FUTURARC INTERVIEW
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CL: You mentioned that a lot has to change in order for the status of women in the profession to improve, so what do you think are some of the things that need to be fundamentally done, on the ground level or something else, that will bring about an improvement? MW: It’s a multi-pronged problem. There are issues about traditional norms of working that need to change and that could take a generation. There are issues with the sustainability of our career in architecture, which is a big problem, because a lot of women cannot continue to work through certain phases of their lives; it’s not generally a profession that allows you to press the accelerator or step on the brakes when you need to. I see these as a problem, not only for women, but for all people. It’s true that there are not enough women ascending into leadership roles. Over time that will happen, it’s just not going to happen fast enough. What we’ve learnt from certain social movements in other countries is that you actually have to make a concerted effort if gender equity is something we are going to achieve. If we just let it happen organically, it will take generations. We need to invest in leaders, to cultivate men and women.
CL: Could you share with us the current projects you’re working on and your team? MW: The Mandai Resort is a very exciting project for us. It’s a project that’s transformative for our team because it’s on our home ground, which has not been the case for the vast majority of our work, most of which are overseas. We are working with a fantastic team committed to sustainability. Our client Mandai Park Holdings has put forth a very demanding brief and handpicked a world-class consulting team to achieve the highest standards of sustainability. We have amazing resources like we’ve never had before, in terms of skills, know-how and world-class exposure to sustainable practices. But it’s challenging because I would say that from a project management standpoint, the project management paradigm has not evolved— it is still totally based on cost and time management. Those are the priorities and they are so outstanding as priority that it’s very difficult to prioritise on sustainability. So, we have our challenges and difficulties, but I still think it’s going to be an important project, and it’s going to change the way we work. I hope it’s an opportunity for Singaporeans and visitors to Singapore to really come close to nature, and experience being in a rainforest and wildlife in ways that people have not experienced before. We also have a house project that just started in Singapore, near Bukit TImah Hill, and we have a development in Kuala Lumpur that is in a mangrove. So all are very eco-focused projects. We have other new things starting abroad that is exciting. We are very much looking forward to a lot more opportunities to work on eco-developments. We have ongoing projects that have existed for a few years, for example in Ubud, Bali, where we are doing a botanical resort. I think regenerative design is becoming the core of what drives us as designers; moving forward from building buildings that are sustainable to building buildings that are actually regenerative in nature. It’s not enough to be sustainable; it actually has to be proactively helping the environment.
Throughout COVID-19 we have done a lot of research into this area and we have spoken to a lot of clients, and tried to help clients understand what regenerative design is all about, and how they can start to think in terms of regenerative design in their own design ethos, design objectives as well as towards their commercial objectives. This is going to call for a very huge shift in thinking again. It’s going to take years and it’s going to be something that listed companies are going to have to get their heads around to understand, because the world is not going to tolerate design that is not sustainable in the years to come.
The younger the public, the more demanding and the more knowledgeable they will be. So we will start to see that the demand will come from the consumers. And the developers will have to have products that are genuinely sustainable and regenerative.
FUTURARC 87
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5 Site planning at Ubud 6 With students from SUTD Sustainability Studio 7 & 8 Snapshots from Maria’s personal interests in seed pods & birding
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