A dream-like kampong for artistic exploration.

This was a very unusual project for Singapore. It was the first annual village, created on open parkland as a venue for the Singapore Arts Festival. It emerged as a sort of fleeting and dream-like space for the country’s creative community to get together. The Village included restaurants, two major theatre spaces (designed in collaboration with Japan’s legendary Ishinha performance group), and a bar which was inserted under the canopy of a giant tree. All of the spaces were connected by a meandering ramp, which led visitors among the sites of the village at the level of the tree canopy.

The theme of the Arts Festival was (and remains) memory. The Village intended to extend this theme by evoking a village, as well as temporary architectures, tentages, fairgrounds, and the magical spaces of Hayao Miyazaki. Part of its dream-like effect was the speed with which it was erected–the village appeared among the trees literally overnight, and largely unannounced.

All images by Darren Soh / Fullframephotos