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CNN
a day ago
- Entertainment
- CNN
Incredible pavilions at Expo 2025 Osaka
Over its 170-year history, World Expos have become synonymous with architectural innovation. This year's event in Osaka is no different, featuring a plethora of groundbreaking pavilions — including one wrapped in a traditional woven fabric (pictured), which set not one, but two Guinness World Records. Look through the gallery to see more awe-inspiring architecture on display at Expo 2025. Dan Campisi/CNN Designed by globally renowned architecture firm Foster + Partners, Saudi Arabia's national pavilion recreates a traditional settlement with a maze of shaded, narrow alleys and courtyards. But its heritage aesthetic hides some high-tech infrastructure, including photovoltaic technologies to generate energy. Made with lightweight, low-carbon materials, the pavilion's modular design enables it to be easily deconstructed and reassembled, giving it a life beyond the Expo. Yumi Asada/CNN The Singapore Pavilion plays on the city state's nickname, 'The Little Red Dot,' with a façade clad in 17,000 recycled aluminum discs. The 17-meter-high pavilion, known as 'The Dream Sphere,' houses immersive art installations within its bright red walls. Yumi Asada/CNN One of the Expo's signature pavilions, null² is an 'interactive monument' by Japanese media artist Yoichi Ochiai. Exploring the idea of mirrors, the pavilion's reflective exterior – which employs mirror membranes, LEDs, and robots — shimmers and vibrates as if alive. Before entering, visitors can create a 'mirrored body,' a digital self, based on their own data that acts autonomously. Yumi Asada/CNN Topped with a glowing sphere which represents a rising sun, the Netherlands Pavilion is 'fully circular,' from its imagery to its materials to its energy usage. The pavilion's materials are all registered in Madaster, a platform that tracks and manages everything used in a project, ensuring transparency in how its reused after Expo. Yumi Asada/CNN Designed by the German architecture firm Atelier Brückner, the Uzbekistan Pavilion is a conceptual garden, centered around a 'forest' of locally sourced wooden columns which echo the timber pillars of the historic Juma Mosque in Khiva. Inside the pavilion, 11,000 handmade turquoise ceramic tiles adorn the walls, a tribute to the blue tiles decorating many of Uzbekistan's most iconic buildings. The modular timber frame is expected to be reused in the country after the Expo finishes, in construction projects ranging from workshops to schools. Yumi Asada/CNN On the theme of 'composing the future,' the Austria Pavilion features a distinctive wooden spiral: a 91-meter-long, 4.3-meter-wide ribbon which represents a giant musical score, and includes the opening bars of Beethoven's Ode to Joy. According to the pavilion's architects, the wooden structure showcases Austria and Japan's shared timber craftsmanship while minimizing carbon emissions. Yumi Asada/CNN Spheres are a common sight at this year's expo, and Switzerland's pavilion uses the shape to create four interconnected bubbles made from a lightweight, transparent membrane that has minimal environmental impact, according to Expo 2025. Yumi Asada/CNN The France Pavilion is a tribute to all things love. It reimagines the 'red string of fate,' an East Asian folk story about the invisible thread that joins soulmates, as a spectacular copper spiral staircase. According to the pavilion's architects, its prefabricated, modular designs enable quick disassembly, and the various parts of the pavilion can be repurposed in future projects. Yumi Asada/CNN Exemplifying many of the expo's architectural motifs, including circularity, sustainability and craftsmanship, the Japan Pavilion is made from cross-laminated timber planks that can be reused in other building projects. The tall, thin panels are angled to integrate natural light and shade, blurring the boundaries of indoor and outdoor spaces. Yumi Asada/CNN The Women's Pavilion, a collaborative exhibition with Cartier that celebrates the contributions of women to society, repurposes the façade from the Japan Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai. Designed by Japanese architect Yuko Nagayama, it's one of the first times part of a pavilion has been reused in consecutive Expos. Yumi Asada/CNN The Osaka Healthcare Pavilion, run by the prefecture and Osaka City, is all about rebirth. A transparent, tent-like roof covers the wood pavilion, with its many support beams forming a nest-like aesthetic. Its exhibits include a 'human washing machine,' cutting-edge examples of stem cell technology, and a 'future life' simulator, where visitors can generate an avatar for 2050 based on their current health data. CNN
Straits Times
23-05-2025
- General
- Straits Times
Design Cues: Singapore serves up feast of citymaking ideas at Venice biennale
Visitors at the Rasa-Tabula-Singapura exhibition at the Singapore Pavilion at the Arsenale in Venice. The pavilion is part of the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale. PHOTO: GIULIO BOEM Visitors at the Rasa-Tabula-Singapura exhibition at the Singapore Pavilion at the Arsenale in Venice. The pavilion is part of the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale. PHOTO: GIULIO BOEM SINGAPORE – Pull up a chair at the world's most diverse table at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, where the Singapore Pavilion transforms the act of dining into a celebration of citymaking through food, culture and collective design. To mark Singapore's 60th year of independence (SG60), the pavilion invites the world to experience its Table of Superdiversity, defined by the island's distinctive identity, shaped by centuries of movement, exchange and reinvention. In urban planning, superdiversity refers to the multifaceted nature of diversity in societies, particularly in urban areas, as a result of complex migration patterns. It goes beyond ethnic diversity and considers factors such as legal status, socio-economic conditions and individual identities. The Singapore Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 was launched on May 9 and will be open to the public till Nov 23. Called Rasa-Tabula-Singapura, this year's theme combines ancient languages as a play on the architectural term 'tabula rasa', meaning 'blank slate' in Latin. Using local desserts or 'kueh' as a leitmotif, some of Singapore's most distinctive landmarks have been converted into sumptuous desserts, designed as food for thought. Walk around the installation and one will find Housing Board blocks that look like kueh salat ('glutinous rice and custard' in Malay), Golden Mile Complex converted into kueh lapis ('layer cake' in Malay) and the Art Science Museum as huat kueh ('lucky cake' in Hokkien). Housing Board blocks that look like kueh salat ('glutinous rice and custard' in Malay). PHOTOS: DR IMMANUEL KOH, ARTIFICIAL-ARCHITECTURE, SUTD The Venice Architecture Biennale is the world's leading exhibition on architectural ideas and innovation, held every two years in Venice, Italy. The 2025 edition, the exhibition's 19th, features a record 66 national pavilions. The biennale transforms Venice into a living laboratory with exhibitions and installations across the historic Giardini della Biennale, the vast Arsenale and other sites from palaces to public squares. The ArtScience Museum as huat kueh ('lucky cake' in Hokkien). PHOTOS: DR IMMANUEL KOH, ARTIFICIAL-ARCHITECTURE, SUTD The Singapore curatorial team looked at how the idea of 'tabula rasa' is often associated with the tearing down of old buildings. But it is also about expanding, regenerating and recreating. The team reinterpreted it as 'Rasa' ('taste' in Malay), 'Tabula' ('table' in Latin) and 'Singapura', derived from the Sanskrit words 'simha' (lion) and 'pur' (city). The Golden Mile Complex as kek lapis ('layer cake' in Malay). PHOTOS: DR IMMANUEL KOH, ARTIFICIAL-ARCHITECTURE, SUTD The pavilion was commissioned by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and DesignSingapore Council (DSG), and organised by the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). The multidisciplinary team of curators includes Professor Tai Lee Siang, Professor Khoo Peng Beng, Professor Erwin Viray, Dr Jason Lim, Assistant Professor Immanuel Koh and Associate Professor Sam Conrad Joyce. The team has curated a 'menu' of architectural and urban planning projects, with 'main courses' highlighting key developments and districts such as Pinnacle@Duxton, an iconic public housing development in Singapore. 'Side dishes' showcase innovations in design, policy and community-building , which contribute to the nation's strength as a multicultural powerhouse in the region . The Pavilion's tablescape reflects and applies biennale curator Carlo Ratti's overarching theme of 'Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective'. This explores how different forms of intelligence – drawn from nature, technology (such as artificial intelligence or AI) and collective human effort – can help architecture respond to urgent global challenges such as the climate crisis. Co-curator Prof Khoo relates his own experience designing the 50-storey HDB project Pinnacle@Duxton, completed in 2009, which explored vertical living as a framework for superdiversity – where density, design and innovation came together in the sky . Prof Khoo and his wife, architect Belinda Huang, are the founders of home-grown practice Arc Studio Architecture + Urbanism. They collaborated with RSP Architects Planners and Engineers on the project. 'With Pinnacle@Duxton, we moved from single developments to district-scale planning,' says Prof Khoo, who is also head of the SUTD's Architecture and Sustainable Design Pillar. 'Projects like Tengah and Changi Airport demonstrate how Singapore applies the same design sensibility to shaping entire ecosystems of liveability and movement,' he says. 'These ideas continue through our research and teaching at SUTD, where planning for the future means designing for complexity. It's one expression of a city always planning ahead, always becoming.' Another example on display on the dining table is CapitaSpring, a 280m-tall tropical high-rise in the heart of Singapore's Central Business District that illustrates the city's progressive planning. The biophilic spectacle is a showcase of Singapore's Landscaping for Urban Spaces and High-Rises (Lush) policy, requiring developers to replace greenery lost on the ground with vertical landscapes. Over 80,000 plants are woven into the tower's fabric, including a soaring four-storey Green Oasis 100m above ground, one of Singapore's highest publicly accessible gardens within a commercial building. CapitaSpring is home to a four-storey Green Oasis garden 100m above ground. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI Ms Yap Lay Bee, co-commissioner of the Singapore Pavilion and URA's group director of Architecture and Urban Design, says that through thoughtful urban planning and design, the agency has created environments that inspire and support how Singaporeans live, work, play and connect. 'In land-scarce Singapore, we need to balance density, diversity and design,' she says. Planning policies, cultural values, environmental priorities and community needs are considered and integrated to create and shape spaces that are inclusive, resilient and adaptable. Ms Yap adds: 'Rasa-Tabula-Singapura offers a sensory map of that approach, inviting visitors to experience the thoughtful processes that have shaped our nation's transformation in the last 60 years. 'It is not just a showcase of what we have built, but also a reflection of how we imagine, and continue to reimagine, our future.' Visitors at the Rasa-Tabula-Singapura exhibition at the Singapore Pavilion at the Arsenale in Venice. PHOTO: GIULIO BOEM As a nation by design, Singapore's socio-economic needs, demographics, policies, and spatial negotiations have guided its urban planning, says Ms Dawn Lim, co-commissioner of the Singapore Pavilion and DSG's executive director. 'Such intelligence not only reflects our design-led development for the last 60 years, but will continue to chart the course for our future,' she adds. 'Centring on the concept of superdiversity, this year's Singapore Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale showcases how the convergence of unique multicultural differences, collective histories, design and new technology offers opportunities for more inclusive, adaptive urban futures.' Prof Khoo says the SUTD team of designers envisioned biennale curator Mr Ratti's theme of intelligence as more than just using artificial intelligence to make an installation. They wanted it to also fete Singapore's collective intelligence as a city. The aim was to show how a city's compactness – once regarded as a weakness, due to living in close quarters – has been turned into its strength. 'Our city is likened to latent space in the world of AI,' says Prof Khoo. Latent space in AI is like a summary that helps computers make sense of complicated data, instead of looking at every tiny detail. This makes it easier to find patterns, understand data and create anew. Prof Khoo adds that latent space captures the essence of the layers of information in a compact way, allowing the decoding of new creative combinations. 'Similarly, our compact city creates a latent space where the essence of various layers of information becomes a source of our creativity and innovation,' he points out. 'This has contributed dramatically to our rapid transformation in just 60 years from a resource-starved nation into a nation with one of the highest gross domestic product per capita and longest life expectancy in the world.' Info: Go to Design Cues is a new column that explores ideas at the intersection of design and art. Designer and lifestyle journalist Chantal Sajan writes on design and architecture. 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Straits Times
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Japan's Princess Aiko graces Singapore Pavilion at Osaka World Expo
Princess Aiko (right) and Singapore's Ambassador to Japan Ong Eng Chuan watch an animated short film in the Singapore pavilion. PHOTO: THE SINGAPORE PAVILION, EXPO 2025 OSAKA Princess Aiko (left) is guided through the Singapore Pavilion, also known as the Dream Sphere, at the Osaka Expo 2025 by Singapore's Ambassador to Japan Ong Eng Chuan. PHOTO: THE SINGAPORE PAVILION, EXPO 2025 OSAKA – Imperial royalty graced the Singapore Pavilion at the Osaka World Expo on May 9, as Japan's Princess Aiko, known for her passion for animals and humanitarian pursuits, explored the Republic's showcase. The 23-year-old daughter of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako showed a keen fascination with Singapore's urban greening strategies. Guided through the Pavilion by Singapore's Ambassador to Japan, Mr Ong Eng Chuan, Princess Aiko was intrigued by displays illustrating how nature has thrived even with the Republic's rapid urban development. Her curiosity was particularly piqued by Singapore's animal crossings, or ecological bridges, that provide safe passage for wildlife across busy roads and expressways. The Singapore Pavilion, whose distinct spherical architecture is a play on the country's moniker 'Little Red Dot', has been designated as a signature SG60 event to mark Singapore's 60th year of independence. Also known as the Dream Sphere, the exhibits depict the indomitable spirit of an island nation that has weathered the odds, with its residents sculpting their dreams into tangible realities. In doing so, it invites visitors to themselves dream of a brighter tomorrow. At the Dream Repository area, where visitors pen their dreams, Princess Aiko wrote 'world peace' on a digital canvas, smiling as her words were projected onto the dome-shaped ceiling. Lending a personal touch was a display at the Singapore Pavilion of the pure-white orchid hybrid Dendrobium Masako Kotaishi Hidenka, which was named in 1993 to commemorate the marriage of Princess Aiko's parents. The princess remarked that her mother would undoubtedly have been happy with the orchid. Ambassador Ong also introduced Princess Aiko to Singaporean cuisine at the Pavilion's Shiok! Cafe, which offers dishes like chicken rice, laksa, satay and roti prata. She said she had once tried laksa before at the Imperial Palace, prepared by the royal chefs. He invited Princess Aiko to visit Singapore, to which she responded favourably. Princess Aiko (left) guided through the Singapore Pavilion, also known as the Dream Sphere, at the Osaka Expo 2025 by Singapore's Ambassador to Japan Ong Eng Chuan. PHOTO: THE SINGAPORE PAVILION, EXPO 2025 OSAKA 'It was an honour to host Princess Aiko at the Singapore Pavilion,' Ambassador Ong told The Straits Times, highlighting how the Imperial Family had also visited the Singapore Pavilion at past World Expos in Japan – Osaka in 1970 and Aichi in 2005. 'These visits reflect the warm friendship between Singapore and the Imperial Family, and we look forward to more such meaningful engagements in the future,' he said. Princess Aiko, who currently works in the Japanese Red Cross Society, visited the Singapore Pavilion on the second of her two-day visit to the Osaka Expo. Her itinerary also included stops at the Japan Pavilion and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement Pavilion. Expo 2025, a celebration of togetherness under the theme of Designing Future Society For Our Lives, is ongoing until Oct 13 on the reclaimed Yumeshima, or Dream Island, in Osaka Bay. Walter Sim is Japan correspondent at The Straits Times. Based in Tokyo, he writes about political, economic and socio-cultural issues. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Zawya
06-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Singapore Celebrates 60 Years of Independence with an Enticing Multisensory Pavilion ‘RASA-TABULA-SINGAPURA' at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025
Celebrate Singapore's Superdiversity by experiencing a thousand worlds in one Singapore RASA-TABULA-SINGAPURA brings superdiversity to the table, through a dynamic exhibition that reimagines city-making through food, culture, and collective design SINGAPORE - Media OutReach Newswire - 6 May 2025 - In celebration of Singapore's 60th year of independence (SG60), the Singapore Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 invites visitors to take a seat at the Table of Superdiversity—an enticing reimagination of city-making and nation-building through the universal act of dining. Titled RASA-TABULA-SINGAPURA, the Pavilion reinterprets the Latin notion of tabula rasa (a blank slate) as a multisensory experience. Here, RASA (taste in Malay), TABULA (table in Latin), and SINGAPURA (Lion City in Sanskrit) converge as a metaphor for Singapore's distinctive identity, shaped by centuries of movement, exchange, and reinvention. Commissioned by the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore (URA) and the DesignSingapore Council (Dsg), the Singapore Pavilion is organised by the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), and is curated by a multidisciplinary team from SUTD: Prof. Tai Lee Siang, Prof. Khoo Peng Beng, Prof. Dr. Erwin Viray, Dr. Jason Lim, Asst. Prof. Dr. Immanuel Koh, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sam Conrad Joyce. The Pavilion uses dining—one of Singapore's beloved national pastimes—as a curatorial lens to explore how architecture, policy, and participatory design intersect in the everyday lives of Singaporeans. Through a curated menu of architectural and urban planning projects, RASA-TABULA-SINGAPURA offers visitors a 'taste' of Singapore, by engaging with the key ingredients that shape its built environment. 'Main courses' highlight key developments and districts such as Pinnacle@Duxton, an iconic public housing development in Singapore, that reflects Singapore's innovative approach to urban growth and transformation; while 'side dishes' showcase innovations in design, policy, and community-building, which contribute to Singapore's strength as a multicultural society. The Pavilion's tablescape reflects and applies the theme of Biennale curator Carlo Ratti— Intelligens: Natural. Artificial. Collective. —to Singapore's context. Building on the word 'intelligence' and the Latin word 'gens', which means 'people', the Pavilion seeks to express Singapore's superdiversity by illustrating how the convergence of global and local influences, complex data, as well as myriad flows of people, goods, ideas and innovations, collectively shapes Singapore's unique identity and the way we rethink the built environment. "Illustrating Singapore's superdiversity, we are highlighting seven 'main courses' at RASA-TABULA-SINGAPURA —each offering a taste of how Singapore plans for life at every scale. At Pinnacle@Duxton, we explored vertical living as a framework for superdiversity—where density, design, and innovation come together in the sky. Moving from single developments to district-scale planning, projects like Tengah and Changi Airport demonstrate how Singapore applies the same design sensibility to shaping entire ecosystems of liveability and movement. These ideas continue through our research and teaching at SUTD, where planning for the future means designing for complexity. It's one expression of a city always planning ahead, always becoming," said Prof. Khoo Peng Beng, Co-Curator for the Singapore Pavilion, head of the Architecture and Sustainable Design Pillar at SUTD and a recipient of the President's Design Award. Another key example on display on the dining table is CapitaSpring, a 280-metre-tall tropical high-rise in the heart of Singapore's Central Business District that exemplifies the city's progressive planning. The biophilic spectacle is a showcase of Singapore's Landscaping for Urban Spaces and High-Rises (LUSH) policy—requiring developers to replace greenery lost on the ground with vertical landscapes. Over 80,000 plants are woven into the tower's fabric, including a soaring four-storey Green Oasis 100 metres above ground, one of Singapore's highest that is publicly accessible in commercial buildings. Through the exhibition's interactive installations and vibrant dining-inspired setting, RASA-TABULA-SINGAPURA brings this urban feast to life, inviting visitors to consider how collective views on natural, artificial, and social aspects can shape spaces that reflect shared needs, values, and aspirations. The Pavilion becomes a living forum where visitors can discover how design, data, and diversity converge to craft Singapore's evolving cityscape and its underpinning interconnected systems. "Through thoughtful urban planning and design, we create environments that inspire and support how we live, work, play, and connect. In a land-scarce city like Singapore, we need to balance density, diversity, and design. Planning policies, cultural values, environmental priorities, and community needs are considered and integrated to create and shape spaces that are inclusive, resilient and adaptable. RASA-TABULA-SINGAPURA offers a sensory map of that approach, inviting visitors to experience the thoughtful processes that have shaped our nation's transformation in the last 60 years. It is not just a showcase of what we have built, but also a reflection of how we imagine—and continue to reimagine—our future," said Yap Lay Bee, Co-Commissioner of the Singapore Pavilion and Group Director (Architecture & Urban Design) of URA. "As a nation by design, Singapore's socio-economic needs, demographics, policies, and spatial negotiations have guided our urban planning. Such intelligence not only reflects our design-led development for the last 60 years, but will continue to chart the course for our future. Centring on the concept of superdiversity, this year's Singapore Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale showcases how the convergence of unique multicultural differences, collective histories, design and new technology offers opportunities for more inclusive, adaptive urban futures," said Dawn Lim, Co-Commissioner of the Singapore Pavilion and Executive Director of Dsg. The Singapore Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 will be held from 9 May 2025 to 23 November 2025. Visit for more information. Hashtag: #SingaporePavilion #RASA-TABULA-SINGAPURA The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. About Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is Singapore's land use planning and conservation agency. Our mission is "to make Singapore a great city to live, work and play". We strive to create an endearing home and a vibrant city through long-term planning and innovation, in partnership with the community. We have transformed Singapore into one of the most liveable cities in Asia through judicious land use planning and good urban design. Adopting a long-term and comprehensive planning approach, we formulate strategic plans such as the Long-Term Plan and the Master Plan to guide the physical development of Singapore in a sustainable manner. Developed to support economic growth, our plans and policies are focused on achieving a quality living environment for Singapore. We take on a multi-faceted role to turn plans and visions into reality. As the main government land sales agent, we attract and channel private capital investments to develop sites that support planning, economic and social objectives. Through our regulatory function, we ensure that development works are aligned with our plans. As the conservation authority, we have an internationally recognised conservation programme, and have successfully conserved not just single buildings, but entire districts. We also partner the community to enliven our public spaces to create a car-lite, people-friendly and liveable city for all to enjoy. In shaping a distinctive city, we promote architecture and urban design excellence, and innovate to build a resilient city of opportunity that fulfils the aspirations of our people. Visit for more information. About DesignSingapore Council (Dsg) The DesignSingapore Council's (Dsg's) vision is for Singapore to be an innovation-driven economy and a loveable city by design. As the national agency that promotes design, our mission is to develop the design sector, help Singapore use design for innovation and growth, and make life better in this UNESCO Creative City of Design. Our work focuses on three areas: First, we help organisations and enterprises use design as a strategy for business growth, and for excellent delivery of public services. Second, we nurture industry-ready talents skilled in design and innovation, and engender a design-minded workforce for the future economy. Third, we advance the Singapore brand through raising design appreciation on home-ground, helping local design talents and firms go international, and making emotional connections with people across the world. Dsg is a subsidiary of the Singapore Economic Development Board. Singapore was designated a UNESCO Creative City of Design in December 2015. The designation supports Singapore's development of a creative culture and ecosystem that integrates design and creativity with everyday life. It also expands Singapore's opportunity to collaborate with cities from the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN). The City of Design Office is sited with Dsg, which coordinates and implements programmes that respond to UCCN's mission. Visit for more information About Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) The Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) is the world's first Design AI university. With Design AI, artificial intelligence is treated as a partner and a member of the team – not just a tool. As a result of this unique SUTD treatment, AI and humans brainstorm, spar and prototype together, resulting in solutions that are elevated several-fold. This human-AI team concept has been made possible because of SUTD's unique cohort-based interdisciplinary pedagogy – which has been in place since the University's formation in 2009. As a trailblazer in the field of design and technology education and research, SUTD has been pioneering innovative programmes and initiatives since our inception – including launching the world's first Design and AI degree in 2020 – well before AI was even a buzzword. The success of that pioneering degree has set the stage for a new growth strategy called SUTD Leap, which was launched in March 2024. Here, SUTD aims to redesign higher education with an even greater focus on design and AI, whilst nurturing the next generation of human-centric design x tech innovators and innovator leaders. Singapore Pavilion
Malay Mail
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Malay Mail
Singapore Celebrates 60 Years of Independence with an Enticing Multisensory Pavilion ‘RASA-TABULA-SINGAPURA' at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025
Celebrate Singapore's Superdiversity by experiencing a thousand worlds in one Singapore RASA-TABULA-SINGAPURA brings superdiversity to the table, through a dynamic exhibition that reimagines city-making through food, culture, and collective design SINGAPORE - Media OutReach Newswire - 6 May 2025 - In celebration of Singapore's 60th year of independence (SG60), the Singapore Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 invites visitors to take a seat at the Table of Superdiversity—an enticing reimagination of city-making and nation-building through the universal act of the Pavilion reinterprets the Latin notion of(a blank slate) as a multisensory experience. Here, RASA (taste in Malay), TABULA (table in Latin), and SINGAPURA (Lion City in Sanskrit) converge as a metaphor for Singapore's distinctive identity, shaped by centuries of movement, exchange, and reinvention. Commissioned by the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore (URA) and the DesignSingapore Council (Dsg), the Singapore Pavilion is organised by the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), and is curated by a multidisciplinary team from SUTD: Prof. Tai Lee Siang, Prof. Khoo Peng Beng, Prof. Dr. Erwin Viray, Dr. Jason Lim, Asst. Prof. Dr. Immanuel Koh, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sam Conrad Pavilion uses dining—one of Singapore's beloved national pastimes—as a curatorial lens to explore how architecture, policy, and participatory design intersect in the everyday lives of Singaporeans. Through a curated menu of architectural and urban planning projects,offers visitors a 'taste' of Singapore, by engaging with the key ingredients that shape its built environment. 'Main courses' highlight key developments and districts such as Pinnacle@Duxton, an iconic public housing development in Singapore, that reflects Singapore's innovative approach to urban growth and transformation; while 'side dishes' showcase innovations in design, policy, and community-building, which contribute to Singapore's strength as a multicultural Pavilion's tablescape reflects and applies the theme of Biennale curator Carlo Ratti——to Singapore's context. Building on the word 'intelligence' and the Latin word 'gens', which means 'people', the Pavilion seeks to express Singapore's superdiversity by illustrating how the convergence of global and local influences, complex data, as well as myriad flows of people, goods, ideas and innovations, collectively shapes Singapore's unique identity and the way we rethink the built environment."Illustrating Singapore's superdiversity, we are highlighting seven 'main courses' at—each offering a taste of how Singapore plans for life at every scale. At Pinnacle@Duxton, we explored vertical living as a framework for superdiversity—where density, design, and innovation come together in the sky. Moving from single developments to district-scale planning, projects like Tengah and Changi Airport demonstrate how Singapore applies the same design sensibility to shaping entire ecosystems of liveability and movement. These ideas continue through our research and teaching at SUTD, where planning for the future means designing for complexity. It's one expression of a city always planning ahead, always becoming," said, Co-Curator for the Singapore Pavilion, head of the Architecture and Sustainable Design Pillar at SUTD and a recipient of the President's Design key example on display on the dining table is CapitaSpring, a 280-metre-tall tropical high-rise in the heart of Singapore's Central Business District that exemplifies the city's progressive planning. The biophilic spectacle is a showcase of Singapore's Landscaping for Urban Spaces and High-Rises (LUSH) policy—requiring developers to replace greenery lost on the ground with vertical landscapes. Over 80,000 plants are woven into the tower's fabric, including a soaring four-storey Green Oasis 100 metres above ground, one of Singapore's highest that is publicly accessible in commercial the exhibition's interactive installations and vibrant dining-inspired setting,brings this urban feast to life, inviting visitors to consider how collective views on natural, artificial, and social aspects can shape spaces that reflect shared needs, values, and aspirations. The Pavilion becomes a living forum where visitors can discover how design, data, and diversity converge to craft Singapore's evolving cityscape and its underpinning interconnected systems."Through thoughtful urban planning and design, we create environments that inspire and support how we live, work, play, and connect. In a land-scarce city like Singapore, we need to balance density, diversity, and design. Planning policies, cultural values, environmental priorities, and community needs are considered and integrated to create and shape spaces that are inclusive, resilient and a sensory map of that approach, inviting visitors to experience the thoughtful processes that have shaped our nation's transformation in the last 60 years. It is not just a showcase of what we have built, but also a reflection of how we imagine—and continue to reimagine—our future," said, Co-Commissioner of the Singapore Pavilion and Group Director (Architecture & Urban Design) of URA."As a nation by design, Singapore's socio-economic needs, demographics, policies, and spatial negotiations have guided our urban planning. Such intelligence not only reflects our design-led development for the last 60 years, but will continue to chart the course for our future. Centring on the concept of superdiversity, this year's Singapore Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale showcases how the convergence of unique multicultural differences, collective histories, design and new technology offers opportunities for more inclusive, adaptive urban futures," said, Co-Commissioner of the Singapore Pavilion and Executive Director of Singapore Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 will be held from 9 May 2025 to 23 November for more #SingaporePavilion #RASA-TABULA-SINGAPURA The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. About Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is Singapore's land use planning and conservation agency. Our mission is "to make Singapore a great city to live, work and play". We strive to create an endearing home and a vibrant city through long-term planning and innovation, in partnership with the community. We have transformed Singapore into one of the most liveable cities in Asia through judicious land use planning and good urban design. Adopting a long-term and comprehensive planning approach, we formulate strategic plans such as the Long-Term Plan and the Master Plan to guide the physical development of Singapore in a sustainable manner. Developed to support economic growth, our plans and policies are focused on achieving a quality living environment for Singapore. We take on a multi-faceted role to turn plans and visions into reality. As the main government land sales agent, we attract and channel private capital investments to develop sites that support planning, economic and social objectives. Through our regulatory function, we ensure that development works are aligned with our plans. As the conservation authority, we have an internationally recognised conservation programme, and have successfully conserved not just single buildings, but entire districts. We also partner the community to enliven our public spaces to create a car-lite, people-friendly and liveable city for all to enjoy. In shaping a distinctive city, we promote architecture and urban design excellence, and innovate to build a resilient city of opportunity that fulfils the aspirations of our people. Visit for more information. About DesignSingapore Council (Dsg) The DesignSingapore Council's (Dsg's) vision is for Singapore to be an innovation-driven economy and a loveable city by design. As the national agency that promotes design, our mission is to develop the design sector, help Singapore use design for innovation and growth, and make life better in this UNESCO Creative City of Design. Our work focuses on three areas: First, we help organisations and enterprises use design as a strategy for business growth, and for excellent delivery of public services. Second, we nurture industry-ready talents skilled in design and innovation, and engender a design-minded workforce for the future economy. Third, we advance the Singapore brand through raising design appreciation on home-ground, helping local design talents and firms go international, and making emotional connections with people across the world. Dsg is a subsidiary of the Singapore Economic Development Board. Singapore was designated a UNESCO Creative City of Design in December 2015. The designation supports Singapore's development of a creative culture and ecosystem that integrates design and creativity with everyday life. It also expands Singapore's opportunity to collaborate with cities from the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN). The City of Design Office is sited with Dsg, which coordinates and implements programmes that respond to UCCN's mission. Visit for more information About Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) The Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) is the world's first Design AI university. With Design AI, artificial intelligence is treated as a partner and a member of the team – not just a tool. As a result of this unique SUTD treatment, AI and humans brainstorm, spar and prototype together, resulting in solutions that are elevated several-fold. This human-AI team concept has been made possible because of SUTD's unique cohort-based interdisciplinary pedagogy – which has been in place since the University's formation in 2009. As a trailblazer in the field of design and technology education and research, SUTD has been pioneering innovative programmes and initiatives since our inception – including launching the world's first Design and AI degree in 2020 – well before AI was even a buzzword. The success of that pioneering degree has set the stage for a new growth strategy called SUTD Leap, which was launched in March 2024. Here, SUTD aims to redesign higher education with an even greater focus on design and AI, whilst nurturing the next generation of human-centric design x tech innovators and innovator leaders.
