Japan-Singapore entry wins design competition for Founders’ Memorial
An artist's impression of the winning design for the Founders' Memorial as it would be seen from a new central road.
SINGAPORE — A Japanese-Singaporean collaboration is the winner of an architectural design competition for the Founders' Memorial, which is set to be built at Marina Bay by 2027.
The judges said they chose the design because it emphasises Singapore as a “City in a Garden”, embodies the “spirit and values of Singapore's founding team of leaders” and is accessible and well-integrated with the Bay East Garden area.
Designed by Japanese firm Kengo Kuma and Associates, and Singapore firm K2LD Architects, the winning project was announced by the Founders’ Memorial Committee on Monday (March 9) in a press release. It was unanimously voted the winner by the seven-member jury from five short-listed entries.
Kengo Kuma was part of the design team for the National Stadium in Tokyo, which is due to be used for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
The Founders' Memorial will honour the contributions of modern Singapore’s founders such as its first Prime Minister, the late Lee Kuan Yew, and will be built on a 5ha site in the Bay East Garden.
A lake at the centre of the memorial, described as "the arrival lake". Artist's impression: Kengo Kuma & Associates, and K2LD Architects
To gather ideas for the memorial’s design, planners launched an international architectural design competition in January last year that attracted a total of 193 submissions from local and international firms.
The winning design features two buildings with rooftop garden canopies, a lake at the memorial’s centre, an outdoor amphitheatre and forest trails that link the site to the rest of the 30ha Bay East Garden.
Mr Ko Shiou Hee, who leads K2LD and is the winning team’s project architect, told TODAY on Monday that the memorial’s first building will be three storeys high and host a gallery to showcase the history of Singapore’s founders. Its top floor will feature a viewing gallery that overlooks the city’s skyline.
The memorial’s smaller second building will be a two-storey space for cafes and workshops to be used by various interest groups or students.
Mr Ko added that at least one of the buildings will feature a rooftop canopy with gentle slopes that visitors can walk or sit on.
The design also incorporates wide paths and open spaces around the memorial buildings.
The winning design incorporates forest paths as part of the Founders' Memorial. Artist's Kengo Kuma & Associates, and K2LD Architects
“When Singapore was founded, our leaders had a vision to make a nation that was multiracial and multicultural. We wanted to make this design reflect this through its openness,” he said.
The competition jury, which included representatives of Gardens by the Bay, the Urban Redevelopment Authority and the National Heritage Board, commended the winning submission for being “conceptually different from the other shortlisted designs” and well-tailored to the site.
“Its organic form creates a welcome counterpoint to the domes of Gardens by the Bay. It represents a bold and imaginative new type of memorial which rises out of the landscape,” they said.
The jury panel also took public feedback into consideration. In November and December last year, the Founders’ Memorial Committee received more than 50,000 responses from members of the public on the five shortlisted designs which were showcased at various sites islandwide.
Mr Lee Tzu Yang, chairman of the Founders’ Memorial committee, said the jury noted that the winning design was strong from a technical and functional perspective.
For example, the design was relatively easy to construct and maintain, connected the memorial to transportation nodes, and had a well-thought-out layout of spaces and visitor flow, he said.
Arriving at the Founders' Memorial from a car park. Artist's impression: Kengo Kuma & Associates, and K2LD Architects
Mr Kengo Kuma, design lead of the winning team and principal of Kengo Kuma and Associates, said his team’s concept for the Founders’ Memorial came from the idea of a path that traces the legacy of Singapore founding fathers.
“It simultaneously honours the past, and inspires the present and future. The design aims to be a ‘living memorial’, to be owned by each new generation of Singaporeans,” he said.
A viewing gallery will offer visitors an outlook across the city. Artist's impression: Kengo Kuma & Associates, and K2LD Architects
Following this announcement, winning firms Kengo Kuma and Associates and K2LD Architects will be commissioned to develop the design of the memorial with the National Heritage Board and Gardens by the Bay.
Construction for the memorial is expected to begin in 2022 and to be completed by 2027, said the Founders’ Memorial Committee.
The committee will also continue to consult the public on the memorial’s development over the next few years, it added.
The memorial will also be serviced by the Thomson East-Coast Line (TEL) via the Founders’ Memorial station, which will open in tandem with the memorial itself, said the Land Transport Authority in January last year.
Previous work of homegrown K2LD Architects includes Christ Methodist Church in Singapore and Yong Tai Red Cliff Visitor Centre in Fuzhou, China.
Kengo Kuma and Associates was responsible for the V&A Museum Dundee, Scotland and Yusuhara Wooden Bridge Museum in Kochi, Japan, as well as the National Stadium in Tokyo.
