As part of the national celebrations of Singapore’s 60th year of independence (SG60), the Singapore Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 has been designed to take visitors to the ‘Table of Superdiversity’ via a reimagination of city-making and nation-building through the universal act of dining.
Titled RASA-TABULA-SINGAPURA, the Pavilion reinterprets the Latin notion of tabula rasa (a blank slate) as a multisensory experience. Here, RASA (taste in Malay), TABULA (table in Latin), and SINGAPURA (Lion City in Sanskrit) converge as a metaphor for Singapore’s distinctive identity, shaped by centuries of movement, exchange, and reinvention.
Commissioned by the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore (URA) and the DesignSingapore Council (Dsg), the Singapore Pavilion is curated by the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD).
The pavilion uses dining – one of Singapore’s beloved national pastimes – as a lens to explore how architecture, policy, and design intersect in the everyday lives of Singaporeans. RASA-TABULA-SINGAPURA offers visitors a ‘taste’ of Singapore, by engaging with the key ingredients that shape its built environment. ‘Main courses’ highlight key developments and districts such as Pinnacle@Duxton, an iconic public housing development in Singapore, that reflects Singapore’s innovative approach to urban growth and transformation; while ‘side dishes’ showcase innovations in design, policy, and community-building.
The pavilion is a living forum where visitors can discover how design, data, and diversity converge to craft Singapore’s evolving cityscape and its underpinning interconnected systems.
“Through thoughtful urban planning and design, we create environments that inspire and support how we live, work, play, and connect. In a land-scarce city like Singapore, we need to balance density, diversity, and design. Planning policies, cultural values, environmental priorities, and community needs are considered and integrated to create and shape spaces that are inclusive, resilient and adaptable. RASA-TABULA-SINGAPURA offers a sensory map of that approach, inviting visitors to experience the thoughtful processes that have shaped our nation’s transformation in the last 60 years. It is not just a showcase of what we have built, but also a reflection of how we imagine – and continue to reimagine – our future,” said Yap Lay Bee, co-commissioner of the Singapore pavilion and group director (Architecture & Urban Design) of URA.
The Singapore pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 is on show from 9 May 2025 to 23 November 2025.
Source: www.exhibitionworld.co.uk
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