Haw Par Villa

Heritage Lighting for Singapore Tourism Board

Haw Par Villa is a 8.5 ha conservation heritage park in Singapore built in the 1930s. Over the years, visitorship to the park fell steadily due to changing tastes and general neglect. The brief was to use lighting to enliven the stories for the new generation and make them relevant again. As the lighting design and main implementation consultant, Illuminating Asia transformed over 20 heritage artefacts through artful lighting, and made the park welcoming. It's a culmination of electrical engineering, story-telling, lighting design, and problem-solving.

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Haw Par Villa by Stanley Tay Wee King

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Heritage Lighting by Stanley Tay Wee King

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Stanley Tay Wee King Haw Par Villa

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Stanley Tay Wee King Heritage Lighting

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Haw Par Villa Heritage Lighting Press Releases

Access press releases crafted for Haw Par Villa in these languages: English.

Haw Par Villa Heritage Lighting Media Articles

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Unique Properties

The design is a balancing act between staying true to the sculptures’ stories, while making them more accessible than before. The sculptures can only be enjoyed when visitors visit the park, so the first design intent was to use moving lights situated at the park’s entrance to draw visitors into the park. Once inside, visitors are then led naturally by the lighting to the most important sculptures. Each sculpture’s lighting is then handcrafted to showcase the stories to the greatest effect.

Tags

lightingdesign, lightingconsultant, heritagelighting, landscapelighting

Production Technology

There are too many different kinds of lighting products used to individually mention. More importantly, all SKUs were customized at the factory to our exact specifications - length, luminosity, color temperature, throw of the light, and other details. In this way, most products are bespoke, even though the SKUs are readily available. The key product we used for the realization of the moving light show is the Gobo projector made by Martin Harmon, and we worked closely with them to enable a moving slide show. We also build a structure from scratch to house the Marting Harmon projector.

Design Challenge

This project is on a national heritage site, protected by conservation laws. Drilling and hacking are strictly prohibited. Many natural first-choice solutions cannot be used, and we had to constantly create new solutions from second-best options to get the desired lighting effect. A lot of our time was building structures that would give us total installation flexibility. And because each sculpture was unique, it was like 20 individual projects, with no economies of scale.

Project Duration

The project started in February 2020, and all installations finished in December 2020. However, the project was suspended from April - July of 2020 due to pandemic lockdown. The project is situated in the Republic of Singapore.

Operation Flow

The moving light show is situated right at the park's entrance, so that when passers-by experience the light show, they will develop curiosity about the contents inside the park. Warm white (2700-3000K light) is chosen so when visitors come into the park, it feels like a resort, increasing its comfort level. Lighting on the main dioramas are then hand-crafted for overall effect of drawing the visitors into the details.

Research

We did both cultural and technical research. Culturally, many of the dioramas are famous Chinese folklores, and we needed to dive deeper into these folklores in order to light them properly. In a battle scene of the Eight Immortals, we studied old books to know the 'order of battle', so key details would be lit. Technically, we used rapid prototyping to quickly cycle through variations for the best solution. We tested whenever we could, at our office, on-site, and using miniatures.

Inspiration

Built by the Tiger Balm family in the 1930s, Haw Par Villa is an oriental park containing sculptures and dioramas from the epic to the macabre. Over the years, visitorship fell steadily due to changing tastes. The brief was to breathe new life to these sculptures through lighting, and re-engage a new generation of visitors with its timeless folklores. We are honored to win the proposal competition to work with the Singapore Tourism Board (the park custodian) on this national commission.

Image Credits

Illuminating Asia SG Pte Ltd

Project Overview

Haw Par Villa Heritage Lighting has been a Iron winner in the Lighting Products and Fixtures Design award category in the year 2021 organized by the prestigious A' Design Award & Competition. The Iron A' Design Award is awarded to good designs that meet the rigorous professional and industrial standards set by the A' Design Awards. This recognition is reserved for works that demonstrate a solid understanding of design principles and show creativity within their execution. Recipients of the Iron A' Design Award are acknowledged for their practical innovations and contributions to their respective fields, providing solutions that improve quality of life and foster positive change. These designs are a testament to the skill and dedication of their creators, showcasing their ability to address real-world challenges through thoughtful design.

Iron Recognition

Stanley Tay Wee King was recognized with the coveted Iron A' Design Award in 2022, a testament to excellence of their work Haw Par Villa Heritage Lighting.

Stanley Tay Wee King Press Releases

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Haw Par Villa Illumination: Reviving Heritage through Lighting

Stanley Tay Wee King Transforms Haw Par Villa with Heritage Lighting

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