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christopher gong ︎

Singapore, FITCH Design




FITCH Design, Singapore


The objective of the project was to reimagine the walking experience in Singapore’s famous shopping street, Orchard Road. My team considered the redesign based on 4 stages in the customer journey - Dream, Explore, Locate and Achieve. “Dream” refers to the customer's wants and needs. “Explore” refers to providing access for the customer to gather critical information. “Locate” provides them a purpose, and “Achieves” promotes and encourages the customer to act on that purpose.



By referencing the 4 stages of the customer’s journey, we are able to identify their touch-points and pain-points.

Pain-Points


  1. Pedestrian take detours unnecessarily due to the road separation between shopping malls.  
  2. Congested traffic flow at Centrepoint walkway
  3. Pedestrian avoided sunlight and preferred staying in the shade and/or air-conditioned areas.
  4. There are more visual attractions at Wisma compared to Somerset 313 (shops, structures, water features)
  5. Traffic causes noise and air pollution
  6. There were no available tables and seats for pedestrians to enjoy their takeaway meals
  7. There is a reduction in shoppers due to the mall’s diluted identities. For example, Takashimaya is no longer recognised as a mall closely following the Japanese culture due to the influx of new retail stores.

Based on the pain-points highlighted above, we funneled our solutions into three catagories [Noise, Road and Activities].



Touch-Points Ideas


Rain Bridge
Situated at Orchard Gateway, the Link Bridge takes inspiration from LACMA's Rain Room installation to stimulate controlled rainfall. The rain “pauses” when it detects the presence of the pedestrians.

Bicycle
Bicycle rental stations are available to provides an environmentally friendly option for shoppers to travel easily and conveniently between malls. Bicycle rent can be registered with the identity card.

Stage
Baskers perform and showcase their talents on these stages. Speakers, microphone, instrumental jacks and electrical sockets are provided.

Orchard Sign
The horticulture signage is positioned at the forefront of Orchard Gardens. Each letter is elevated by steel poles and covered with shrubs and coiled with LED fairy lights.

Meeting Point
There are two meeting points in Orchard Garden. Consumers can easily identify meeting points with the presence of the giant oak tree. The ‘Big Ass Fan’ creates a cooling environment while the benches allow shoppers to take a break. Maps and wayfinding signages are installed as well.



We created a diorama to visualise Orchard Gardens better. The shopping centres were made from white artcard and they were created based on the dimensions given by google maps. The diorama's ground is made of aluminium and fibres. The aluminium shapes the Stages and the fibre creates artificial grass.



Why Orchard Gardens?

Inspired by Singapore's reputed Garden City, we proposed Orchard Gardens as it solves the pain points, by maximising pedestrian flow and minimising noise and air pollution. Even though Orchard Gardens would cause some disruptions to the traffic flow in Orchard Road, solutions were proposed to circumvent it. Orchard road is also no stranger to redirecting traffic flow as demonstrated in past event such as Change of Guards and Pedestrian Night were a success.


Team Orchard Gardens was awarded with


The team was also awarded with internship opportunities at FITCH Design. During our semester break, we enjoyed our time in FITCH. We were able to work on live projects and we have learnt alot from Gene, our mentor.