Feature By Michele Zimmerman
The interplay of warmth, texture, and color at the Clarke Quay mall
The CQ @ Clarke Quay in Singapore isn’t your mother’s shopping center. Situated alongside the picturesque Singapore River, a historic site that dates back to the 1800s, the commercial center comprises several blocks of brick warehouses and multiple-story shophouses hosting various eateries with local delicacies and international cuisines as well as shopping and unique finds like a canine swimming club, a dance hall, and a GX-5 extreme swing that sends guests soaring over the river at 100 kilometers per hour (~62 miles per hour). Warehouses are marked with gable-end façades, peaked roofs, and timber shutter windows, while shophouses feature columns, clay-tile roofs, and ornamentation specific to the buildings. Interior streets, nestled beneath ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) canopies, weave between the blocks. An additional stand-out feature of the entertainment hub is the alfresco dinning area, replete with illuminated fabric “shelters” that create a visually distinct setting.
A partial retrofit of the lighting design at CQ @ Clarke Quay provided the space with consistent lighting language, allowing for the mall to easily transition from a once-nightlife-focused space to a venue that appeals to a wider range of guests throughout the day, while highlighting the area’s historic elements. The renovated project opened to the public in April 2024 and earned the design firm a 2025 IES Illumination Award of Merit.
Conservation of the riverside quay in the 1990s turned the space into an open-air shopping and entertainment location, but ad-hoc illumination left much to be desired. For example, inconsistent façade lights created glare, and historical architectural features were lost amid color-changing uplights within canopies. To address the issues and introduce modern solutions to the site, project owners called in Nipek, an award-winning design firm whose work they were familiar with.
The design team implemented a combination of wall-mounted, long-snoot spotlights and slim, diffused, concealed linear lights (10-millimeter by 10-millimeter dotless LED strips) to light heritage façades and provide comfortable vertical illumination, limiting the need for additional streetlighting and keeping attention focused on decorative architectural elements. Fixtures with a 2700K color temperature were chosen to complement the warmth, materiality, and vibrant hues of the various façades.
Consistent lighting focused on decorative details was vital to the project’s success. Nipek Project Lighting Designer Letitia Liaw explained the strategy, “Only key architectural features are highlighted. These include columns, cornices, and unique ornamentation. Mainly two types of façade fixtures are installed for cohesion, ease of maintenance, and execution. The choice of a 43-deg beam for spotlights proved versatile across varying façade types, with 9-deg beam lighting at a select few taller elevation features for punchier accents. Linear lights concealed in color-matched channels blend into the façade, highlighting ornamental details.” The team also added long-snooted landscape spotlights set to 3500K with either short or adjustable spikes to enhance selected greenery throughout winding interior streets.
The project features two types of canopies under which guests find shelter from the elements: the ETFE canopy above the brick shops and fabric Bluebell-shaped canopies above the outside dining area. Each type required its own distinctive illumination tactics. “Clarke Quay’s ETFE canopy is illuminated by existing Martin lights mounted two-to-three stories up on ‘angel’ structures,” said Liaw. “Custom-made visors are attached upside down on selected fixtures to minimize the visibility of the light source while maintaining the spread of light.” Illumination under the ETFE shifts throughout the day from 2400K to 3200K, mimicking the undulations of the nearby water. An even warmer light scheme ranging from 2000K to 3000K begins after 9 p.m. Though white light is the standard at the mall, vibrant color scenes can be set by the project owners for special evening events.
Liaw cited the lighting retrofit of the unique Bluebell dining canopies as the team’s favorite part of the project: “The soft glow transforms the waterfront into an iconic nighttime scene, enhancing one of Singapore’s most beloved tourist destinations.” The inviting effect was achieved using tunable-white linear lights from ENDO Lighting’s Synca collection that range in color temperature from 1800K to 3000K inside the shelters. The fixtures produce comfortable light levels ranging between 9 to 14 footcandles (100 to 150 lux) at full output, but flexibility of design allows CQ @ Clarke Quay to choose a preset light scene using a remote control.
The updated lighting design at CQ @ Clarke Quay not only caters to a broader range of visitors but also thoughtfully integrates with the riverfront’s natural surroundings. For example, linear lights highlighting the roof of the mall are sequestered to only one side where illumination provides the largest impact, thus, minimizing light pollution in other areas of the project. Additionally, as Singapore is known for its plentiful rainfall, all lighting fixtures are either IP65 or IP67 rated and have weatherproof connectors. Liaw specified that due to the high rainfall, the design includes mounting channels detailed with weepholes at heritage façades for rainwater drainage. Ultimately, the design earned a Green Mark Gold Award from Singapore’s Building Construction Authority for its contemporary, eco-conscious approach.
THE DESIGNERS
Letitia Liaw is a project lighting designer at Nipek.
Shigeki Fujii is principal and co-founder of Nipek.
Weldy Cia was formerly an associate with Nipek.
Ali Irhami was formerly a project lighting designer with Nipek.