Interview with Siong Vui Choong

Siong Vui Choong ("SVC") interviewed on Thursday, 23 May.

Could you please tell us about your experience as a designer, artist, architect or creator?

SVC : I was born in Malaysia, I went through the primary and half of the secondary school systems in Malaysia. I moved to New Zealand with my family and finished my secondary and university education there. I studied architecture and urban design while at my alma mater. I moved to Australia to work and passed my examination and registered as an architect in Victoria, Australia. I moved to Hong Kong in 2013 and stayed in Hong Kong since then. In total, I have about 15 years of experience.

How did you become a designer?

SVC : I wanted to be an architect since I was in high school where I find some urban spaces were horribly designed and I saw the faults of it. I have also been intrigued by the relationship between traditional and contemporary. In some parts of Asia where I grew up, I saw traditional architecture being abandoned and replaced by contemporary, a huge disparity between the old and new.

What are your priorities, technique and style when designing?

SVC : My design style often has an obvious big picture idea, followed a stylized uniform language and cultural elements attached to it. Every architectural design should have consistency in design language, pattern and etc. Ideally, the building exterior should relate inside out. I normally research a particular subject or ideas first and then sketch them out on tracing papers. I test the ideas on SketchUp or Rhino depending on complexity. Documentations are done on Revit. Final renders are done by others on Lumion, 3D Studio Max or VRay.

Which emotions do you feel when designing?

SVC : I feel energetic and lively when if the concept works, the Eureka moment. I then become very eager to put it down on the paper.

What particular aspects of your background shaped you as a designer?

SVC : As a child, I like building things, Legos. I don’t always follow the instruction and I tend to build my own things. As a result, my lego kits were pretty mixed up and I love to sketch and draw buildings, planes, and cars. I didn’t know I was going to be a designer until I saw the architecture course at my alma mater. Some prominent architects have been influential in my architectural education – Kisho Kurokawa, Lebbeus Woods, Daniel Libeskind, Zaha Hadid, Tadao Ando, and Geoffrey Bawa. Lately, I am into Neri & Hu, Tod William Billie Tsien, WOHA and etc.

What is your growth path? What are your future plans? What is your dream design project?

SVC : In the future, I am hoping to do a Doctor of Philosophy course to test out and further refine my ideas and directions through research. In the end, I would like to have a firm that is experimental on Chinese Architecture, a Boutique firm that uniquely expresses the materiality and identity of Chinese Architecture – a background that I closely associate myself with. Build a personal brand of myself, but a signature design language uniquely about myself. Be an expert in my own field.

What are your advices to designers who are at the beginning of their career?

SVC : A lot of young designers will be departmentalized in big companies, it is hard for graduates not to be pigeonholed. So it is best to go to a smaller firm that is creative and you get to do a full spectrum of work – from design to the finished product. This is good training for young designers. Those who are in big offices should know whether they like design, documentation or administration. If it is hard to do what you like to do and felt that you are being pigeonholed, then prepare to leave the practice and join a smaller firm, or better still, start your own practice.

You are truly successful as a designer, what do you suggest to fellow designers, artists and architects?

SVC : Explore your own styles and your thinking in design. Be outspoken and be daring about your design. Make your work stand out, market yourself and do lots of networking. Build a personal brand. Know your limits and overcome it. It takes strong determination to overcome your limits and barriers. You learn about yourself, the way you design and etc, through this process and become better and better. You will thank yourself later after overcame your own limitations.

What is your day to day look like?

SVC : Awake around 6 am, dropped my kids to school, commute, arrived at the office, dealing with offshore office, clients, meetings. Have lunch, meetings, design meetings, Dinner, sometimes attending seminars, exercise, do quite a bit of architectural reading and thinking before sleep, plan the next day or think about the design of the project I am working on. As someone who is aimed to be successful, one should refrain from counter-productive activities such as games and excessive social media. Best use of time and constant self-improvement is vital for a designer to become successful.

How do you keep up with latest design trends? To what extent do design trends matter?

SVC : A designer should be more sensitive about the market trend, where the market for designs is, versus the capability of your firm or team. If there is no market for doing such a thing, it is best to switch your business direction. If we use a smartphone as an example, Apple released the iPhone around 10 years ago and it was such a great design that every other manufacturer followed suit. Those who didn’t change their product were out of business. Ie. Nokia. I rely on social media and the internet to keep myself up-to-date with the news and development in the architectural field.

How do you know if a product or project is well designed? How do you define good design?

SVC : A good design should not be just about the appearance, but it should also fulfill the functional requirements and solves the problem. A really good design will be revolutionary too. Most of the time a good design will also have at least an award attached to it.

How do you decide if your design is ready?

SVC : I often tried to do some research about the project background, I pick out the relevant concept from the background or an idea that I would like to explore further. Then test it out on the plan and perspectives. Once I am convinced of an idea that fits with the context and scale, I then progress with the form and façade design with the plans simultaneously. Sometimes the plan leads the design and sometimes the elevation. I work hard on the critical elevations, normally the corners and the visible part (main façade) of the buildings and sketch out the elevation until I find the Eureka moment. Once I found it, I will just be focused on developing the idea. I will check with my colleagues, employers, and client to see what their reactions are.

What is your biggest design work?

SVC : The first design I was involved in had weathering steel, it was one of the first buildings in the world to have used it. I remembered we spent a long time trying to figure out the details and a long time dealing with the council about the rainwater runoff. In the end, we got there and the end result looked really good. Recently I am quite proud of the triangular window of 46 FLT Kowloon City, we insisted the client pursue it and convinced the building authority to accept it. Generally, the more the problem is, once we were able to deliver it, we think it’s great, as it isn’t easy at all.

Who is your favourite designer?

SVC : Thomas Heatherwick; Snohetta; Diller, Scofidio and Renfro; Zaha Hadid; Kisho Kurokawa; Tadao Ando; Shigeru Ban; Rem Koolhaas, Vo Trong Nghia; Steve Jobs, Philippe Starck, WOHA; Kerry Hill and Glen Murcutt. These architects and designers each have their focus on a particular style and they are good at what they do, which is the reason why they are successful. People request them to design their project because of their name, style, and value.

Would you tell us a bit about your lifestyle and culture?

SVC : I was born in Malaysia, but I have spent a much longer time away. I have also lived in New Zealand, Australia and now in China. Culturally I was brought up by the Chinese culture; I have also adopted Western culture and studied Japanese culture during my teenage years. I understand well the differences between the East and the West. I am highly attracted by cultural ideas and also very flexible about it. When designing for a specific country, we should be more aware of what constitutes a taboo.

Would you tell us more about your work culture and business philosophy?

SVC : My work culture is work hard and plays hard during business hours. Allow ourselves to have some time to self-improve rather than chaining ourselves to the desk. We need to be more efficient in the design process, and if possible, build a design management system and implement it, so you get the efficiency and good results. My business philosophy is that we need to be independent of the opinion of the clients, so our role as an architect is not compromised. Even though we are the client’s agent. Avoid pro-bono work for your clients wherever possible, because you are responsible for your project. Clients will sue you should they find fault in your design even pro-bono work. So why not charge them professional fees in the first place?

What are your philanthropic contributions to society as a designer, artist and architect?

SVC : I would also design for under-privilege people who do not often have access to good architectural design. I am trying to engage with a charity group who is providing architecture solutions for remote villages in western China. The village presents an interesting challenge, something that is rustic, so simple construction and sometimes traditional construction technique will be employed. The aim is to promote architecture awareness and giving back to society.

What positive experiences you had when you attend the A’ Design Award?

SVC : Design Awards are vital to the business and marketing of architectural practice or the architects. It serves as a platform not only to evaluate the work of the designers, but it is to promote public awareness of the designer and their end product. A’Design Award is well organized and articulated.

Siong Vui Choong Profile