Summer Island is an architectural documentary short film directed and produced by Shiya Creative Studio, told through the eyes of Yusuke, a Japanese resident in Singapore, and his five-year-old daughter Emma as they explore the island.
Conceived as an emotional landscape rather than a straightforward survey of buildings, the film draws its tone from Takeshi Kitano's Kikujiro and the musical sensibility of Joe Hisaishi, with narration and haiku in Japanese woven through the documentary.The film features recent, high-profile projects by members of the Singapore Institute of Architects: Plantation Village in Tengah (DP Architects), SIT Campus Heart in Punggol (WOHA), Holland Road House (EHKA Studio), House of Tan Yeok Nee (DP Architects), Jurong Lake Gardens Central and East (Liu & Wo Architects), Kueh Kueh at Katong (SAA Architects with Singapore University of Technology and Design students), Singapore Oceanarium (RSP), Singapore Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka (DP Architects), and The Standard, Singapore (DP Architects).
Summer Island premiered in April 2026 at the Asian Civilisations Museum as part of SJ60, the commemorative programme marking 60 years of Singapore-Japan diplomatic relations, followed by a panel discussion with DP Architects' Shawn Teo and Drishti Kulshreshtha, mural artist Yip Yew Chong, and Kevin Siyuan, moderated by Calvin Chua of Spatial Anatomy. It received press coverage from EdgeProp (Singapore Property News). Further screenings followed in Tokyo (Tokyo Architecture Festival, May 2026) and Singapore, with a public online release planned and an additional screening at Singapore Archifest (SGAF+) in July 2026.
As the studio's flagship motion picture work, Summer Island demonstrates full production capability - direction, cinematography and post-production - applied to architecture as subject, and anchors nine named architecture practices in a single citable piece of content.
Premiere: Asian Civilisations Museum, April 2026.
Press: EdgeProp.
Services: Direction, cinematography, post-production.
