2021 Ambassadors.

Akshat Bhatt

Principal Architect, Architecture Discipline
India

Akshat Bhatt is the Principal Architect at Architecture Discipline, a New Delhi-based multi-disciplinary design practice he founded in 2007. His work highlights the emergence of an architectural expression that is contemporary, yet rooted in a critical understanding of regionalism. The outcome of every commission at Architecture Discipline is determined by a series of design processes, from full scale mock-ups to long-term material investigations, which strive to develop programmatic and technical flexibility. As a result, all buildings are integrated from conceptual framework to tactile experience.

Bhatt’s work has been published extensively and critically acclaimed: multiple Indian Institute of Interior Designers (IIID) Awards, an NDTV DAA Architect of the Year Award (2013); and citations from the Alliance Francaise (2012), the National Gallery of Modern Art (2015), and the Government of India (2015). More recently, he won the ID Honours Award (2020) and was included on Architectural Digest’s AD100 2020 list of the hundred most influential architects and interior designers in India.

Over the last sixteen years, Bhatt has taught at three architecture schools in New Delhi, actively engaging with the city’s academic community. He is currently engaged in many critical commissions for large scale public spaces, which include JDH, an urban regeneration project that aims to restore the historic Walled City of Jodhpur to its former glory; and new brand developments for The Oberoi Hotels & Resorts (the refurbishment of the 19th-century edifice of The Oberoi Grand, Kolkata, and a series of new modular, urban hotels for the group), The Leela Group, The Postcard Hotels and Resorts, and The Government of Delhi.

Annabel Smart & Marijne Vogel

Directors, Studio 11:11
New Zealand & Australia

Studio 11:11 is a multi-disciplinary practice operating in Australia and New Zealand.

Exploring the boundaries between interior architecture, leather goods and objects, they create a diverse body of work with one collective narrative.

The studio creates purposeful objects and spaces. Their designs are not void of aesthetics, but resist trends in favour of functionality.

They believe simplicity is the result of a highly resolved design. A sense of calm is created with paired back forms and by eliminating the unnecessary.

Working with local artisans and natural materials, craftsmanship is approached with permanence in mind, but always embracing the patina of things over time.

David Flack & Mark Robinson

Directors, Flack Studio
Australia

Melbourne-based multi-disciplinary design studio Flack Studio works across sectors, but residential interior architecture has always been a particular passion and forms the bulk of the studio’s portfolio. Projects are approached with respect for the past, an eye to the future, and above all, a conversation with the community of the project – the clients as well as the builders, joiners, tradespeople and suppliers.

David Flack established the studio with a determination to make design accessible to all. His early conversations with studio Director Mark Robinson (who has a background in film direction) focused on the studio’s point of view and voice, but also the potential for being part of a greater change through the voice of design – which can be political.

The studio seeks out conversations – through the interior as art that converses with its audience, through the home as a vehicle that fosters relationships and values, and through direct engagement with community. David and Mark took a firm step in 2016 to open up the studio and engage with the industry through monthly drinks and discussion sessions, Open House days, international study tours, and more. The studio also supports a play centre for children living in the local Fitzroy housing estate through fundraising and volunteer work.

Goy Zhenru, Dessy Anggadewi & Sam Loetmann

Director, Indonesia lead, Thailand lead, Goy Architects
Singapore, Indonesia & Thailand

The opportunity to design a farm stay in Indonesia was the spark that led Goy Zhenru to establish Goy Architects in Singapore in 2015. She was soon joined by two former colleagues – Bali-based Indonesian architect Dessy Anggadewi and Chiang Mai-based Thai architect Sam Loetman – and the trio now work together remotely with a deep dedication to vernacular architecture and craftsmanship in Southeast Asia.

The regional approach allows for the cross-pollination of ideas influenced by the team’s respective social contexts and built environments. The studio experiments with local artisanal building products and explores ways to adapt them to modern use. A pop-up material research office in Chiang Mai was established recently to support close collaboration with local artisans and to experiment with the vernacular. The hope is that the studio will grow in each of the three countries, with each office focusing on its respective regional crafts and materials while tapping project opportunities.

The regional approach has fostered a nimble approach to operations. The team operates on cloud-based BIM software (ArchiCAD) to allow for syncing of design models from any location. The use of mobile apps such as BIMX allows design collaboration as well as access to design models by clients and builders. The team finds that this not only allows for more holistic design discussions on site, but also for language barriers to be overcome.

Jason Sim & Hao Wang

Founders & Architects, S/Lab10
Malaysia & Australia

Professionally trained in Australia, Singapore and Milan, Jason Sim’s career trajectory spans nearly two decades with works ranging across several countries. He co-leads the award-winning architectural firm, S/LAB10, with partner Hao Wang. Together, they lead a practice that focuses on realising evocative design schemes that are research-driven and detail-oriented.

Hao Wang is a co-founder of S/LAB10, an architecture and interior design firm based in Malaysia. Prior to establishing the practice, he was previously based in Australia and Taiwan – the former being home to his architectural alma mater. Hao spent his formative years as a graduate practising in Sydney where he put both his architectural and prior interior design training to good use. It was at this time that he accumulated a broad range of skills and industry experience. Through working on several iconic high-rise projects, he was involved in key architectural developments that now sit within the city’s ever-rising metropolitan skyline.

Space and detail are dexterously intertwined in S/LAB10’S award-winning designs. Their visually prominent designs are a direct outcome of S/LAB10’s methodical approach to design, as it conducts rigorous design explorations based on project needs and user requirements, that are then combined with an adept handling of refined detailing.

Maria Warner Wong

Founder & Design Director, WARNER WONG DESIGN | WOW ARCHITECTS
Singapore

As Design Director and co-founder of Warner Wong Design and WOW Architects in Singapore, Maria sets strategic objectives and oversees the development of the WOW team. Under Maria’s direction, WOW’s extensive portfolio of work has been governed by a commitment to creating spaces of extraordinary sensory experience rooted in culture, memory and place.

Committed to promoting sustainable design and education, Maria has taught sustainable architectural design at the National University of Singapore and the Singapore University of Technology & Design.

Mark Healey

Studio Director, Bates Smart
Australia

Mark Healey is a Studio Director of Bates Smart Architects based in Melbourne, Australia. During Mark’s 20 year career he has led a number of high quality healthcare, hospitality, multi residential, civic and commercial developments, namely Bates Smart’s winning submission for the Australian Embassy in Washington D.C., the award winning Royal Children’s Hospital, Bendigo Hospital and the recently completed Gandel Wing for Cabrini Health.

Otto Ng & Chun Hang Yip

Founders & Directors, LAAB Architects
Hong Kong

LAAB is a collective of 35 architects, artists, designers, engineers, makers, and sociologists specializing in spatial innovations. The studio was co-founded by Otto Ng and Chun Hang Yip in 2013 in Hong Kong, with the vision of incubating a laboratory that bridges the separate fields of art and architecture, hence the two “A”s in the studio’s name.

Rather than adhering to a specific design paradigm, LAAB’s approach to architecture is driven by the process of making, guided by narratives of a place, and born out of deep respect for the natural environment and cultural contexts. Digital craftsmanship – a unique blend of digital technology and traditional craftsmanship – is vital to the studio culture and innovation process.

From everyday objects to art installations, from architecture and interior to public space and community engagement, LAAB believes that spatial innovations occur at the intersections of disciplines – when architects think sociologically, when sociologists question urban design, and when engineers challenge designers. Because of this team diversity, LAAB was able to design a food kiosk that moves (Harbour Kiosk), a café that preserves collective memory (T · CAFÉ), and a shopping space built with digital craftsmanship (K11 MUSEA).
LAAB was awarded The Design Studio by the INDE Awards in 2020.