Chan Hao Ong co-leads accident, a creative practice that spans photography and other accidental territories. accident finds value in embracing the unintended, playfully resisting the overemphasis on planning and efficiency as inherently positive qualities, particularly within the context of contemporary tropical cities. His current work employs collage and transparent materials as a defining creative methodology.

His personal work, Sorry for the Inconvenience (2021-2023), describes transient construction landscapes in Singapore through digital collage. It was exhibited at the National University of Singapore Museum (2023–2024) and earned third place in the Aarhus Arkitektskolen Photo of the Year Award 2021 in Denmark. Additionally, his architectural photography of the Equatorial School of Architecture in Singapore, which examined the impact of fluctuating weather on architecture, won Best of the Best Award in the Interior Category at the Architecture Photography MasterPrize 2024.

The Project

The Calm Room, designed by Lekker Architects from Singapore, is a space of respite within the busy and often overstimulating environment of airport transit, especially crafted for neurodivergent travellers. Split into three zones — The Den, The Forest, and The Nest — each offers distinct tactile materials, varying levels of quietude, and different modes of sensorial reduction. The Calm Room invites a range of users to inhabit and decompress, both before and after their flights.

As an extension of the design, the photography of The Calm Room became an exercise in capturing the different qualities of the spaces and the possibilities of inhabiting an environment designed for neurological diversity. Instead of determining actions and poses a priority, we invited people into the space and observed, if not immediately, photographed how they naturally engaged with it — moving away from the conventional mise-en-scène often seen in architectural photography today. The result is a playful portrayal of an interior landscape, prompting two broader questions: how else can architecture inspire diverse modes of inhabitation and how else might we inhabit architecture differently?

Architect: Lekker Architects