Nurturing future generations of designers at the URA's 15th Edition CUBE Workshop

The 15th edition of the Challenge for the Urban and Built Environment (CUBE) Workshop, organised by Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), took place from 18 November to 22 November at the URA Centre. The annually-held workshop doubles as a competition for pre-university students under URA’s education and outreach programme, seeking to educate and inspire the next generation of designers who will shape our future cities and spaces.

SAA's architects and designers were invited as mentors to guide the students in developing a master plan and concepts for actual project sites in Singapore. The panel of mentors imparted valuable insights and expertise that benefitted the students’ overall learning.

During the workshop, students conceptualised designs for Long Island — a land reclamation project in Singapore spanning 800 hectares along East Coast Park, planned for future residential developments and a new reservoir. This project is Singapore’s response to rising sea levels and inland flooding. Plans for this reclamation were first unveiled in 1991, and URA shared possible concepts in a long-term plan review exhibition in 2022. Now, our aspiring designers and planners alongside the critique panel are invited to join the conversation through CUBE.

Jean-Pierre Khim, an Associate at SAA, one of the invited mentors, shared, “I am grateful and honoured to be able to guide and inspire our future architects and planners in shaping one of Singapore’s biggest, upcoming urban projects. The students were full of bold, ambitious ideas for the shaping of this new waterfront neighbourhood. It is heartening to see their zest in coming up with ideas for our future spaces.” 

Jean-Pierre added: “Climate issues and sustainability remain an important topic in architecture and urban planning, and even more so as we continue to face increasing environmental challenges. It is encouraging to see that there are workshops that place importance on these areas to equip our young designers with the tools and knowledge to stay relevant and future-looking.”

Echoing the same sentiment, Architectural Executive, Karen Chin, who also joined the panel expressed: “Events like CUBE [also] help to align the students and practising designers with Singapore’s latest masterplan and development.” Emphasising the value of such workshops and competitions, she mentioned that it has been equally enlightening for her and hopes that there will be more of these activities to better nurture the designers of our future cities.