The architects of Pinnacle@Duxton, a design feat for the Housing Development Board of Singapore, are exponents of Design Thinking

In his story about Design Thinking, Fast Company writer Mark Dziersk said that although design is “most often used to describe an object or end result, design in its most effective form is a process, an action, a verb not a noun.”

Design Thinking is a protocol for solving problems and discovering new opportunities. Techniques and tools differ and their effectiveness are arguable but the core of the process stays the same.

“It’s taken years of slogging through design = high style to bring us full circle to the simple truth about Design Thinking. That it is a most powerful tool and when used effectively, can be the foundation for driving a brand or business forward.”

So he wrote in 2006.

A sexy alternative

In Singapore, Design Thinking is beginning to look like a sexy alternative to the traditional “analytical thinking” that has dominated the headspace of the nation.

Singapore’s outward progress in the sphere of design is evident, with many wins across the world in recent years.

Case in point: Pinnacle@Duxton, a feat for the Housing Development Board of Singapore, was named Asia and Australasia’s “Best Tall Building” by the Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat in June 2010. This was followed by a top award - “World’s Best Housing Development” - at the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona in November.

But it is not the ultimate product that Singapore is now enamoured with - it is the process involved in the creation of design that holds great possibilities.

A thinking design

Design Thinking builds up ideas, as opposed to breaking them down which is done in analytical thinking. While analysis begins with the end in mind, Design Thinking does not presume to know the final product. Hence the product of Design Thinking most often is innovation.

Singapore is walking the talk too. At the President’s Design Awards 2010 ceremony, Mr Lui Tuck Yew, then Minister for Information, Communications, and the Arts announced a $7.5 million investment by the Design Singapore Council in a Design Thinking and Innovation Academy over the next four years.

“Design thinking involves the whole mind,” explain Khoo Peng Beng and Belinda Huang of ARC Studio, the husband-and-wife team responsible for the award-winning Pinnacle@Duxton.

The housing project was also one of the winners at the President’s Design Awards in November.

“It requires one to develop empathy, the ability to synthesize different facts, to find meaning, to play and to be able to share a vision through storytelling. These are skills that will bring Singapore well into the conceptual age and they should actually be introduced to young children very early in their education.”

“Contrary to what many people believe, design is less a flash of brilliance but more a series of decisions and methodical steps in arriving at the solution,” they say, explaining their team’s process when working on Pinnacle@Duxton.

Their design brief called for a solution to a complex urban proposition that “had no examples or reference in the world today".

“By observing our existing condition and how we use, maintain and enjoy the current environment, we could then formulate the right questions and criteria over and above that called for in the brief. We then made as many possible solutions.

“It is important at this stage that we allow even the most ridiculous ideas to come forth. We do not evaluate the possible solutions but try to think laterally. We then identify several schemes that would answer our original criteria and parameters in the most elegant manner.”

What if ...?

Pinnacle@Duxton’s aesthetically-stunning design was a product of the ARC team’s problem-solving techniques using Design Thinking.

“We asked … ‘what if’ questions. We were looking for an aesthetic project along with the highly pragmatic project.”

The temptation, even for highly talented people, is to go back to a ‘safe’ way of solving a problem, often a tried, tested and proven method. As explained by Khoo and Huang, Design Thinking requires teams to come up with and consider many solutions to the problem.

It has seen a surge in popularity in recent years, growing alongside the wave known as social innovation. Problem-solving by Design Thinking has been successful in the United States and Western Europe.

Now Asia is gearing to take it on. Singapore - currently the fastest growing economy in the world - is bent on maintaining its lead, particularly in the realm of technology and innovation.

In his blog, Tim Brown, owner of IDEO, a global innovation consultancy and author of the influential tome Change By Design, and who was also in Singapore to speak about Design Thinking at the President’s Design Awards 2010, pondered about “cities like Singapore that actively promote a fusion of outside and inside and that are positioned as hubs in the Asian network”.

“There seems to be a group of small to medium-sized countries that are committed to building innovation infrastructure to drive economic growth,” he wrote.

“When I look at places that have generated significant innovation in the past – London, New York, Paris, Silicon Valley, Florence, Rome, they all seem to have been successful ‘fusion cities’ (or regions) that benefited from ideas flowing in from the outside, and the interaction of diverse populations.

“That’s why I think cities like Singapore, Shanghai and Mumbai may one day be seen as equally innovative hotspots. Each of these cities has the opportunity to help translate ideas and forces that exist in the world for the rapidly expanding Asian market.

“The mix of ‘outsiders’ and ‘insiders’ helps ideas mutate in the way that they must to create relevant innovations.”

Khoo and Huang feel that Singapore has, over the years, demonstrated great creativity in solving its unique problems, and that Design Thinking will “definitely help Singapore to discover innovative solutions in every area” - from how to educate children holistically to healthcare, energy, food and housing.

“It has the potential to make life a lot more interesting and fun. It requires a sense of humour and the ability to combine interesting things and information to create new ones.

“The side effect of design thinking is that people who use it will start to have a lot more fun and that will be, we suspect, a welcomed side effect.”

Hybrid thinking

But even as excitement builds around the idea of Design Thinking, there is already talk of Hybrid Thinking - not just multi-disciplinary teams coming together to think up unique solutions, but multi-disciplinary individuals.

John Clang, 37, the first photographer winner of the Designer of the Year award at the President’s Design Award 2010, has long drawn inspiration and ideas from disciplines far and wide in his work.

(Clockwise from above) Chinatown, Traffic and Fear1 — three photographs by John Clang, the first photographer to win the Designer of the Year award at the President’s Design Award 2010. He credits Design Thinking for his achievements in Singapore

“Thinking out of the box has always been something I do that allows me to understand my mind clearly. Using the process of Design Thinking, I become more conscious of my thoughts and my desires. This has helped me patiently pursue my dreams without feeling pressured. I’m able to feel that many things are possible if I put my mind to it.”

The New-York based Singaporean names American designer-author philosopher Buckminster Fuller as the embodiment of Design Thinking/Hybrid Thinking.

“If we are able to push Design Thinking on a national level, we may able to have a few Singaporean ‘Buckminster Fullers’ in future. As a very motivated young country, we already have many examples of successful business entrepreneurs.

“But Design Thinking will allow our next generation to be even more original and inventive, giving our small country a dynamic outlook. Personally, I think we will succeed in pushing Design Thinking on a national level by exposing the youth with the possibilities that it holds.”

* This article was written by Theresa Tan and first published in Singapore Magazine (Jan-Mar 2011 issue).