Architect, WOHA
Architecture Editor,
Singapore Architect Magazine
sk architectural graduate Tan Szue Hann what it takes to be successful in his profession and he’ll tell you the answer may lie in possessing two seemingly opposing character traits: the curious destructor and the perfectionist creator.
“Ever since I can remember, I have been taking things apart to see how they work and scribbling on walls, doodling on my parents' photographs – in fact drawing on any paper I can get my hands on,” Szue Hann muses. “Architecture is a constant tug-of-war between – and simultaneously a marriage of – science and art, and luckily I can find an outlet for my interests in both fields!”
Szue Hann enjoys the fact that architecture isn’t a pure science, or any definable vocation for that matter, but one that allows for a great deal of creativity. “Often, the design process involves many tries before you get a solution you are comfortable with.” Szue Hann explains, “This quest for perfection is an important aspect of being an architect. If you are not particular, you would take short-cuts on crucial safety aspects for instance, and that can’t be allowed to happen!”
Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medal winner from NUS, Szue Hann graduated with First Class Honours in Architecture and went on to complete a Masters degree, with stints as a visiting scholar in Delft, the Netherlands, and at the University of California, Los Angeles. Practising at WOHA Architects, a home-grown award-winning firm, he is also the co-editor for Singapore Architect, an internationally-circulated architecture and design magazine published by the Singapore Institute of Architects.
Architecture involves a passion to create.