National pavilions at the World Expo are expected to capture the essence of a country. How did your team arrive at the theme of Nature. Nurture. Future. for the 2020 edition of the Singapore Pavilion?

Phua Hong Wei (PHW): The questions we asked ourselves from day one were ‘‘How can the design differentiate itself from others?’’ and ‘’Why would one want to visit the Singapore Pavilion?’’ We did not want to compete with the spectacles of other pavilions and thought a sustainable island filled with nature would draw in visitors. The idea of an “oasis in the desert” crystallised from that. Our pavilion design encapsulates the DNA of Singapore by relating to visitors how our built environment is designed to coexist with nature.

Wong Mun Summ (WMS): Singapore is like an oasis in many ways because of how small and lushly green we are as a nation. The pavilion was designed to be a very green environment such that it feels like you are walking in a park that is shaded by trees. At the same time, we were able to maximise usable spaces for the exhibition and create a Sky Market where people can gather. This showed how Singapore can create real estate even as an island nation with limited space through innovative city planning. This was all expressed in a little pavilion in Dubai. It was small but packed with many goodies as we wanted to create an immersive quality where people could feel the intensity and liveability of Singapore. Finally, we went further to demonstrate Singapore’s future with a pavilion that is designed to be net-zero in energy footprint and zero waste. These are targets we need to hit to reduce carbon emissions and we wanted to show how Singapore can be a reference for what a forward-looking, responsible, and liveable city can be.

The pavilion performed sustainably with the help of various technologies. Besides the solar roof that powered the infrastructure entirely, there were systems that drew and desalinated water from the ground to irrigate the plants and cool the space. How do you see the role of technology in creating more sustainable design?

WMS: The technologies in the pavilion are not new or groundbreaking. PV panels, biodigesters, and the water desalination processes have existed over the past two decades.

PHW: We think of them as systems that relate to and integrate with one another. For instance, our closed-loop water system extracted water from the ground, treated it on site, and piped it into the gardens, auto irrigation system, and mist fans. They were powered by energy generated from the solar roof. It was about overlaying and integrating all these different systems together to design the pavilion.

WMS: And yet, we were still able to create a park for visitors to walk in and enjoy without the technologies getting in the way. This approach is what we call the “club sandwich”, where we put different layers together to be impactful. This systems-based-thinking approach is very much like architecture and city planning itself, where different components and programmes are layered to achieve innovative outcomes.

While showcasing Singapore’s distinct approach to designing with nature, the pavilion also sought to demonstrate how its strategies could be scaled up and adapted to different climates and cultures. Can you share some examples?

WMS: The pavilion represented Singapore’s aspirations to become sustainable and self-sufficient, and employed strategies that can possibly be adopted in other cities. We occupied less than 50 percent of the site and the rest was all green space, which is similar to how Singapore is made up of built-up areas and lots of parks and nature spaces. The lush greenery was also very useful in tackling climate change and the urban heat island effect. As the data from our pavilion showed, it experienced a temperature 6 to 10 °C lower than the air outside. We all keep saying our cities are getting warmer, but this pavilion demonstrated how it can be the other way around. A city that is “nature-positive”, where biodiversity and ecosystems are restored, can go hand in hand with the built environment. Buildings can be designed more responsibly to become self-sufficient too. When these ideas are scaled up, they can be very impactful.

PHW: Rather than simply occupying space and taking up resources, buildings and cities can give back and contribute to where they are. The pavilion did that by providing greenery and “ecosystem services”. These are direct and indirect benefits that nature contributes to the quality of life. For instance, nature regulates temperature, filters pollution, and sequesters carbon. When nature is integrated into our buildings, it can perform ecosystem services that are good for us.

During its six months of operations, the pavilion received over a million visitors and was featured extensively by the media. It even won awards for its design. What is one aspect of its success that you are most proud of?

WMS: I’m proud that birds found it to be a safe and secure place to nest. We had two little birds born inside.

PHW: Their parents made a nest in the pavilion and two small birds were hatched over the six months. It became an additional touchpoint in the visitor journey!

WMS: This was not planned at all. But the pavilion design was so welcoming that even birds decided to make a nest in it. This speaks of its regenerative quality. Another achievement was seeing images of people on wheelchairs enjoying the pavilion. Our design was universally accessible, so it was very heartening to see how it allowed people with and without limited mobility to visit.

WOHA has consistently sought to push the boundaries of sustainable architecture in its projects. How might this pavilion offer new ways of thinking about the future design of buildings and even cities?

WMS: What we were very keen to demonstrate is that there remains a lot of room for looking at how architecture and city planning can put together spatial programmes and technologies in innovative ways. One of the things we tried out this time was to turn the pavilion’s floor, walls, and ceiling into green surfaces. This three-dimensional quality was something we had not done before. Being inside the pavilion was almost like being in a forest – being immersed in a canopy.

PHW: The challenge is not really about the availability of technologies, but how to use design to bring together different components and systems within the built environment to make it more sustainable for future generations.

WMS: If every building and city can be designed as responsibly as the pavilion, we can reach all our targets: net-zero energy, zero-waste, etc. The pavilion shows design strategies that can be scalable and duplicated in neighbourhoods and districts, and in doing so, we will make a meaningful impact towards tackling the climatic and ecological crisis we face as a global society.