What was your first project at P&T and how did it shape your journey?
The first project I worked on for P&T was Singapore International School in Hong Kong in 1993. The school had to be built on an unusually steep hillside that required an unconventional design solution and it was the first time I had worked in a company with in-house engineering. This project open my eyes to new levels of project complexity and P&T’s capability for design and engineering excellence for even the most challenging projects and helped to quickly expand my own knowledge and my confidence as a young architect to face future challenges.
What's the biggest design challenge you've ever faced?
Building design as an industry has changed in so many ways over the past 30 years. However, the biggest challenge I face is to ensure P&T continues to remain ahead of the trends in changes in design expectations and regulations and changes capabilities and methodologies that go hand in hand with advances in technology and our increasing awareness of the impacts we make as building designers on the planet and future generations.
What advise would you give to young architects starting out in architecture today?
Be curious and enquiring, be open to change, seek out challenges and push yourself to find the particular role within the world of architectural for which you have the most passion. To succeed you need to find out what you enjoy most about architecture and what you can do that will provide that enjoyment at the same time as being valued by others as well as yourself.
What sustainability practice or innovation excites you most right now?
It’s exciting to see sustainable design becoming mainstream, now seen as essential rather than optional. Falling costs of renewable energy, better-performing envelope materials, and more efficient building systems are all positive trends that can help reduce the impact of climate change.
What do you enjoy most about working at P&T?
Seeing smiling faces in the office.
