Using the COVID-19 pandemic as a reset for design, we reimagined travel for the future: safe, seamless and connected, emulating assurance altogether.

Timeless values that anchored our design:

• Assurance in health security - Facilitated by autonomous vehicles, smart wardrobes and mirrors. Health and safety measures are communicated and ensured, while promoting social responsibility.

• Seamlessness in travel journey and baggage - Through efficient touchless checkpoints and convenient clothes rental services; as well as ARVR technology that maximises time by transcending through it.

• Connection with loved ones and memories - Travel adventures captured, shared, and re-lived vividly through AR/VR technology.

The Future of F&B reimagines a more adaptable and crisis ready industry by evaluating the needs of the industry and populating modular units around the country. This concept provides a flexible model with lower barriers to entry, cultivating young F&B entrepreneurs to join the market. Coupled with dining spaces that offer intimate, personalised and thematic experiences, the units are positioned in accessible places to target both the system users and providers.

The shift in consumer behaviour accelerated by the pandemic, coupled with the digitalization of grocery shopping has caused our local wet markets to suffer. Yet, research shows that shoppers value the trust and connection with their service providers, even more so after the pandemic. Inspired by this situation, our project proposes how Singapore’s wet markets could transform in 2030.

The onset of COVID-19 resulted in grounded flights and social distancing, which has prompted MICE events to shift online. In our envisioned future, which focuses on decentralisation and reallocation of resources, MICE events are decentralised while allowing for cross-country networking, and testing of a variety of products. Participants can now choose to attend physically or remotely without losing out on the full event experience. This hybrid mode of events seeks to retain the essence of physical events while introducing new structural systems that enhance the event experience.

Remote working is increasing in adoption going forward. This has the potential to bring greater efficiency with task-based measurements. The flexibility will also allow for better work-life integration and more control over one’s time.

WorkAnywhere complements this new lifestyle propagated by the change in work, as it envisions a new way to connect workers to decentralised workspaces. These workspaces are converted from underutilised places in our neighbourhoods to foster productivity. A platform then connects users to these spaces according to users’ requirements, meeting their mobile working needs.

In the future, the industrial design studio will serve as a concentration of hard skills - in a T-shaped design model. It refines and hones the vertical part by training the depth of designers. Enhanced prototyping labs would mean that modelling and software skills are not just taught in basic years, but can also be taken at advanced levels. Immersive AR rooms are also able to facilitate programmes with overseas partner universities and host remote design talks by global esteemed design professionals. 

The decentralisation of the design studio will see mini versions of the design studio repurposed all over campus in different faculties to facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations. In-depth knowledge, materials and systems unique to the discipline will provide the expertise, which is beyond the reach of the old learning model of design schools.