President*s Design Award
The President*s Design Award (P*DA) is Singapore’s highest honour for designers and designs across all disciplines. It recognises the achievements of an extraordinary group of people making a difference to the lives of Singaporeans and the global community through excellent design.
Last updated 10 June 2026
About the Award
The President*s Design Award (P*DA) is Singapore’s highest honour for designers and designs across all disciplines. It recognises the achievements of an extraordinary group of people making a difference to the lives of Singaporeans and the global community through excellent design. Established in 2006, P*DA was founded with the following objectives:
Recognise design achievements
Recognise the significant achievements of Singapore’s design talents and the contributions they have made to Singapore’s economic competitiveness and quality of life.
Foster design pride
Engender pride in the nation’s outstanding designs and leading designers among Singaporeans and in turn nurture among Singaporeans a greater awareness of quality design in all areas.
Champion design commitment
Demonstrate to industry, businesses, the general public and the international community the government’s commitment to design development and promotion.
President*s Design Award 2025
The President*s Design Award 2025 was presented on 31 July 2025, marking the 15th edition of Singapore's most prestigious design recognition, graced by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam. This biennial award celebrates transformative design across multiple disciplines, jointly organised by the Urban Redevelopment Authority and DesignSingapore Council.
Nine recipients were honoured across architecture and design disciplines, including Designers of the Year Ar. Alan Tay and Gabriel Tan, alongside seven Design of the Year projects.
President Tharman Shanmugaratnam (first row centre) with the recipients of the President*s Design Award 2025.
[The 2025] awardees show us that good design is never just about aesthetics. From nurturing our bonds with nature, to shaping sustainable urban spaces, to reimagining how our children learn, their work is at the heart of an inventive society.— President Tharman Shanmugaratnam
The architecture recipients showcase how thoughtful design addresses contemporary challenges through adaptive reuse, community integration, and environmental sensitivity.
Design of the Year 2025: Architectural Projects
21 Carpenter elegantly integrates conserved 1936 shophouses with a contemporary extension. Photo credit: Darren Soh.
21 Carpenter – Heritage Meets Contemporary
WOHA Architects masterfully integrated four conserved 1936 shophouses with a contemporary five-storey extension to create 21 Carpenter, a boutique hotel located at Carpenter Street. The floating modern block contrasts elegantly with the heritage structures below, while storytelling elements reflect the building's history as a remittance house. The design reinterprets inscriptions from Chinese labourers who sent letters home through façade perforations, while strategic skylights create visual connections between old and new.
Delta Sport Centre's second-storey thoroughfare creates seamless connections across the sports complex. Photo credit: Finbarr Fallon.
Delta Sport Centre – Community-Focused Adaptive Reuse
Red Bean Architects transformed a former standalone sports complex into a cohesive community node through thoughtful interventions. The key innovation is a second-storey thoroughfare connecting the complex to the surrounding neighbourhoods. By uniting swimming pools, hockey stadium, and badminton hall into one seamless complex, the project revitalised ageing infrastructure while creating new community engagement opportunities.
SJ Campus features elevated walkways and generous courtyards that integrate indoor gardens with office spaces. Photo credit: Timothy Hursley.
SJ Campus – Reimagining Corporate Architecture
Safdie Architects in collaboration with SJ Group reconceived the traditional corporate headquarters as a community-integrated campus. The design features publicly accessible spaces, direct links to a future MRT Station, and nearly 2,800 square metres of indoor gardens. Upper levels float on pilotis to preserve existing mature trees, while sustainable strategies including solar collection and bioswales demonstrate environmentally conscious corporate architecture.
Designer of the Year 2025: Ar. Alan Tay
Ar. Alan Tay of Formwerkz Architects is recognised for his exceptional two-decade architectural practice across Singapore, China, and Malaysia, alongside his significant contributions to education. His contextually sensitive approach creates highly responsive tropical designs that address deeper societal issues while challenging conventional norms.
From the Al-Islah Mosque (2015) to Cloister House (2018) in Malaysia, Tay's projects demonstrate masterful craft-making and cultural sensitivity. As educator and mentor, he has significantly influenced architectural discourse, advocating that "design intelligence is an essential skill for the future" through critical thinking and analytical approaches to design challenges.
A house will be alive when you are not in constant, uninterrupted thermal comfort.— Ar. Alan Tay
For more information on President*s Design Award, visit: https://pda.designsingapore.org