with fireworks set off from heartland locations, these displays symbolised hope, positivity and resilience, and brought cheer to many at the end of a challenging year.
Shine a Light comprised 60 light beams that collectively projected light rays into the night sky
We worked with the industry and the wider community to promote the positive impact of architecture excellence locally and on the global stage.
The Singapore Pavilion, jointly commissioned by URA and DesignSingapore Council and curated by the National University of Singapore, was Singapore’s response to the overarching theme of ‘How Will We Live Together?’ at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.
Titled to gather: The Architecture of Relationships, the Singapore Pavilion showcased how public spaces in our urban context, like void decks and hawker centres, meaningfully contribute to social life. The 16 exhibited projects were grouped by four themes – Communing Relationships, Framing Relationships, Uncovering Relationships and Imagining Relationships.
The Singapore Pavilion © Tomohisa Miyauchi
Amidst COVID-19 and restrictions on physical gatherings, we adapted new ways to continue engaging and collaborating with students and volunteers to further understanding of URA’s work in making Singapore a great city to live, work and play
We continued to engage our volunteers and partners by organising virtual sharing sessions that not only enhanced their understanding of URA’s work, but also provided opportunities for us to keep in touch.
We also held the annual URA Volunteer Appreciation Event virtually for the first time, where we took the opportunity to innovate and experiment with different engagement modes, in showing appreciation for our volunteers’ contributions.
URA’s Annual Volunteer Appreciation 2020
Virtual sharing sessions organised in 2020/2021
Together with URA’s volunteer photographers, we launched 'Our Marina Bay', a photo exhibition about the people, places and events that make Marina Bay a distinctive place.
Displayed at the Singapore City Gallery, the exhibition aimed to increase awareness about how URA has shaped and enlivened our city centre through long-term planning, meticulous urban design and partnerships with the community.
The volunteer photographers who co-created ‘Our Marina Bay’
Visitors viewing ‘Our Marina Bay’ at the Singapore City Gallery
We partnered the NUS Geographical Society (GeogSoc) for the second year running in organising two virtual workshops – ‘Shaping a Distinctive City’ and ‘Planning our Future SG’ – to bolster our ongoing engagement with youths. Together with GeogSoc, we shared our land use planning efforts and challenges with 270 upper secondary and pre-university students.
We worked with NUS Tembusu College to promote the safe and positive use of public spaces. As part of an academic module offered by the college, we guided students to explore the possibilities of a public space and facilitated one-day intervention projects at J Link and its surrounding town centre.
We also collaborated with LASALLE College of the Arts to launch Rediscover: Telok Ayer, a public art project which tells the stories of historical and contemporary lives in Telok Ayer. Through art installations and guided tours by artists and students, audiences were offered a glimpse into the heritage and community memories of the conservation area.
NUS GeogSoc x URA’s workshop on ‘Shaping a Distinctive City’