Tai Lee Siang, as featured on the cover of Build Green
By Ken Hickson
“Design is part and parcel of a much larger eco-system. To make our cities smart and sustainable, we must manage the rapid growth, the need for infrastructure, as well as meet the demands of growing urban populations.”
So says Tai Lee Siang, the Singapore architect who chaired the World Green Building Council until 2018.
Quoting from his book “Cities of Love”, which he produced with his wife Valerie Ang in 2016 *, Tai says our future on Earth is to be found in cities.
“Three and a half billion people currently inhabit cities. This number is estimated to double by 2050. The fact that climate change is worsening in tandem with this significant growth cannot be a coincidence. How can we assume that the city is the ultimate solution?
“We have to get the balance right”.
Tai puts “design thinking” at the heart of everything he says and does. He’s committed to this strategic approach to resolve issues, which some might see as outside the scope of the professional designer, such as in business and social contexts.
Where is he coming from?
Tai graduated with honours from National University of Singapore (NUS) in 1987, he went on to practise as an architect and urban planner.
He admits that throughout his architecture training, the S word – “Sustainability” – wasn’t in the vocabulary or the curriculum. He was so impressed by Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” in 2006, when the evidence for global warming was so compelling, that this young architect couldn’t ignore it. He decided there and then that he should personally and professionally play his part in dealing with this issue.
When elected President of the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) in 2007 – in his maiden speech – he alerted his fellow architects to “design for sustainability”. He admits that since then he has been on “this epic journey to champion green buildings”.
As champion for design, he has involved himself in the industry and the wider community. In 2009, he was elected as the first chairman of Design Alliance of Singapore, DesignS – an alliance representing 9 design associations in Singapore.
From 2011 to 2016, Mr Tai held the position of Group Managing Director of Ong and Ong Pte Ltd, overseeing a team of 900 in the multi-discipline consultancy firm that provides solutions encompassing urban planning, architecture, engineering, landscape architecture and interior design.
He also started to get used to wearing a number of hats at the same time. He was elected President of Singapore Green Building Council (2011 to 2013). Under his leadership, the first green building product certification scheme in Singapore was established.
In 2013, he was officially appointed as a Board Director of World Green Building Council and was subsequently elected as Chairman in 2016.
Concurrently, he was President of the Design Business Chamber Singapore (from 2013 to 2017), involved overseeing the transformation of the design industry through the installation of several initiatives such as the launch of the Singapore Good Design Mark in 2014.
In addition to his World Green Building Council role, Tai found time to devote his attention to Singapore, focussing on leading and influencing major sustainability master plans in Singapore, as well as serving on the Board of Trustees of the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD).
Through all the roles he has played and on the many platforms he has appeared, he has continued to espouse sustainability as the answer to the challenges our cities around the world face.
Tai says there’s tremendous responsibility falling on the lap – and lap-top – of the design professional. He draws on a climate change analogy.
“Buildings and environmental sustainability are just the tip of the iceberg. The crux of the issue over climate change is the need to have the right business model and philosophy. Ensuring that future generations have enough resources to live. Not by over-consumption, but environmental stewardship.”
He says we have to deal with businesses. To get the business model right. That involves design thinking. That involves putting sustainability to work.
“Unfortunately, we have to begin with the property side. Urbanisation has resulted in one huge problem: the rise and fall of the real estate cycle. This poses a lot of strain on the whole environment and on business costs.
“But we have to go beyond buildings. Green buildings alone won’t solve the problem.”
Tai believes that design is the key to the transformation of societies, but he admits that there remains a big gap between the strategic ideology and public appreciation. So he cannot stop advocating and educating – even pleading – for a sense of urgency in battling climate change and growing ground up participation in the sustainability process.
Developing
and promoting his prescription for “Cities of Love”, Tai and his wife came up
with 12 ingredients for the ideal urban environment. They are:
- Family Oriented City
- Less Car City
- Garden City
- Interactive City
- Innovation City
- Shopping City
- Sporty and Healthy City
- Edible City
- Smart Device City
- Happy City
- City of Hope and Honour
- City of Romance
He and Valerie also joined forces to set up the firm, Inception, bringing together creativity and sustainability. If that wasn’t enough, they also launched in Singapore last year the first Cities of Love Awards, to recognise individuals and groups who are contributing to social, economic or environmental sustainability in the community.
There might not be a physical monument that this architect can point to and claim as his own. But for Tai Lee Siang, it is far more important for him to design and build a movement to bring about change.
Bringing out the best in design thinking and recognising the reality of climate change. Building sustainability and resilience into our cities.
Places for people. Liveable and loveable!
In the introduction to the history of cities, in his book ‘Cities of Love’, Tai Lee Siang refers to the “tendency to label such organic structures with the term ‘culture’, elevating them to an essential part of humanity and everyday life. While historical heritage should be treasured, there is a limit to how far these can be adapted for future use. An organic city like this faces serious problems in meeting long term societal needs. In order to develop a sustainable model of human settlement, we must answer social, economic, and environmental challenges faced by modern society”.
*“Cities of Love: Roadmap for Sustaining Future Cities”, published in 2016 by World Scientific Singapore (https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/10281)
Ken Hickson interviewed Tai Lee Siang early in 2018 – originally for the Design Anthology magazine – but now published on www.abccarbon.com and www.fifthavenue.asia. The video interview was produced by courtesy of VSStory. Here’s the link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vm1ckLXAAMOZkHa_i4nMUd4NuBaNHiR5/view