GoodLife! Makan wins President*s Design Award |
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DP Architects is excited to announce that GoodLife! Makan, a recreational centre designed for stay-home seniors, has been conferred Design of the Year at the 2020 President*s Design Award (P*DA).
In light of current restrictions, the awards ceremony was held in a hybrid format 2021 at The Istana on Wednesday, 30 June with one recipient onsite to receive the award, while a limited number of guests attended the event virtually. Seah Chee Huang, Chief Executive Officer of DP Architects and GoodLife! Makan design team lead, was present to receive the award from President Halimah Yacob, Patron of the P*DA.
Designed to reconnect stay-alone elderly to the wider community, GoodLife! Makan was conceived to facilitate multi-generation exchanges among all age groups and participation in the community. With a communal kitchen as its nucleus, this activity centre has cooking and dining together as the essence of the experience, providing a myriad of opportunities for senior residents to interact and socialise through Singapore’s rich culture of food, as well as develop roles and responsibilities emerging from the rituals of food preparation and consumption.
The primary design aspiration of GoodLife! Makan was to develop this first-of-its kind model of social programme, coupled with purposeful spatial, formal and material design strategies, to support this community space as an alternative vehicle to reintegrate stay-alone elderly into society through larger participation and stewardship.
“Design has the capacity to reframe the way the community sees these seniors and the way they see themselves… the seniors have gained a new-found sense of purpose and ownership at the centre.” – Seah Chee Huang
Considered Singapore’s highest honour for designers and designs across all disciplines, P*DA was founded in 2006 to recognise the achievements of those who make a difference to the lives of Singaporeans and the global community through excellent design. The award programme was re-launched in 2017 as a biennial award with a greater emphasis on the impact of design in enabling economic transformation; raising the quality of life; advancing the Singapore brand, culture and connecting communities; and making ground-breaking achievements in the field of design.
Presented in two categories – Designer of the Year and Design of the Year – P*DA is conferred by the President of the Republic of Singapore and is jointly administered by the DesignSingapore Council (Dsg) and the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).