The month-long Singapore Archifest features bold programmes to mark SG60 and celebrate design as a force that shapes communities

The month-long Singapore Archifest features bold programmes to mark SG60 and celebrate design as a force that shapes communities

- Chantal Sajan

Architecture is more than just the built environment.

It also responds to the buzz of buskers' music in a town square, wafts of sizzling satay on an evening breeze, and anything else that conjures up an immersive urban experience for residents and visitors.

This is how Mr Rene Tan, festival director of Singapore Archifest 2025, frames the latest iteration of the city-state's largest annual architecture festival.

Launched in 2007 by the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA), the festival fetes the city's vibrant built environment and aims to spark public interest in design.

It brings together architects, designers, students and the community through a mix of talks, exhibitions, tours and hands-on activities.

But the 2025 edition's programming is different.

To mark the Republic's 60th year of independence (SG60), Mr Tan and SIA president Tiah Nan Chyuan are challenging perceptions with the theme, Don't (Just) Think Like An Architect, for the month-long festival that ends on July 25.

It is also supported by national design agency DesignSingapore Council (DSG), and features events in collaboration with the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).

Mr Tan, the festival's 61-year-old creative powerhouse, is excited to deconstruct architecture for the larger public.

The "accidental architect", who wanted to study music decades ago but is now equally at home with a set of building blueprints as he is with a piano score, is emphatic that architecture is less about buildings and more about the communities that built environments serve.

Mr Tan, who co-founded RT+Q Architects with fellow architect T.K. Quek in 2003, holds a bachelor's in music and architecture from Yale University in the US, as well as a master's in architecture from Princeton.

He has also been an educator at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Singapore Institute of Technology and Design (SUTD).