Teik Rong’s Architectural Education and Practice Background
At RSP, Khoo Teik Rong, 40, is an Associate Director. Outside of RSP, he is an adjunct lecturer at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) where he draws from experience to nurture Singapore’s future architects. As an architect himself, Teik Rong’s architectural education and practice are rooted in a wider, global context.
In 2006, He graduated with honours with a Bachelor of Architecture from Australia’s Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. After graduating, he joined RSP Singapore in 2009 before pursuing his Post-Professional Master’s at Philadelphia’s University of Pennsylvania in 2013 on a scholarship. Changing course, Teik Rong then worked at RSP Beijing before returning to Singapore.
From experience, Teik Rong believes in the importance of human-centric design, as he explains further:
“You cannot forget the humanity aspect, or you lose touch with who you are designing for. You’re never designing for yourself. Everyone has a certain appreciation of design, but it’s important not to lose sense of what the bigger picture is—that design ultimately is for the betterment of humanity.”
His work with H&M
A project Teik Rong describes to be “really fun” is the revamp of popular global clothing retail brand, H&M Singapore’s flagship store at Orchard Road featuring the first H&M Home in the country. His role there was to help H&M realise their distinctive visual identity in the local context.
Designed with i-mesh textile, the façade design aims to reflect H&M’s brand identity. The vision, as Teik Rong explains, balances the ever-changing with the constant—a blank white veil that showcases seasonal clothing launches and events. “It appears in short bursts. Every few months, when they introduce something new, the entire look can transform. That was the idea behind the blank veil—it’s like a cinema screen,” he says.
The visual experience resonates with his vision of what “Design meets Humanity” means. As such, good design means that “It must appeal to the senses, be it emotionally or intellectually. Being thoughtful, being empathetic and understanding is at the heart of it.”
Image credit: Finbarr Fallon
Fashion and Sustainability
Something Teik Rong feels passionate about is the disconnect between architectural education and practice, which motivated him to join SUTD as an Adjunct Senior Lecturer
While working on H&M, in 2022 Teik Rong led the “Fashion x Sustainability x Architecture Option Studio” where he taught students how to consider sustainability in the fashion industry through architectural design. Subsequently, he invited subject matter experts from the fashion industry like H&M and Daniel Boey to work with students in developing their ideas.
“We didn’t restrict the students, so they took ideas and went away with it,” Teik Rong recalls the experience fondly. “A lot of the ideas they came up with weren’t very realistic but it’s fine. It’s an academic setting for them to explore ideas. The main thing is that it was fun and that the students got to interact with people from H&M.”
Community bridges the gap between architectural education and practice
More recently, he helmed a design studio called ‘In-Between Katong’, which encourages students to explore the bonds people have to physical spaces The studio is a collaboration between URA x SUTD x SAA x RSP x TaT to explore new ideas to rejuvenate the historic east corridor- Katong. It was on a study trip to Japan to learn about public spaces for the studio that Teik Rong unpacks why there is a wide gap between education and practice.
He reminisces, “The Japanese architects have a very strong link with their schools even after graduating and going into practice. It’s a broader community and they try to invite each other for workshops and talks and they collaborate with each other frequently. This generosity, camaraderie and support for one another goes beyond professional boundaries. I feel that’s not something that’s very prevalent here.”
Guiding students in their careers
Nevertheless, as a teaching practitioner himself, Teik Rong feels responsible in guiding students on their own architectural education and practice in the long term.
“I’ll try to imbue in the students the sense of joy and pleasure in doing design and in going through the process. Of course, there’s no way to show sugar-coat it. It’s a tough profession. It’s just something you must accept, otherwise you can’t persevere in the industry.”
The challenges
In other words, he acknowledges that life as an architect is not easy.
“That’s a problem with the creative industry,” Teik Rong says bluntly. “The hours are long; the bosses are crazy, and the clients are crazy too.”
When asked why he remains in the industry, he laughs and says, “Because I’m crazy too!”
More soberly, he recalls working on the Dareway campus during his time in the Beijing office. Among his many projects, this is one of the few that goes beyond the speculative stage and gets built.
“I would say that the probability of seeing your ideas getting built is rather low, so it’s important you persevere if you want to see things come to fruition. It’s a very long process, and the more challenges you overcome the more resilient you get,” Teik Rong says.
Yet, he finds joy in what he does.
“When I was younger, I guess it was about testing ideas that I had in the real world. Now, it’s probably more holistic, where you take pleasure in the process of it, alongside sharing and teaching other people. So naturally, the next step is to foster a community of like-minded individuals who are creators.”
His passion for the craft is recognised in the awards he accumulated over the years, including his win for Singapore’s Most Outstanding Architecture Professionals Under 40 award in 2022, accorded by the Singapore Business Review.
