SDA Finalist’s Spotlight

Roots & Wings in an inter-generation program, connecting retired seniors with youths with mental health challenges through photographic storytelling to encourage self-expression, foster self confidence and resilience.

About the project

“Roots & Wings” fosters connections between youths-at-risk and retired seniors through photographic storytelling. Photography is an ideal medium for storytelling because it is accessible and easy to learn, requiring only a mobile phone.

Ultimately seeking to promote autonomy, self-efficacy and a sense of relatedness, helping youths-at-risk develop positive attitudes and behaviours towards societal challenges in the long run.

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Makan Already, Anot? is the power of simple family dinners, bringing family stories to the table. There is power of bringing people from all sorts of backgrounds, all walks of life and stories, just to come together to makan, to share and to connect.

About the project

“Makan Already, Anot?” brings youths and their families together through intentional shared meals in redesigned home grounds to foster connection, trust and meaningful conversations.

By empowering Family Champions and harnessing home spaces, this initiative seeks to redesign the idea of hosting inclusive gatherings, where safe space are transformed to bring families and youths to engage.

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Unwinding Map is a mindful walking app, designed for Singapore’s creative students, professionals and tech employees. Encouraging people to practice stress-coping strategies through a multi-sensory exploration during city rambles.

About the project

“Unwinding Map” is a mindful walking app which features a co-created shared map and observer cards, encouraging users to practice stress-coping techniques through multi-sensory exploration during city rambles.

There has been growing awareness of mental health since the WHO identified workplace stress and burnout as an occupational phenomenon and due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the use of this app, it aims to prevent workplace burnout and destigmatise mental wellness for young professionals aged 28-35, fostering self-care and building a supportive community for mental well-being.

Click here to learn more.

I frequently go down to the track right by the MRT to run and I’ve often thought that the spaces could have been better utilised. The idea of EMBRACE is to clad the MRT columns with 22 used holding panels and allow members of the community to come together to paint them and express themselves.

About the project

The premise of this project stemmed from a far-sighted concern on the MRT system. Mindful about the implications the fixed corridors created by the network of on-grade MRT tracks have on our city when WFH becomes the norm, how can design spark online or physical conversations/collaborations to rejuvenate our community spirit in a post-pandemic Singapore?

EMBRACE cleverly reuses construction hoarding steel panels affixed on circular steel support around the MRT pillars, with hoarding panels serving as canvas for any community expression through Paint, Stick or Project. The initiative showcases our people’s ingenuity for turning an urban challenge into opportunity, while the colours and vibrancy of the adorned columns embraces our diversity, creativity and aspirations.

Our project is about giving a new life to a dying industry. Through our project, we hope to rejuvenate the kiddy ride that many of us are familiar with using recycled plastic materials.

We wish to create a common space for multigenerational communities to bond and interact such that this will be a space for young children to play and enjoy the kiddy ride, parents to relax and catch up with others, and elderly to participate in sensory experiences and promote their physical well-being.

Scratchbac is a proximity-based app that originally started out to solve my personal problem but the idea quickly grew to something bigger than myself.

We began organising events such as inviting neighbours to come down and play games together and small markets where people could bring down and exchange their pre-loved items with one another.

When we started the project, we were driven by the desire to make sure that kids had the right principles growing up from a young age, especially when it comes to sustainability.

As no one has ever done a program on sustainability, we wanted to be the first.

All nations come with a vast array of people with different cultures, heritages, and history – but only some succeed. Why? Singapore is positioned in a unique space that emphasises the importance of unity among its citizens despite our clear divides. As a consequence of this, we are also in a place that allows for effective nation-building.

Whilst our governmental bodies make huge decisions, they are also working in tandem with their citizens to build a better Singapore. Despite their best efforts, no one can solve every problem a nation has on their own. This is why ground-up initiatives are important to the future of Singapore.

This brings us to the current day. We live in, are exposed to, and are surrounded by so many good examples of good design that we barely notice. However, these designs were actually responses to the challenges that Singapore once faced. From our housing enclaves to our water system, we take many designs (read: solutions) for granted. We face no shortage of challenges – which is why it’s so important for people to unite to tackle these challenges from the ground up.

This year, 4 challenges were set forth by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth and the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment.