URA - 20 Under 45

The “20 Under 45” exhibition has helped promote our company’s profile and publicised our works. Arising from the exhibition we received prospective clients who found us through the publication. We are grateful to URA and we see ourselves as a partner and participant in achieving the best standards for our built environment. I am extremely proud to have been included in the exhibition, and to be considered amongst the best of Singapore young architects. It has strengthened my confidence and made my own personal design direction and philosophy clearer; and in facing new challenges, I find them more enjoyable.

For example, in the house design on Jalan Merlimau, we found a new way of meeting the URA’s guidelines for car porch setback, front building setback and attic with one singular roof supported on steel braces off a timber-cladded front wall (the ‘umbrella’ roof). In the Sentosa house, the whole attic is an open space for entertaining under a large mono-pitched floating roof. This essentially creates a double roof and excellent breezeway to cool the house.

In many ways, my design philosophy is getting clearer and a distinct style is emerging, partly in response to planning and building guidelines and partly as my desire to resist the typical solutions.