Prasoon Kumar, CEO and co-founder of billionBricks, a social enterprise aiming to provide shelters for the homeless across the world, will be one of the headliners during Singapore Archifest 2020, an annual festival organised by the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) to celebrate architecture team, is set to kick off from September 25 to October 31.
It looks to examine how responsible design and new architectural ideas that benefit ecology and humanity. This year, with a line-up that threads across both online and offline formats, festival goers can look forward to a plethora of immersive programmes such as online forums, virtual exhibitions, hybrid workshops, decentralised island-wide pop-up activities, and an inaugural virtual Pavilion on the theme 'Architecture Saving OUR World'.
Prasoon will be one of the speakers in the open forum for conversations around issues that are pertinent to the urban environment in Singapore and around the world.
In 2013, he left his corporate job to co-found billionBricks – an ‘innovation studio’ whose goal is to eliminate homelessness in the world, “one brick at a time”.
They have since provided shelters, schools and homes to 5,365 people across nine countries and provided relief support to another 10,000. Their pioneer innovation called weatherHYDE is a life-saving emergency shelter that won the 2018 Singapore President’s Design Award.
The hallmark SIA Conference will kick off this year’s festival, following the journeys of notable industry icons. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, a virtual element has been added to the event that will allow it to reach beyond Singapore, stated Festival Director Dr Chong Keng Hua, who is an Associate Professor of Architecture and Sustainable Design at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD).
"With this year’s edition being a hybrid one that traverses the online space, it means that we are able to welcome on board international design mavens and also reach out to audiences beyond Singapore – making Singapore Archifest 2020 one that brings together the built community from all over the world,” Dr Chong said.
Singapore Architectural Festival began in 2007 as an annual festival for the city to celebrate architecture. The exciting program line-up consisting of architours, talks, film screenings and workshops have been designed to stimulate curiosity and nurture a design-conscious society through engaging conversations.