It's about you, not us

KHOO PENG BENG AND BELINDA HUANG OF ARC STUDIO ARCHITECTURE + URBANISM REFLECT ON HOW THEY HAVE EVOLVED AS PRACTITIONERS SINCE SETTING UP THEIR FIRM IN 1999.

- LOW SHI PING

If you have been following the President’s Design Award, ARC Studio Architecture + Urbanism would be a familiar name.

Helmed by husband-and-wife architect team Khoo Peng Beng and Belinda Huang, it had previously won the Design of the Year accolade for condominium The Tembusu (2018) and public housing project Pinnacle@Duxton (2010).

This year, the duo takes the spotlight again, but for an even more prestigious award, Designer of the Year 2020.

We caught up with them on the eve of the award ceremony to find out what they have been up to.

How do you feel about receiving the award?

Khoo: We feel really thankful and blessed. Designers are often like the directors and producers of a movie, you never ever see them. To be able to come out and speak about our work and celebrate design is fantastic; we really appreciate it.

Huang: We are so used to our buildings being in the limelight, so this is a little surreal. It is a fantastic platform for us to really speak about our processes and what is truly meaningful to us as architects.

How do you feel you’ve contributed to Singapore’s architectural landscape?