Singapore celebrates WATG’s 70th Anniversary

On Friday, November 27th, the Singapore office hosted a party at the office to celebrate WATG’s 70th anniversary. Clients, industry colleagues and long-time friends of the firm were invited and greeted by WATG staff upon arrival before being ushered up to the office entry. An extensive timeline covering WATG history as a firm, significant projects, current projects and future projects stretched through the entry. As guests made their way into the “main event” area, they found that the usual office space had been transformed into a hip nightclub atmosphere complete with DJ and a gourmet mixologist.

As guests made their way into the “main event” area, they found that the usual office space had been transformed into a hip nightclub atmosphere complete with DJ and a gourmet mixologist.

Bangkok based gourmet mixologist and restauranteur Ben-David Sorum, also known as “Bennie,” created a unique menu of specialty cocktail for the night inspired by the firm. The Waikiki Coloda for our first office in Honolulu, The Sligapore Fling to celebrate our Singapore office and of course The Four Founders paying homage to the four WATG founders. Bennie also brought his “aloha flair” for the affair and entertained the guests with his smooth bartending moves and charismatic personality.

Local restauranteur Violet Oon catered the event and created a delicious menu of pass tray bites for guest to enjoy. Violet Oon has recently been making a culinary splash in Singapore with the opening of their new restaurant in the newly completed National Gallery.

Dave Moore gave an eloquent speech welcoming guests and describing a bit of the history of the office including an introduction of Pat Lawrence, the original Singapore MD, whom attended the event. Following Dave, Pamelia Lee, former head of the Singapore Tourism Board, gave an informative speech about her time working with Pete Wimberly in an effort to preserve many of the historical areas of Singapore today and their work together in creating a lucrative and successful tourism plan for the country.

The evening was capped off by announcing the winners of the Singapore office’s Innovation Challenge.

The evening was capped off by announcing the winners of the Singapore office’s Innovation Challenge. Teams were given a project from the firm’s past that they were to use as inspiration to create an installation that celebrates the essence of the project. All of the teams did a superb job and guests were able to see and in some cases interact with the installations during the party. First place was the Palace of the Lost City with their holographic installation celebrating the story telling aspect of the project. Second place was the Pago Pago team with a video installation including original footage of the property in remembrance of the property which will be demolished next year. Third went to the Waikikian team who took inspiration from the localized and authentic design approach and created an interpretation of that type of localized design for Singapore. (more to come on the innovation challenge).

The party was a huge success and gave the office the opportunity to not only celebrate the 70 year of design excellence that the firm has built, but also the current and future work being produced and the creativity of the staff. The office transformation was so successful that some guests even suggested we make this a weekly Friday night event!