ArchiFest 2022: The Order of Love

After being held virtually for the past two years due to restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, ArchiFest 2022– Singapore’s celebrated architecture festival – is set to return to a physical format. Taking place from 9 to 30 Sep 2022, the annual festival celebrates architecture and the built environment, providing a platform to breed a vibrant design culture, and consequently a design-conscious society, by encouraging and guiding the general public and design professionals of all fields to interact in a fun and free atmosphere.

Now in its 16th edition, ArchiFest is commissioned by the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) and supported by the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore (URA). It is directed by Khoo Peng Beng and Belinda Huang of Pinnacle @ Duxton fame, and co-recipients of the 2020 President’s Design Award Designer of the Year.

The theme of ArchiFest 2022 is “The Order of Love”, an invitation to architects, collaborators of the built environment and the community to contemplate and visualise what could be needed for a more loving and hospitable future. The theme is centred around three core principles: (a) Love of Our Planet; (b) Love of People; and (c) Love Across Generations.

Starting with an Opening Night celebration on 9 September, ArchiFest 2022 will involve a plethora of activities throughout the month of September which are open to the public. These include a three-week long exhibition comprising seven pavilion installations that characterise the elements that make our world and Singapore liveable and loveable, as well as educational workshops and weekend carnivals offering hands-on experience by local artisans and artists that celebrate the joy of creativity and play in architecture. Both the pavilion exhibition and the carnival events will be hosted at the URA Centre, turning the space into a hub of activity and fun for people of all ages.

Further to its mission in community outreach, the festival will also feature fringe events like movie screenings and architectural tours of sites around Singapore that reflect the festival theme, and partner residents of Queenstown community to explore ways of making the estate more hospitable and inclusive.

The highlight of the festival is the ArchiConference. Taking place on 21 September, and in the same week as the Singapore Design Week, the conference will bring together key opinion leaders and field luminaries to dialogue on how love could be the ordering principle behind making architecture, building our cities, and restoring our environment. Conference panelists and speakers include veteran Singaporean architect Tay Kheng Soon, Canada-based economist Mark Anielski, and former Minister George Yeo.