OMFGCO turns a former Singapore school into a flexible creative container

When OMFGCO received the brief from The Lo & Behold Group, the setup immediately caught their attention – turn a former state high school in Singapore’s River Valley into a creative and cultural epicentre. The site would house over 40 independent, made-in-Singapore brands across retail, dining, wellness and arts. The challenge wasn’t just creating an identity; it was crafting a brand that could contain multitudes without dissolving into generic catch-all territory. The brief came loaded with research and clear parameters. TLBG knew what they wanted and, perhaps more importantly, what they didn’t. They’d described the opportunity as creating both a “Living Room for River Valley’s Residents” and “An Iconic Lifestyle Destination for Singapore” – the intersection being Singapore’s first creative cluster designed for discovery. But their working name, The New Nan Chaiu, didn’t reflect the creative hub the space was becoming. During their pitch, OMFGCO set the name on fire – literally, via keynote animation – and proposed something bolder. New Bahru emerged from the collision of English and Malay, with ‘bahru’ meaning ‘new’ in Malay. The repetition mirrors Singapore’s playful linguistic habit of doubling words for emphasis – swee-swee, jalan-jalan, play-play. “The name is a playful use of blending two different languages which reflects the hybrid nature of the project and its aim to bring together diverse communities,” the team explains. This code-switching became the foundation for the entire identity system.