November 26, 2009 | Broadcast Competitions News

This year's recipients are (clockwise from top left) Tham Khai Meng, Look Boon Gee, Koichiro Ikebuchi, and Chris Lee. -- PHOTOS: OGILVY & MATHER, PRESIDENT'S DESIGN AWARD

SINGAPORE: President S R Nathan gave out the annual awards – aimed at encouraging the local design industry to raise the bar in areas such as architecture and product design – at the Istana on Thursday evening.

The four winners of the Designer of the Year award are Koichiro Ikebuchi, director of Atelier Ikebuchi; Chris Lee, founder and creative director of Asylum Creative; Look Boon Gee, managing director of LOOK Architects; and Tham Khai Meng, worldwide creative director of Ogilvy and Mather.

Architect Look Boon Gee’s win sees him finally get some much-deserved public recognition for some good work done over the past few years, including the recent Henderson Waves bridge, which has been featured in international journals including the likes of Architectural Record. Also earning accolades was The Asylum’s Chris Lee, for the firm’s hand in a great many interior design projects that have raised more than a few eyebrows.

One thing that has to be brought up though, are the few statements by the DesignSingapore Council that border on the vague:

“In the last decade, you can see the flair of a more varied, diverse environment – day and night, city and countryside – is now starting to emerge, including the creation of this bridge.”

“The DesignSingapore Council said this year’s winners reflect an increased vibrancy in the design sector.”

What do these cryptic statements mean? Is there a real countryside in Singapore? What is vibrancy anyway? Instead of just mouthing off a few obligatory words to the press, it would help the Council and the curious public, to be more specific and, as one might be inclined to say, earnest with their comments.

via Channel News Asia

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JJ is the co-founder of 5ft Creatives and is presently enrolled as a graduate student at the Yale School of Architecture.