Re-imagining The Built Environment In A Post-Pandemic Era

Organised by the Building Construction Authority and Reed Exhibitions and supported by 12 Trade Association Chambers, The International Built Environment Week (IBEW) is the most comprehensive event in Asia Pacific on the built environment. In an online plenary session, Reimagining The Built Environment in a Post-pandemic Era, deputy chief executive officer of DP Architects Mr Seah Chee Huang was among the distinguished speakers who were invited to discuss where the future of the built environment sector is headed and how we should then design, build and operate our buildings in response to the changes brought about by COVID-19.

In his presentation, Chee Huang shared how DPA has leveraged its three main ethos of designFIRST, One Global Studio and People+Partners to weather the complications brought about by the pandemic. Specifically, through progressive design-thinking built up by the designFIRST ethos that had implemented the adoption of digital methods, the firm was able to accelerate the use of technological tools necessary to continue work via telecommuting amid social distancing and work-from-home guidelines.

In terms of design-thinking, he explained that with shifts in design thinking from Wealth to Health, architects and designers need to move away from merely economic aspirations towards a new paradigm of wellness. This shift will also impact how future projects should allocate room for purposeful redundancies where designs are flexible and adaptable to ever-changing needs.

In conclusion, Chee Huang forwarded that it would take close collaboration between all architects, engineers and designers to achieve a more resilient built environment.