* DESIGNER OF
THE YEAR 2009

Look Boon Gee co-founded LOOK Architects Pte Ltd with Ng Sor Hiang in 1993. Since then, it has become a highly respected practice that has gone from strength to strength. Mr Look’s diverse portfolio features a range of projects of vastly different scale and use, including educational institutions, commercial developments, single-family homes, high-density housing and urban infrastructures. It demonstrates his versatility and inventiveness, and has established him as a creative force to be reckoned with. Most recently, The Chicago Athenaeum awarded LOOK Architects The International Architecture Awards 2009 for the Bishan Community Library and Alexandra Arch & Forest Walk.

Looking back on his entry into architecture, Mr Look considers it almost inevitable. He muses, “I have always been drawn to the creative aspect of beauty, from objects to environments. Becoming an architect was almost a matter of course for me.”

This affinity for aesthetics has shaped his view of design. He says, “Design improves the quality of life … Good design has a timeless quality that transcends geographical and cultural boundaries.”

Among his sources of inspiration, Mr Look names nature and art as well as travel. “Globe-trotting to wondrous places of natural beauty is a splendid luxury that fuels my creativity,” he explains. His influences include his lecturers and tutors while at university, as well as staff and students at his design studio.

Mr Look’s creative approach involves bringing to life designs that stimulate the senses and challenge expected norms. He says,

“Each project is a journey of exploration that constantly feeds back on my design outlook in a self-evolving way … My projects embody the resolution of conflicts on different levels, and each of these confrontations is subject to unbiased inquiry, as demonstrated by the Bishan Community Library and Alexandra Arch & Forest Walk.”

Armed with a firm belief in innovation, Mr Look embarks on every project with a steadfast commitment to experimentation and research. He believes in “thinking out of the box, yet not re-inventing the wheel” and “looking at problems from less apparent angles”. In his experience, “The combination of a prudent budget and an exacting site gives rise to innovation in its most astute form.” In his modest way, he sees himself sharing with younger architects his “unorthodox way of dealing with challenges”.

The path to success has been marked by both highs and lows. Says Mr Look, “We were just a young fledgling design firm when the Asian financial crisis erupted in 1997. Learning to remain calm and optimistic in the face of adversity has been invaluable to my development as a designer.” He describes his wife and children as having been his “pillar of support” throughout this journey.

On the design scene in Singapore, Mr Look observes, “A greater self-awareness is budding amid the local design scene, and this solidarity is bolstering the creative community’s competitiveness on the international front.”

Being conferred the President’s Design Award is “a prized recognition of my practice and body of work, which I have nurtured with my partner, Ms Ng Sor Hiang, for the past 15 years”. It is, says Mr Look, “an esteemed impetus for us to continue to strive for design excellence.”