“Our practice is driven by ideas; we believe that design can make a strategic difference and improve lives, add economic value and positively shape our social and cultural landscape,” says Soon, an architect who co-established the firm with Goh in 2013. “A key aspect of our design involves humanising our built environment and improving our relationship with greenery and nature.”

Goy Architects founder Goy Zhenru adopts a nature-influenced approach to her firm’s work, creating projects that are attuned to their local context. An ardent advocate of Southeast Asian craftsmanship and architecture, Goy and her firm often design modern furnishings and decorative objects that utilise traditional methods while complementing the interior and architectural design of each brief.

From the eco-conscious Sukasantai Farmstay resort in Indonesia to a house that takes a cue from the communal spirit of kampung housing (traditional village compounds in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia), Goy Architects embraces the rich heritage of its local roots, ever since its founding in 2015.

Its multicultural team is also stationed across Southeast Asia, using a cloud-based system that enables collaborators to work independently regardless of geographical location; her architect colleagues Dessy Anggadewi and Kulap Loetmanlikaphorn run the Indonesia and Thailand studios from Bali and Chiangmai respectively.

Such attention to environmental impact is as apparent in the recent work of AL+, a multidisciplinary firm started by architect Luther Seet in 2017. The studio’s cloud-based system is a model “customised for post-pandemic practice”, says Seet, who is also an urban consultant at The World Bank.

Besides building beautiful and liveable houses in Singapore, the studio was notably appointed the architect of the Singapore Botanic Gardens Seed Bank in 2019, in collaboration with California-headquartered engineering and technology company Alfatech. The Seed Bank is housed in a colonial-era structure; the project preserved the building’s original architectural details while creating a research and education centre that conserves the seeds of threatened plant species indigenous to Southeast Asia.

Other recent AL+ projects include the NUS Agritech Centre, which was established by the National University of Singapore in 2021 to develop new technologies for urban farming to improve farm yield and growth efficiency; it was also built in collaboration with Alfatech. “Designing from the user’s perspective and environmental sustainability are the key goals of the practice,” says Seet, commenting on his firm’s design philosophy. “Good design comes from a deep understanding of materials, detailing, spatial qualities and proportions.”

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