THE Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) has given an award to a Hong Kong architect for pushing the sustainable design cause with his work.
The inaugural SIA-Uniseal G-Architect Award was given to Mr Leung Man Kit, who is the director of Sustainable Design at Ronald Lu & Partners, at the institute's Design Awards Presentation Ceremony. The 38-year-old firm is headquartered in Hong Kong.
The awards, which are being held for the second time, took place at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre last night. There were four award categories.
Out of the 14 submitted names from the region for the SIA-Uniseal G-Architect Award, a five-person jury made up of industry stalwarts such as Dr Uma Maheswaran, vice-president of sustainability at Jurong Consultants, and Mr Theodore Chan, the institute's current president, unanimously picked Mr Leung to win. The jury called his body of work "ever-evolving" and "place-specific". The 47-year-old was the team leader on the first Zero Carbon Building project in Hong Kong, as well as a new campus for THEi - a shortened name for the Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong - which has green features.
Mr Leung, who submitted his name for the award after his colleagues told him about it, said: "Architecture projects are about teamwork and most of the awards celebrate the project as a whole, rather than the architect as an individual. So, it's a big one for me, and I'm honoured. It can be another incentive for architects to explore sustainable design."
Aside from Mr Leung, 14 design awards and 10 honourable mentions were handed out to local firms in the SIA's Architectural Design Awards.
Now in its 14th edition - it used to be a standalone event but is now part of Design Awards Presentation Ceremony - the Architectural Design Awards is the profession's highest recognition of works that show excellence in architectural design here.
Firms submitted their projects in seven categories: residential, commercial, institutional, industrial, transport and infrastructure, interior architecture, special and greenscape projects.
The latter is a new category at this year's awards.
Big winners this year include the Terrace House by Formwerkz Architects, which took home the top prize of Best Project Constructed Under $2 million. W Architects, which designed The Oliv, a condominium in Balmoral Road, won the Building Of The Year.
Entries were judged by a jury based on qualities such as originality and innovation, sensitivity to context, sustainability and response to users' needs.
