Power of Singapore Design: President*s Design Award celebrates 20 years and more than 100 recipients in new exhibition

From left to right: Ms Yap Lay Bee, Group Director, Architecture & Urban Design Group, Urban Redevelopment Authority; Ms Adele Tan, Chief Executive Officer, Urban Redevelopment Authority; Dr Syed Harun Alhabsyi, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Education and Ministry of National Development; Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, President of the Republic of Singapore; Ms Gan Siow Huang, Minister of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Ministry of Trade and Industry; Ms Dawn Lim, Executive Director, DesignSingapore Council; and Ms Lynn Khoo, Deputy Executive Director, DesignSingapore Council officially opened P*DA20: Power of Singapore Design. Photo by Penoramic Publishing.

The President*s Design Award (P*DA), Singapore's highest accolade for designers and design projects across all disciplines, celebrates its 20th anniversary this year with a public showcase, P*DA20: Power of Singapore Design, at the National Museum of Singapore from 18 September to 1 November 2026. The showcase was officially opened by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Guest of Honour and patron of the P*DA.

Conferred by the President of the Republic of Singapore and jointly presented by the DesignSingapore Council (Dsg) and the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), the P*DA has been recognising designers and projects whose work has positively impacted the lives of Singaporeans and the global community. Since its inception in 2006, the Award has become a hallmark of design excellence, celebrating purposeful design that advances economic competitiveness, raises quality of life, strengthens Singapore's brand, culture and community, and pushes the boundaries of design innovation.

Twenty Years of Design Excellence

Exhibition view of P*DA20: Power of Singapore Design

Exhibition view of P*DA20: Power of Singapore Design

Exhibition view of P*DA20: Power of Singapore Design

Architectural model of New Majestic Hotel, Front Lawn by Atelier Dreiseitl Asia, P*DA 2008 Design of the Year

All photos by Penoramic Publishing

With over 130 Designs of the Year and 47 Designers of the Year, P*DA20: Power of Singapore Design brings into focus two decades of the nation’s most significant designs. It highlights how deeply these works are woven into our lives, shaping how Singaporeans live, learn, work and play.

“The P*DA shows how thoughtful design can make everyday life more joyful and inclusive. It will hopefully inspire a new generation of designers and ideas too,” said President Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

Immersive experience within and outside the exhibition

The exhibition is curated by creative agency BLACK led by Jackson Tan (a 2007 P*DA recipient under design collective Phunk). This multi-media experience traces how design priorities and community needs have shifted over time, telling a broader story of how good design has shaped not just objects and spaces, but everyday life in Singapore and the nation’s standing in the world. Alongside finished works, visitors can pore over inspiration sketches, prototypes and working materials, some of which never shown publicly before. These offer deeper insights into the ideas and creative processes behind the award-winning designs, complemented by reflections from the recipients.

At the heart of the exhibition is a 27.5-square-metre interactive LED installation, an atlas of Singapore design that invites visitors to explore the works and stories of every P*DA recipient to date. From there, the exhibition branches into four zones, each representing the impact areas that define P*DA’s criteria:

Enabling Economic Transformation explores how design can drive innovation across businesses, workplaces and industries. The AIR+ Smart Mask and Micro Ventilators by Innosparks turned a local engineering breakthrough into a market-ready product – providing better-fitting, more comfortable protection against haze and airborne pollutants, particularly for children and vulnerable elderly groups. This zone also features architect Angelene Chan, Executive Chairman of DP Architects, whose portfolio spans landmarks such as Wisma Atria, Temasek Club and Sunray Woodcraft Construction Headquarters.

Raising Quality of Life showcases how design can create more inclusive, responsive and human-centred experiences across healthcare and community life. Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, designed by CPG Consultants, demonstrates how thoughtful architecture can support healing through nature, light and patient-centred spaces. Silver Pride Lion Troupe by NextOfKin Creatives uses service design to give seniors a culturally resonant way to stay active and socially connected. Also featured is architect Chan Soo Khian, founder of SCDA Architects, whose SkyTerrace @ Dawson rethinks public housing for multi-generational living, pairing family units with elderly-friendly studios.

Making Groundbreaking Achievements in Design spotlights designers who have pushed creative and technical boundaries. Hans Tan, Founder of Hans Tan Studio reinvents heritage craft, materials and everyday objects through works such as Spotted Nyonya Collection, Pour and R for Repair. Theseus Chan, founder of WORK, has redefined visual communication through his experimental approach, seen in publications such as his WERK magazine. WOHA, one of Singapore’s most internationally recognised practices, has consistently broken new ground in how buildings respond to their environment and community through works such as The Met in Bangkok and the School of the Arts in Singapore which layer greenery and openness into high-density architecture, influencing how cities around the world design for climate and liveability.

Finally, Advancing Singapore Brand, Culture and Community highlights how design can strengthen Singapore’s cultural identity and bring people together around shared ideas. Singapore Icons by Supermama reimagines what a Singapore icon can be beyond the Merlion, while School of Tomorrow, designed by Kinetic Singapore, turns sustainability education into an immersive school experience.

Beyond the exhibition, the public can also look forward to programmes offering deeper ways to engage with Singapore design, discovering the stories and thinking behind some of the nation's most significant designs. More details will be shared in the coming weeks.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, President of the Republic of Singapore with, Ms Gan Siow Huang, Minister of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Ministry of Trade and Industry; Dr Syed Harun Alhabsyi, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Education and Ministry of National Development; representatives from the Ministry of National Development, Economic Development Board, DesignSingapore Council and Urban Redevelopment Authority; and recipients of the President*s Design Award at the National Museum of Singapore on 17 September 2026. Photo by Penoramic Publishing.

Looking Ahead: Empowering Communities Through Design

As part of P*DA20, Dsg will also pair past P*DA recipients with winners of Challenge X and Challenge Y, two national design challenges organised by the Council that invite people across Singapore to respond to a shared national issue. Both put people and lived experience at the heart of solving real-world problems, bringing ground-up, community-led ideas together with the perspective of professional designers.

This year’s edition of Challenge X brings community, care partners and people from diverse disciplines together to explore how neighbourhoods can better support healthy ageing, while Challenge Y, a national youth design challenge, invites students as young as seven to co-design ways to build friendships, connect beyond differences and create a greater sense of inclusion and belonging in an increasingly fragmented world.

Through this mentorship, shortlisted winners take the solutions they developed in the challenges further, creating new ideas and prototypes, which Dsg aims to bring to the public at the Singapore Design Biennale 2027.

In addition, the National Library Board (NLB), Dsg and URA will work together in a new, broader effort to document Singapore’s design legacy. NLB invites P*DA recipients to donate and tell their stories through their archive of works, which the National Library of Singapore will collect, preserve and make accessible with their permission. NLB currently already holds donated materials from P*DA recipients like Andrew Gn and Mok Wei Wei. Separately, URA will continue to work with NLB and NHB to collect and preserve architecture-related materials and archives under the Singapore Architecture Collection. Together, these collections will not only help safeguard the legacies of Singapore designers, but also inspire current and future generations of creatives.

“Over the past 20 years, Singapore design has evolved alongside our country’s progress. P*DA20 is a moment to recognise and celebrate the very best and tremendous impact of our design sector and designers whose work transforms and improves the everyday. P*DA20: Power of Singapore Design and its new initiative with Challenge X, Challenge Y and the Design Singapore Collection highlight the strong design legacy it has achieved for Singapore – and what we can make possible next,” said Dawn Lim, Executive Director of the DesignSingapore Council.

"Good planning and design is ultimately about people and how they experience the places around them. Over the past two decades, the P*DA has recognised thoughtful buildings, public spaces and neighbourhoods that have helped make everyday life in Singapore better – places that bring communities together, strengthen our sense of belonging and hold meaning to many generations. Just as importantly, the Award celebrates the designers behind these efforts, whose creativity and commitment have helped shape the way we live, work and connect with each other,” says Ms Adele Tan, Chief Executive Officer of URA. “As we plan for a more liveable, connected and resilient city, good design matters more than ever. We hope P*DA will continue to raise the bar for the places we create and share.”

For more information about P*DA20, please visit pda.designsingapore.org ↗ (opens in new tab)

For mor details on P*DA20: Power of Singapore Design, please see Annex A [PDF, 180.91 KB] ↗ (opens in new tab).

For more details on the President*s Design Award, please see Annex B [PDF, 140.22 KB] ↗ (opens in new tab).