Exhibition Tracing DP Architects’ 50 Years Design Journey Opens to Public
DP Architects’ exhibition tracing the firm’s 50 years architecture journey is now open at The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) Centre this evening. The exhibition was officially opened by guest-of-honour Minister of National Development Lawrence Wong.
The firm was founded as Design Partnership in 1967, and incorporated as DP Architects in 1975. DP has evolved in tandem with Singapore’s nation building, becoming an important contributor to the country’s public projects and urban development. The firm’s work in Singapore has played a critical role in shaping the urban landscape: beginning with early projects like People’s Park Complex and Golden Mile Complex, early architectural anchors that helped introduce Singapore to new styles of modernist architecture; to some 20 projects on and around Orchard Road that redeveloped the retail corridor; to more recent projects like Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay and Singapore Sports Hub that have become integral components of the urban fabric.
A Common Line | One Global Studio curates DP Architects’ portfolio of works within the context of Singapore’s architectural history as well as the firm’s global projects. The works are presented through over 2,000 never-before-seen architectural drawings, in chronological order, showcasing the breadth of DP’s portfolio; 37 reconstructed models, some larger than typical building models, investigating the practice’s design methodology by typology; a specially commissioned wall-sized illustration, titled Building Blocks by local illustrator, Lee Xin Li; and an interactive visual display that customises Augmented Reality technology to allow visitors to reimagine the future through an immersive visual experience of two key urbanscapes, Orchard Road and Marina Bay.
On the exhibition, DP Architects’ senior associate director and head of exhibition Ng San Son said, “This exhibition was over a year in the making and it is a retrospective of our design journey over the past five decades. We hope that visitors to the exhibition will not only query the function of architecture and urbanism, rethink conventions, but also encourage conversations as they relate their memories of the spaces they have interacted with, in one way or another.
The exhibition opens from August 12 to September 29, 2017, 9 AM to 5 PM (closed on Sundays) at The URA Centre. A half-hour architect-guided tour is offered on selected Saturdays at 11 AM. This exhibition is part of the line-up of events celebrating DP Architects’ 50th anniversary.