Seah Chee Huang Conferred RIBA Presidential Medal

The RIBA Presidential Medal, which rewards talents, promotes innovation and encourages excellence in the study of architecture, is internationally regarded a mark of excellence. Among those who have been conferred the honour is Mr Seah Chee Huang, director of DP Architects and President of the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA).

Receiving the medal at the RIBA Royal Gold Medal and Fellowships Week, Chee Huang was recognised for his passion and commitment to architecture, and his constant pursuit for excellence. He holds that architecture can be harnessed to synthesize and make sense of these varied dynamics to create more coherent environments and cohesive communities. This, Chee Huang, articulates through his architectural designs from community and sports developments (e.g. Singapore Sports Hub, the world’s largest Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project and Our Tampines Hub, Singapore’s first integrated community and lifestyle hub) to corporate social responsibility initiatives (e.g. Heartware Hetwork, a dynamic collaborative workplace for Youth Charity, and the award-winning GoodLife! Makan, an inclusive elderly activity centre that empowers stay-alone seniors through food rituals; and Project Bus Stop, which reimagines bus stops as meaningful social nodes).

An active voice in the industry, he often partakes in the larger discourse of the built environment in numerous design advisory panels and committees for various agencies and institutions. Chee Huang recently spoke at NUS Great Asian Streets Symposium, sharing his insights on urban architecture and designing for social impact. This March, he will also be speaking at the Urban Festival of Design Singapore on communal architecture in line with its theme of ‘Community’; the Singapore Design Week forum on the future of design; and at REDAS-RICS Smart Buildings Conference 2019 on technology and design.

As President of SIA, Chee Huang aims to elevate the local architectural profession, its competitiveness and ethics by deepening sustainable design capabilities, enterprising spirit, innovation-based collaboration and education in Singapore. To help foster this ethos of innovation and enterprise in the next generation of architects, he has served as an adjunct design tutor at the Department of Architecture, NUS since 2006.

The RIBA Royal Gold Medal and Fellowships Week took place in London from 12^th to 14^th February. It recognises persons that have made a significant contribution to the field of architecture both within and outside UK.