​Places Of The Heart: Architect scales heights with reflective moments in nature

Who: Managing director Ng Meng Hui, 59, is part of a team helming RSP Architects Planners & Engineers.

The multidisciplinary practice is one of Singapore’s earliest architectural design firms, founded in 1956 by British architect Raglan Squire as Raglan Squire & Partners.

It was renamed RSP Architects Planners & Engineers in 1980. The firm was ranked in the top half for 2025 in an annual ranking of 100 firms, called World Architecture 100, by British architecture magazine Building Design.

Mr Ng, who heads the firm’s architecture division, has more than 30 years of experience. He has worked on complex mega-projects such as The Interlace, one of the largest housing complexes in Singapore with 31 interlocking blocks, built in 2013; and Punggol Watertown, the first mixed-use waterfront development in Punggol, completed in 2017.

The Singapore-registered architect served as a council member with the Singapore Institute of Architects from 2009 to 2012. He is married with two children.

Mr Ng is also an avid mountain climber who takes time off to scale heights such as Mera Peak in the Himalayas, Nepal, and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

In Singapore, he is drawn to Bukit Timah Hill, which at 164m is the highest natural peak on the island.

“My favourite place for a jaunt during the weekends is Bukit Timah Nature Reserve at the geographic centre of Singapore, where I usually hike and stair-climb. It is in these solitary treks that I am able to find personal space and time to reflect on the events of the past week.

My weekdays are usually very focused on work, and there are long days that stretch late into the night to meet project deadlines.

So, the weekends are when I can afford personal and family time. I usually hike at Bukit Timah early in the morning, about two to three times a month, when the air is fresh and the forest is alive with birdsong. Occasionally, my wife joins me, and we treasure the bonding as we work full time.

The trail, though well-trodden, never loses its charms. On several occasions, I have spotted macaques, snakes including cobras, and the colugo, a flying lemur indigenous to South-east Asian forests.

There is also the sight of majestic dipterocarp trees, with their dense canopies that allow dappled sunlight to filter through.

On my sojourns in Bukit Timah, I have learnt a lot from nature.

As always, work-related thoughts creep into my mind. But the quiet environment of the leafy 1.7 sq km reserve, which is wrapped around the slopes of Bukit Timah Hill, allows for clarity of mind to focus on the issues that matter most, whether in my professional or personal life.

Each time I visit, I am able to come up with ideas, which I apply to new projects with my team of designers and engineers.

I joined RSP as an architect in 1991, shortly after graduating in architecture from the National University of Singapore. I started with residential projects, progressing to hotel projects, but soon found my strength in managing mega-projects, where I had to coordinate with large teams comprising developers, builders and designers.

Later in my 30s, I became a hobbyist mountain hiker, enjoying the immense sense of satisfaction that comes from overcoming obstacles such as slippery rocks, bee swarms and altitude sickness. Back then, a group of kindred spirits used to organise weekend hikes to jungles in Malaysia, which made every excursion a cherished event.

Since taking on a bigger role at work, it has been difficult to make long mountain trekking trips.

I prefer shorter treks on Bukit Timah Hill during the weekends to retain my muscle memory for mountain climbing that has been honed over the years. And, more importantly, now that I’m on the cusp of turning 60, I need to maintain my fitness.

Also, we all crave a connection with the natural world. With its swathes of untouched greenery, Bukit Timah reserve provides that vital connection in a bustling city state. The reserve acts as a reminder that, as an architect, I have to play my part in helping to envision new urban spaces that reconnect people with nature.”