Designed as a pilot for the upcoming Founders’ Memorial to study the needs of its future interpretive gallery, “Semangat yang Bahru” takes inspiration from the pioneering frame of mind that Singapore’s post-independence leaders embodied. Mirroring the exhibition title’s direct reference to the “new” post-independence attitude, the gallery’s design draws inspiration from the exuberant architecture and visual culture of the 1960s and beyond.

The visitor’s journey begins within the atrium of the National Museum’s basement, where a colourful assemblage of framework forms define the exhibition’s prelude - a registration and introductory space, expressing a sense of something that is in-progress. A series of scrolling ticker tapes is plastered over one of these frameworks, giving glimpses of the exhibition’s curatorial content, and prior visitors’ responses to it. A larger-than-life image of Singapore’s post-independence leaders is stretched over a curvilinear framework, and directs visitors into the gallery’s first space - an immersive multimedia experience that expounds on the challenges the nation faced at the cusp of independence. Within this amorphous space, projections are cast onto curved walls, and reflected off prismatic totems scattered within the space.

Visitors traverse through a sweeping array of stories and spaces that reflect the different facets of nation building in post-independence Singapore - ranging from political rallies, mid-century classrooms, evocations of Paya Lebar Airport, post-war public housing, and rural villages. These are evoked as abstracted atmospheres, through a playful combination of vibrant colours, period-appropriate materials, and contextual imagery and projections.