At the Society of Interior Designers Singapore (SIDS)’s annual Singapore Interior Design Awards (SIDA) held on 23 September 2022, Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Finance and National Development, announced that SIDS is setting up an Interior Design Incubation Centre to nurture local talent and help interior design (ID) start-ups establish a firm foundation.
The 8,500-square-foot new centre located at Grantral Mall @ Macpherson is a collaboration between SIDS and property developer Elegant Group. Spearheaded by SIDS’s newly-elected president, Tung Ching Yew, the centre is estimated to cost around S$2 million and expected to complete in May 2023.
The centre will function as both a co-working space as well as a resource, research and development (R&D) centre, allowing interior designers who have joined SIDS as members to access shared resources like building material libraries; R&D test labs; meeting rooms; and computer labs. More than half of the centre’s space will be set aside for training and workshop purposes with courses, seminars and mentorship programmes curated by SIDS to support ID start-ups.
The centre follows SIDS’ push to encourage Singapore’s interior designers to place more emphasis on certification and embracing a life-long learning mentality through the launch of the Singapore Interior Design Accreditation Scheme last year. The scheme was developed to elevate the country’s ID profession through defining core skill sets and competencies to bridge the gap between education and practice. It aims to ensure high standards and professionalism in the local ID industry, while validating the industry at the global stage. Under the scheme, designers can also pick up new skills and certification to move up in their classification.
OVER 400 ENTRIES FOR SIDA 2022
Winners of this year’s SIDA, including the prestigious Best Design Firm and Best of the Best awards, were chosen from over 400 entries across 10 countries.
For the full list of SIDA 2022 winners, please visit https://sidawards.sg/2022-winners/. —Construction+ Online
Source: The Society of Interior Designers Singapore
