Philips announces the winners for the top three Future Living Spaces in Singapore. Best Idea goes to The Soil Box, Most Innovative goes to G-Float Residences and Most Inspiring goest to Soul. I have embedded the videos after the break.

Philips unveils top three Future Living Spaces in Singapore contest winners

Judges impressed with students’ innovative ideas to tackle challenges facing Singapore; Top 20 finalists picked by public with over 12,000 online votes

Singapore – Using soil to keep food fresh, building homes on water and technology that espouses the “kampong” spirit – these ideas proposed by tertiary students in Singapore clinched the top spots in the Philips Future Living Spaces contest. Part of Philips’ 60^th anniversary celebrations, this contest was organized to inspire Singapore youth to think of solutions to improve Singapore’s living spaces and the way people live 10 to 15 years into the future.

“The enthusiastic participation and quality submissions, especially from the contest winners, demonstrates how Singapore youth are aware and engaged on the various issues and challenges that our society is facing,” said Wong Lup Wai, Managing Director of Philips Electronics Singapore. “To mark our 60^th anniversary, we are pleased to have the opportunity to provide this platform for our next generation of leaders to express their ideas and creativity to help tackle the challenges facing Singapore’s future, and enable Singapore to thrive as a liveable city for all ages.”

With recent national debates throwing the spotlight on issues affecting Singapore’s future – climate change, an aging population, urbanization and issues of sustainability – the contest provided a timely platform for students to voice their opinions and showcase their creativity in tackling these issues. More than 60 submissions by local tertiary students were received, with innovative ideas ranging from edible homes, to walking sticks with GPS systems, to eco-friendly bus stops.

However, it was the innovative idea of creating a “soil box” for storing food that wowed the judges and clinched the top prize. “The Soil Box”, by Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) student, Lita, was awarded the Best Idea for its energy-saving and sustainable concept of using soil to keep food fresh. It combined the use of a traditional storage method – soil – with a modern container design, and it was this back-to-basics idea that the judges felt deserved commendation.

“What inspired me (to come up with this idea) was the way people could live without technology before,” said Lita, who walked away with the top prize of $2,000 in cash and a brand new Philips 8000 Series LED TV.

The Most Innovative award went to a team from Singapore Polytechnic, who conceptualized a floating residential cluster to counter the effects of climate change and a lack of space due to increased urbanization. “Soul”, by NAFA student Cindy Woeng, clinched the Most Inspiring award, and stood out particularly for its social innovation and the idea of the “kampong spirit” in the use of lighting technology. The Most Innovative and Most Inspiring award included $1,500 in cash and a Philips SoundBar Home Theater system.

“It is good to see how the students are not intimidated by the scale of the challenge posed and took to tackling the ‘future problem’ in refreshing and creative ways, especially the use of a 3-minute video to articulate their thoughts and ideas,” said Global Creative Director of Philips Design Low Cheaw Hwei who was on the judging panel. “The solutions presented were sensitive, provocative and inspiring. Our imagined future is now much brighter.”

Jeffrey Ho, Executive Director of DesignSingapore Council and a judge at the contest, was very heartened to see that many of the entries exhibited thoughtful and creative designs which incorporated environmental solutions to improve Singapore’s living spaces.

“The winning designs not only serve as more efficient solutions to our daily challenges, but also inspire us to see how much our lives can be made better through design. I must congratulate Philips for organizing this contest to instill in our younger generation the importance of how good design can make a difference to the future of our living spaces,” he said.

Judges Tai Lee Siang, Group Managing Director of Ong and Ong, and Howard Shaw, Senior Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility of Halycon Group, were most impressed with the ideas that incorporated a social innovation and social inclusivity, such as “Soul”.

“The nice thing about this idea is its outdoor application. The heartwarming presentation and the concern for social interaction are noble. I can also see the stunning result of its application. The whole city will light up when people gather!” said Tai.

“I was very impressed by the passion, the attention and the efforts students were putting together to develop their ideas,” said Gregory Birge, Founder and CEO of F5Digital Group, who was also a contest judge. “Lots of innovative ideas and creative projects with interesting angles on how to solve the future living spaces in Singapore were proposed. It is good to see a new generation starting to take initiative on such problems and bring forward solutions.”

The winners’ announcement took place at the Singapore Learning Centre at Philips Singapore. The top 20 finalists were chosen by public voting, and saw more than 12,000 individuals vote for their favorite ideas. The top three winners were then picked from the finalists by a distinguished panel of judges.

The winning entries of the Philips Future Living Spaces contest are as follows:

	Award	School	Entry
1	Best Idea	Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts	The Soil Box
2	Most Innovative	Singapore Polytechnic	Tackling the Problems of Global Warming – G-Float Residences
3	Most Inspiring	Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts	Soul

For more information about Philips’ key milestones in Singapore and its 60^th anniversary celebrations and activities, visit http://www.philips.com.sg/60thanniversary.

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Here are the videos

The Soil Box

G-Float Residences

Soul

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