How has your love of architecture evolved over the years?

When I fell in love with architecture as a 10-year-old, I did not know the full extent of what an architect does and how much commitment it entails. My love for architecture has not changed. It has deepened as I practise. Design and architecture are passions that fuel my being. I tell my colleagues that it is such a privilege to do what we do, and that we should take this responsibility seriously to make sure that we leave behind good buildings and great spaces for future generations to enjoy and benefit from.

How has working on buildings and spaces that are used by large numbers of people—such as schools, condominiums and malls—shaped your views on what impact architecture can and should make?

What I am interested in is architecture that addresses the needs of the everyday person. Spaces for people should be well considered in relation to the urban and natural context. When this is achieved in design, buildings can and will have a significant socio-economic impact, shaping the urban setting.

Whether it is a factory building like Sunray Woodcraft Construction Headquarters or a retail mall like The Dubai Mall, it is important to solve the problems of the site, meet the client’s requirement and consider the people that are going to use it, the community it serves, the climate and the culture. So, the shape and the form of the architecture is very much a response to all these requirements, rather than a pre-conceived style that gets repeated from typology to typology, from site to site.

Your three rules of design are to listen closely, research extensively and innovate. What led you to these “rules” and is there a project that exemplifies them?

Design is a process that involves balancing the practical requirements of the brief and invigorating the local context so as to fulfil the needs of the users and community. This means listening closely to the client and researching extensively to understand the local environment and culture. My third rule stems from never simply settling for the first idea; because it is through critical questioning and exploration that the best solution emerges.

Sunray Woodcraft Construction Headquarters exemplifies this. Primarily, its design aims to maximise operational efficiency of the factory. Listening carefully to the client’s needs and paying attention to the design brief was crucial for this. Research was also carried out to understand the site and its environment. Thereafter, we explored one design idea after another. The final product is a building that responded to the environment through climate responsive design, such as a building envelope characterised by large horizontal louvres for ventilation and light for production spaces. The design also gave special considerations to the working and living conditions of the workers as their dormitory, common services and utility spaces are close to the warehouse and production areas.

Retail design has been the heart of much of your work, and you’ve worked on Wisma Atria in Singapore, Noon Square in Seoul and The Dubai Mall. How has retail architecture evolved over the years and where is it headed?

The brick-and-mortar mall carries two functions. It is a space for retail revenue and retail experience. Today, the retail industry is increasingly tech-savvy. This has affected not only the consumer’s retail experience but also the retailer’s way of business. What this means is that while the former function of the brick-and-mortar mall is on the decline, its latter function is on the incline and changing.  What we have now is a physical mall that is ever more aware of not just the retail experience but also the brand experience. This is all finding expression in the design of retail architecture.

With its two facelifts, Wisma Atria is a clear example. At the turn of the millennium, the conventional introverted mall structure began to evolve and the 2004 facelift of Wisma Atria chronicled this paradigm shift.  It was the first in the region to transform from a typical insular common mall to a street integrated urban mall.

Foremost in my design consideration for Wisma was to provide visual connectivity and draw visitors into the building. This façade expansion was designed with new visual and functional links, where external escalators connected the street plane with upper retail stories.  Weaving public street space with private retail space enriches the spatial quality which boosts economic viability—a strategy that I have continued to explore and apply in my subsequent retail designs, including Noon Square in 2007 and my second façade iteration of Wisma Atria in 2012.

Part of your vision as CEO is to propel DPA into the global league, and you have led it into overseas ventures in Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, United Kingdom and even Kazakhstan. What can a Singapore architecture firm offer to the world?

As a home-grown architecture firm that has developed in tangent with Singapore’s own nation-building, DPA has had the privilege to contribute to the nation’s urban planning. Over the last 50 years, we have designed some of the most significant developments in the Marina Bay district, the Orchard Road shopping belt, Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, and the Singapore Sports Hub. Through these, we’ve garnered a wealth of experience, and have developed a design approach and methodology unique to DPA.

By extending DPA’s global network and presence, we aim to export our multi-disciplinary services and design methodology. Through this expansion of our project base, we then work to create architectural excellence that will not only enrich the human experience anywhere in the world, but also contribute to the socio-economic climate.

Stepping on the world stage, we also put the Singapore culture of honour, quality of design and service, appreciation of cultural diversity and efficient delivery on show. Clients come to us because we see architecture as a way to address their concerns or brief. There are no preconceived ideas or style. Of course, being Singaporean, we also have the Singapore brand on our shoulders, which gives people the assurance that we will deliver well.