Mr Chan went to boarding school in England when he was 15. His interest in architecture as a profession was influenced by his two cousins who were studying the course. “Their design started from a blank sheet of paper, which I found emotively stirring,” he explains. “And at the same time, it meant I could leave boarding school two years ahead by enrolling in the Northern Polytechnic in London.”

Upon graduation in 1963, he applied to the Architectural Association School of Architecture for the course in Tropical Studies. He said: “As with my generation, we were caught up with the fervour of gaining independence from the British colonial government and the desire to return home to practise, so the course was relevant as its emphasis was on designing for the climate in the tropical belt.”

Since his return from London to join Kumpulan Akitek in 1964, Mr Chan’s concern for climate, culture and appropriate technology is a defining feature of his portfolio of works in Southeast Asia, India, China and as far as Morocco.

Hyatt Kuantan, completed in the 1970s, was his first opportunity to apply the knowledge acquired from his graduate studies. Being a beach resort, it was an ideal building type to demonstrate design in the tropics with optimal natural cross ventilation, sun shading and rain protection provided by pitched roofs with generous overhangs and open sided verandahs. This was typical of the stilted Malay kampong house, and re-interpreted the colonial black and white house. “It was a distinctively fresh approach of looking inwards at our heritage for inspiration instead of the West,” says Mr Chan.

Hyatt Kuantan spawned a building typology which became a populist imagery for subsequent building by others. Till today, Mr Chan feels that Hyatt Kuantan Hotel has been the point of departure of his current architectural development.

In 1993, he left his previous partnership and found his present practice under Chan Sau Yan Associates (CSYA). He began experimenting with designing tropical highrise when he submitted a competition entry for the design of Maybank headquarters in Singapore in 1998. Though unsuccessful, it served to inform the design for his Tokio Marine Centre in 2007.

One distinctive feature of the Tokio Marine Centre, the award-winning design, is its “exoskeleton” façade of seemingly random columns. Mr Chan says that the bamboo grove is the design metaphor for the building which his client found appealing. The criss-crossing of the columns is not an aesthetic consideration, but has a structural and functional purpose to stiffen the building and provide sun shading, unlike the typical office building with a curtain wall of glass.

While he adapts his designs for the climate, culture and technology, Mr Chan believes that architecture should be honest, staying true to his educational modernist roots. “What we try to see through is the complexity of the problem and seek a simple solution. We like to express materials in their natural state,” he says.

For example, the concrete of Hyatt Kuantan Hotel and Tokio Marine Centre were left fairface even though these building types are conventionally cladded over. Another project, The Bishopsgate house, is entirely in fairface concrete, including the roofs. “If you’re building with concrete, it’s already water-tight, why do you need to finish it off with something that is just cosmetic?” he asks. “We think it is so unnecessary”.

Such radical views are not easily accepted by clients, but Mr Chan says spending time and effort to convince them is partand- parcel of architectural practice. “Virtually all architects face the challenge of convincing clients to go beyond the typical approach,” he says. “The only question is whether you are prepared to persevere and convince them.”

And while some attribute the same spirit of perseverance to his almost five decades career as an architect, the 70-year old is surprised at how long he has been at it. “It doesn’t seem so long because I’m enjoying it. We’ve been fortunate to get one client after another, each with a different project, so I’ve never thought of retiring,” he says.