Singapore, 12 August 2026 – Ask a Singaporean about the indoor waterfall at Jewel Changi Airport, the sky gardens atop The Pinnacle@Duxton, or the timber bridge rippling across Henderson Waves, and they are likely describing personal memories rather than just buildings or structures. Behind each of them is the same homegrown firm, RSP Architects Planners & Engineers (RSP), which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year.
The milestone was commemorated today at the URA Centre, officiated by Guest-of-Honour Mr. Chee Hong Tat, Minister for National Development. The exhibition, 70 Years of RSP: Where Design Meets Humanity, alongside its commemorative book, RSP 70: The Stories We Build, traces RSP’s journey across seven curated zones – including a central showcase of 15 architectural models charting Singapore’s evolving skyline. The exhibition runs until 26 October 2026 with free public tours available for booking, while the book can be read online.
Founded in 1956, RSP’s history closely mirrors Singapore’s urban development. As part of a broader effort to safeguard the nation’s architectural memory, RSP is donating historical drawings, archival photography, and restoration reports to the Singapore Architecture Collection (SAC). Officially launched in 2023, the SAC is jointly managed by the National Library Board (NLB), Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), and National Heritage Board (NHB) to document and preserve Singapore’s modern and contemporary architectural legacy.
RSP’s donation enriches this growing repository, with artefacts from landmark projects such as Clarke Quay, Henderson Waves, the Singapore Indoor Stadium (designed with the late Pritzker Prize-winning architect Kenzo Tange), and Lian Shan Shuang Lin Monastery. These materials reflect RSP’s enduring contributions to Singapore’s built environment while enriching the nation’s growing architectural archive for future research, education and public appreciation.
“This is not just RSP’s story, it is a Singapore story,” said Mr. Kiat Lim, Chairman of RSP. “Over seven decades, building in one of the world’s most space-constrained nations has taught us how to innovate with discipline. Today, we are exporting that homegrown expertise across borders, taking lessons from Singapore’s urban transformation to help shape resilient, future-ready cities around the globe.”
RSP’s history has been shaped by pioneering figures who built modern Singapore. The late Dr. Albert Hong became the firm’s first local partner, eventually serving as Chairman for decades and establishing RSP’s foundational principles. The late Dr. Liu Thai Ker, revered as the pioneer master planner of Singapore, brought his public sector vision from the URA and HDB to RSP, anchoring a legacy of thoughtful, human-centric design that endures at the firm today.
That narrative is woven directly into everyday Singaporean life – spaces passed daily and landmarks visited for a lifetime of memories:
- Mandai Bird Paradise (2023): Designed for 3,500 feathered ‘clients’ across 400 species as much as for human visitors, RSP collaborated with Mandai Wildlife Group to create eight immersive walkthrough aviaries where visitors step directly into natural habitats without visible barriers getting in the way of discovery. The 17-hectare attraction is Asia’s largest bird park and welcomes an average of 3,000 guests daily.
- Jewel Changi Airport (2019): Serving as Executive Architect and Structural Engineer alongside Safdie Architects, RSP helped bring together nature, architecture and engineering under a 200m glass roof housing the world’s tallest indoor waterfall. Welcoming roughly 80 million visitors annually, it has become one of Singapore’s most prominent global landmarks – a lush indoor sanctuary where travellers and local families alike gather to marvel at a tropical rainforest inside an airport.
- The Pinnacle@Duxton (2010): Delivered as Executive Architect in collaboration with ARC Studio Architecture + Urbanism, this landmark high-density project redefined HDB living with two sweeping 500-meter sky parks across seven 50-storey towers housing 1,848 households. It has become a benchmark and a case study for urban planners worldwide, proving that public housing can be sustainable, liveable, and
visually extraordinary. - Henderson Waves (2008): Singapore’s highest pedestrian bridge was built with hand-cut regional Yellow Balau timber decking, creating an undulating organic wave above the treetops that invites evening strolls, weekend jogs, and quiet moments overlooking the southern ridges.
- SIT Punggol Campus Court (2024): As Singapore’s first Super Low Energy (SLE) university hub, this vibrant campus facing Coney Island replaces traditional closed corridors with open, breezy courtyards and green terraces where students, researchers, and Punggol residents can gather, exchange ideas, and unwind.
- LASALLE College of the Arts (2008): A campus without boundaries, the Bugis campus links six organically-shaped buildings via open-air alleyways and a faceted glass façade – creating an open creative playground where students, artists, and the public freely cross paths amidst a canyon of glass and sky bridges.
- Westgate (2014): As the urban anchor that catalysed the Jurong Lake District, Westgate reimagined suburban shopping with The Courtyard, a naturally ventilated, garden-style dining street with adult-friendly community spaces. It features Singapore’s largest free-access outdoor thematic rooftop playground, and passive cooling design that reduces energy consumption by approximately 30% compared to conventional builds.
That same human-centric instinct now extends far beyond Singapore’s shores. Today, RSP operates 12 offices across 6 countries supported by nearly 1,000 architects, engineers, planners, and specialists. In China, where it has operated for 22 years, the firm has delivered over 500 projects across 40+ cities. In the Middle East, active for 17 years, RSP’s portfolio encompasses landmark cultural, residential, and luxury hospitality developments, including the BAPS Hindu Mandir and the Nobu Hotel & Branded Residences in Abu Dhabi.
Sustainability and technological innovation remain central to the firm. RSP actively champions SLE standards or higher across new industrial, commercial, and institutional projects in Singapore, partnering closely with visionary clients to achieve these ambitious targets – a commitment reflected in landmark developments like Wee Cho Yaw Plaza (formerly known as Gaia; NTU’s mass-engineered timber business school).
As a founding partner of the Singapore Green Construction Alliance, the firm continues to champion sustainable building practices across its portfolio. RSP has been appointed lead multidisciplinary consultant for the new low-carbon UWC South East Asia Dover Campus at Tengah, adopting the collaborative NEC4 contracting framework for the project. The firm is also advancing its digital capabilities through a three-year Enterprise Business Agreement with Autodesk to develop custom AI tools tailored for BCA’s CORENET X platform, supporting the digital transformation of Singapore’s built environment sector.
Over the years, RSP’s contributions have been recognised with the President*s Design Award (for Mandai Bird Paradise, LASALLE College of the Arts, among others), Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) Awards, and international distinctions including the World Building of the Year 2015 for The Interlace (in collaboration with OMA).
“This anniversary belongs to everyone who has been part of our journey – our people, partners and clients,” added Mr Beh Swee Chiew, CEO of RSP. “As our industry faces tightening carbon limits and rapid technological shifts, our execution on the ground must be sharper than ever. Building for tomorrow isn’t just about adopting new tech or setting sustainability targets, it is about how those solutions perform in reality over time. As we continue to expand our global breadth of expertise, our priority remains simple, that is to design adaptable, connected spaces where communities can thrive for generations.”
RSP: Global Scale & Operational Reach
- 70 Years of Legacy – Evolution from a local practice into an integrated global multidisciplinary architectural and engineering consultancy.
- 2,500+ Delivered Projects – Multi-sector global portfolio across residential, civic, commercial, industrial sectors, and city-scale masterplans.
- Global Footprint & Talent – Headquartered in Singapore, powered by nearly 1,000 architects, engineers, planners, and technical specialists across 12 strategic studios in 6 countries.
- Financial Resilience – Group revenue hitting the S$100 million mark, reflecting a resilient, diversified international portfolio and steady execution.
Read Minister for National Development, Mr. Chee Hong Tat’s speech here and Chairman of RSP, Mr. Kiat Lim’s speech here.
