Apparently not, according to two of Singapore’s hottest names in design and architecture now. FIVEFOOTWAY’s founding editor Adib Jalal, Ministry of Design (MOD)’s director Colin Seah and Kelley Cheng, founder of The Press Room, held a small discussion in the Gallery of the MOD office last Wednesday in support of Archifest 2012. Hosted by newly launched design and architecture platform art4d asia, the “talk” revolved around the lifestyle and routines of Singapore creatives.Great (and definitely apt) topic, but it was dinnertime and we were too busy concentrating on not falling off the giant glossy steps we’d been asked to sit on to be able to grasp the more serious parts of the debate, but other than Cheng, everyone seemed to be pushing the same agenda: That the work may be creative, but the system, rigid. In a nutshell, here’s what happened: Kelley Cheng: It’s OK if your boyfriend does your job, as long as it gets done!Colin Seah: *speechless*KC: My team starts strolling in at about 11am everyday. CS: No extended lunch hours and no late-coming. If you get your work done within the stipulated hours, you can go home on time and have a rich life. Adib Jalal: I work remotely all the time… In fact, that’s how I’ve been putting together my Archifest stuff.KC: No such thing as working remotely! Things get done when I can stand behind my designer and shout instructions.AJ: The trick to getting things done is to maintain as much structure as possible.KC: My team is always laughing. I can hear their laughter even as I’m walking up to the office. Colin Seah may be a strict boss, but he sure knows how to design an office. We took a quick tour before the talk. Looking at the photos again almost makes us forget that he used the words “system”, “structure” and “discipline” in his talk a lot… until we saw the ‘Fire and Hire Room’. The main office
The Gallery
The pantry, which is stocked with magazines, games and a Nintendo WII
The magnetic, ideas board
The infamous ‘Fire and Hire Room’
