The Class of Ten: the winners of Tatler Homes Design Awards 2026

As lead architect and consultant on Temasek Shophouse, SJ Group, formerly Surbana Jurong, oversaw the design, restoration and expansion of the social impact hub, working to unify four conserved shophouses along Orchard Road, once home to landmarks like the Malayan Motors showroom, into a single cohesive site.

To Ivy Koh (right), executive eirector of Architecture + Design at SJ Group, the project’s success lies in how it now functions as a living civic space. “For a building to truly endure, it must continually evolve without losing sight of its historic identity while injecting new life and soul into its spaces,” she says, of the project that earned this year’s 10th Anniversary Honour: The Enduring.

Founded in 2009 by husband-and-wife conservation specialists Ho Weng Hin (left) and Tan Kar Lin, Studio Lapis has spent over a decade restoring some of Singapore’s most significant heritage sites.

For Temasek Shophouse, this year’s 10th Anniversary Honour: The Enduring, the studio’s restoration work centred on recovering historical finishes, allowing their material character to remain legible, and treating discoveries such as historical ghost signs as opportunities to deepen the site’s story.

“To us, allowing buildings to ‘go old’ does not mean leaving them to deteriorate,” says Ho. “It means cultivating a more mature culture of care, where ageing is managed through appropriate maintenance and honest repair.”

Chang Yong Ter’s path to his own practice began with an apprenticeship under Tang Guan Bee, one of Singapore’s most respected architects, following his graduation from the National University of Singapore. He founded Chang Architects in 2000, building a firm that has since been recognised in URA’s 20 Under 45 and awarded the President’s Design Award, alongside honours from the World Architecture Festival and UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation.

To Chang, architecture is as much a work of the heart as the mind: where rationality and logic satisfy a project’s functional demands, he believes an intuitive, almost poetic approach is what allows a space to resonate on a deeper level.

That philosophy runs through the Moongate House, this year’s Best Architectural Concept winner: a Bukit Timah residence inspired by the stone architecture of Shandong province and the moon gates of classical Chinese gardens. Divided into two low-slung volumes linked by cascading water features, with entertainment and wellness spaces tucked discreetly underground, the home balances grandeur with the quiet, biophilic sensibility that defines Chang’s work.

Founded in 1999 by Robin Tan and Cecil Chee, Wallflower Architecture + Design has spent over two decades shaping Singapore’s residential landscape with homes that marry innovation, lifestyle and beauty, unbound by any single design style. This year’s winning project, House Above The Trees, was led on the ground by architect Yong Mien Huei, whose design excellence was previously recognised in the URA’s 20 Under 45.

Together with Tan, she brought the Good Class Bungalow to life as a study in contrasts, choreographing a journey from shadow to light and enclosure to openness across a series of courtyards and water features. Tan, a graduate of the National University of Singapore, worked for over 20 years honing the firm’s instinct for architecture that feels inevitable, as if it could only exist for the site and the people it was built for.

That philosophy runs through Wallflower’s wider portfolio, and it’s also evident in House Above The Trees, where circular motifs soften rigid geometry and travertine, basalt and timber trace a quiet dialogue between solidity and lightness.

Terrence Quah and Bu Shukun founded Architology Interiors in 2010 to bring architectural rigour to interior design. Both graduates of the National University of Singapore’s Master of Architecture programme, the pair met as colleagues before striking out on their own, building a reputation for bespoke luxury balanced with restraint. That balance defines Turquoise by Ho Bee Land, their winning project for Best Penthouse this year, a Sentosa Cove residence where sweeping marina and ocean views meet a visually calm, tactile palette.

“We see ourselves as a people business,” Quah explains. “We never want to come to the table and say that our design is better than yours.” The studio’s ambitions have since grown into ARTG Design Group, a multidisciplinary collective now spanning interiors, commercial design, branding and product development across Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. At its core is a value the founders spent a year defining: a culture of honour, extended to clients and colleagues as well as the built environment.

“This is my playground,” declared founder Terri Tan, referring to the shoot location, The Stone Gallery by Hafary. Laying out a marble slab that her design team and client have agreed on is a special kind of magic to her, seeing her vision translated from screen and paper to reality. In fact, she even chose her own marble backdrop for this shoot, taking much pleasure in the process. That same conviction earned her the Best Transformation award this year, for turning an awkward Bukit Timah attic into a serene private retreat.

Tan’s own path to design was anything but linear: after enrolling in an architecture course at the National University of Singapore, she spent two years as Singapore Airlines cabin crew member before joining a distributor of Italian furniture brands, an unconventional route she credits with instilling the discipline and attentiveness that now define her design practice.

Today, she runs the firm alongside architect Eleanor Kor, and together they’ve shaped a portfolio spanning private residences, show suites, offices and hotels. Each project is guided by Tan’s unwavering belief that good design should be functional first, beautiful always, and never look dated.

Founded in 2018 by JX Choo and Cher Yeo, Oddsome has built its name in interior styling and decorating, working across showflats, BTOs, condominiums and private residences with a distinctive, personal touch, and even a unique multisensory approach to styling. Choo’s own path to the industry was an unconventional one, having previously worked in regulatory advisory at Deloitte before turning his attention to design.

That flair for personalisation shaped this year’s Best Use of Colour winner, an 800 sq ft apartment at Leedon Green transformed into a vibrant retreat inspired by the charm of Paris. Drawing on the celebrated aesthetic of Paris-based firm Humbert & Poyet, Oddsome layered rich colours, bespoke upholstery and eclectic furnishings sourced from across Europe and the Americas, creating a home that feels less like an apartment and more like a stylish boutique hotel, right down to its geometric marquetry finishes and marble accents.

Justin Mok and Bin Yeo met as design students at Lasalle College of the Arts, discovering their complementary working styles while collaborating on joint projects, long before they founded Bud Studio together in 2020.

Mok brings a background in product design and construction, while Yeo’s path ran through furniture design and a stint at SCDA Architects; together, their practice is built on a layered, empathy-driven approach to spatial design.

That philosophy shaped this year’s Best Modern Asian Concept winner, MeyeRise, a 2,055 sq ft East Coast apartment blending contemporary minimalism with Japandi-inspired warmth. Retaining the unit’s existing marble flooring as a neutral foundation, the duo layered natural materials and tactile finishes to create a home built around calm, from the zen-inspired entrance to an onsen-style bathroom.

Ethan Tan, founder and creative director of Uncommon Studio, believes that good design should do more than look good; it should nurture happiness and well-being. Since establishing the practice in 2018, he’s built a portfolio that stretches beyond private homes, lending its biophilic, narrative-driven touch to spaces such as Meta restaurant, Core Atelier Pilates studio and the Everyday Curtains gallery. “We design for how you live, not how others expect you to be,” is something of a guiding line for the studio, one that runs through every project regardless of scale.

That philosophy earned the firm this year’s Best Modern Minimalist Concept for Lim Ah Pin Residence, a 5,200 sq ft corner terrace house inspired by the calm of boutique hotels and resort retreats. Soft arches, textured lime-plaster walls and a restrained palette of pale timber and natural stone give the home a quiet, resort-like luxury, tailored for a well-travelled family with young children. It’s a fitting reflection of Tan’s own belief that every design should tell a story, balancing aesthetic appeal with genuine, everyday purpose.

Sharne Sulaiman wears many hats beyond the drafting table: this year alone, the multi-hyphenate creative behind Studio Sharne could be found singing in the choir of Wild Rice’s staging of The Christians, bringing the same instinct for expression to the stage as he does to his buildings. That same spirit was on full display the night he received this year’s Best Luxury Concept award, dressed in a batik robe he had sewn himself, an homage to his heritage.

Taking home the Readers’ Choice: Best Luxury Concept award, his winning project, christened The White House, is a 7,800 sq ft bungalow built around a dramatic atrium and sky garden that promote natural ventilation and biodiversity. Floor-to-ceiling glazing and a Le Corbusier-inspired palette dissolve the line between the indoors and outdoors, while solar panels and rainwater harvesting reflect the designer’s commitment to homes built for Singapore’s tropical climate.

To Molina Hun, co-founder of Sujonohun, good design lives in the in-between: the quiet thresholds and transitions most projects treat as an afterthought. “Architecture defines entry, interior defines arrival,” she’s fond of saying, a distinction she sees as the real opportunity in design, where the thoughtful treatment of an oft-overlooked space can turn it into a hidden jewel of spatial design.

Hun (left) founded Sujonohun in 2015 with her husband Sujono Lim, later launching a second studio, Parenthesis, with Yanika Gunawan (right) in 2018, expanding the offerings of their practice.

This year, Sujonohun claimed the Readers’ Choice: Best Bespoke Concept award for its show units at Meyer Blue, where the in-between spaces are as imaginative and well-considered as the rooms future buyers will inhabit.

To founder Lee Hui Lian, every project her practice takes on must be fun in the process—fittingly so, given how the studio got its name. “OMG” started life as “Only Malaysian Girl”, a nod to Lee being the sole Malaysian on her team in school.

Over the years, the initials have taken on a life of their own, standing in at various points for “Overseas Malaysian Gang”, and now open to playful reinterpretation as Open Minded Group, Outstandingly Marvellous Group, Only Meaningful Gang. Much like Lee’s practice, the possibilities remain unfixed.

Founded in 2021, OMG Atelier has since built a portfolio spanning residential, conservation and exhibition design, alongside Lee’s work as an educator at NUS. That same spirit of fun and craft is evident in Blueprint of a Shophouse, a mural in Joo Chiat where she was project lead, as well as in the residential project affectionately dubbed the Giant Roof House, where Lee reconfigured a terrace home around a new courtyard, preserving the original gates, grilles and stone lion ornaments as living witnesses to  its history.

To Lim Thong, one of the most rewarding parts of running a young firm is watching it grow alongside his clientele. It’s been amazing, he shares, to see the same families return over the years: first for a home meant to show off and fulfil every item on a wishlist, then for a space that accommodates a growing family with wiser, more practical choices, and eventually for a home designed with an eye on the future. That evolving relationship, built on trust rather than trends, earned the studio this year’s Spatial Design Studios on the Rise accolade at the Tatler Homes Design Awards.

A second-generation designer with a lifelong fascination for the built environment, Lim traces his instinct for spatial design back to childhood visits to construction sites with his father, where he first developed an appreciation for craftsmanship. Since founding LA Design Studio in 2022, he has built a reputation for bespoke luxury interiors defined by moody palettes, sculptural forms and refined lighting, balancing functionality with emotional resonance. Backed by in-house carpentry, fabrication, and research and development capabilities, the studio continues to push the boundaries of what a highly customised home can be.

Jackie Lai brings an unconventional background to M.Spaco: after training in marine engineering, he earned an honours degree in interior design from Goldsmiths, University of London, a combination that taught him to merge creativity with precision. As design director of M.Spaco, the in-house interiors arm of developer MCC Singapore, Lai has spent his career proving that sustainability and luxury needn’t be at odds, an ethos that earned the studio this year’s Spatial Design Studios on the Rise accolade at the Tatler Homes Design Awards 2026, in recognition of its early adoption of sustainability in design.

That ethos runs through the firm’s portfolio, from commercial projects to intimate residential renovations. One recent example, a freehold semi-detached home in Serangoon, saw M.Spaco favour expansive windows, natural light and durable materials over unnecessary reworking, minimising its environmental footprint while ensuring a striking, modern finish. It reflects Lai’s own belief that good design isn’t about excess, but restraint that still leaves
a lasting impression.

“Best Use of Art” is a familiar accolade for Edmund Ng: this marks his second win in the category, having previously clinched it in 2023 for a different house belonging to the same client, illustrator, author and art collector Caroline Lim. That earlier project, Finding Wonderland, was a dramatic, charcoal-hued home built around her and her husband’s shared love of fine art and vintage cars. This year’s winning project, Sunset Vale, reflects a different chapter, designed to hold Lim’s collection not as museum pieces, but as part of the home’s everyday rhythm.

Ng’s path to architecture began early, sparked by a childhood spent building with Lego bricks. That instinct for constructing whole worlds carried into his eponymous practice, defined by modern minimalism and a fondness for fair-faced concrete as a canvas for art. His own home, designed as a tribute to his wife, gallerist Jazz Chong, won Best Architectural Design at the inaugural Tatler Design Awards in 2017, a fitting note for an architect whose houses often double as love letters.

Winning Best Futureproof Concept came as something of a pleasant surprise to co-founder Jason Lim, given that Linked Terraces is, at its heart, an adaptive reuse project for a multigenerational family. Rather than demolish the original semi-detached house, Lim and his wife and business partner, principal architect Asami Takahashi, preserved its front portion and added a light-filled three-storey rear extension, letting the homeowners keep the place where they’d raised their daughters. The jury felt the project extended futureproofing beyond mere performance or durability, treating architecture as an open structure capable of growth over time.

Yume Architects has built its name on the idea that design should communicate as intuitively as a piece of music. Takahashi trained at Cornell before working at the offices of Toyo Ito, Steven Holl and Weiss/Manfredi in Tokyo and New York, while Lim brings with him a background in engineering and computation honed in part at Gramazio Kohler Research in Zurich. Together, they have shaped a practice recognised well beyond Singapore’s shores.

Founded by Daniele Campione, Deluxe Systems set out to close a gap in the premium building-envelope market, where windows and doors are too often treated as afterthoughts. Here, under director Germano Vitali, they are reimagined as engineered instruments, fusing Italian craftsmanship with high-performance engineering suited to Singapore’s tropical climate. “A home’s aesthetic value must go hand in hand with its environmental responsibility,” says Vitali.

That philosophy shaped the firm’s winning showroom in Ubi, awarded Readers’ Choice: Best Showroom, designed by designer Francesco Carota of Calibro Zero as an immersive laboratory rather than a static display, where visitors can test sliding systems and examine aluminium profiles up close.

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