Pushing the boundaries and understanding of sustainable architecture
Award-winning architect Gordon Gn believes that good designs aren’t just aesthetically pleasing, they perform multiple roles that benefit the people who use them.
Mr Gordon Gn turned his childhood fascination with Lego into a career as an architect, designing and defining spaces where people work and live. Photos: Mediacorp Studio 3
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Like many of us, award-winning architect Gordon Gn fondly recalled playing with Lego during his childhood. Unlike many of us, Mr Gn’s love affair with the little plastic bricks eventually led to him continuously pushing the envelope of building performance throughout his career.
“Lego was always my toy of choice,” said Mr Gn, office director of HKS Singapore, the design firm making waves for its innovative ways of defining the spaces that humans live and work in. “The act of making things as a child really intrigued me.”
Mr Gn has nurtured that creative spark into a glittering career. With an insightful understanding of how design serves purpose, he has led projects across the Asia-Pacific, Middle East, North Africa and Americas. His designs for healthcare and commercial projects, in particular, have picked up prizes and plaudits. For instance, his team’s work for the Rabat Ibn Sina Hospital in Morocco won the Rethinking The Future Awards 2020 in the Institutional (Concept) category.
EYE-CATCHING DESIGN WITH STATE-OF-THE-ART TECHNOLOGY
The Kia EV6 has a range of more than 500km on a full charge.
The need to blend efficiency, aesthetic appeal and purposefulness into an eye-catching whole is also applicable in the creation of cars like the Kia EV6, a zero-emissions vehicle that is practical and roomy.
When paired with compatible charging infrastructure, ultra-fast charging can take the Kia EV6 from a 10 per cent to 80 per cent charge in 18 minutes. A full charge gives the car a range of more than 500km.
The advanced technologies used in the car and its striking design helped it win the 2022 European Car of the Year. It’s scored a host of prestigious design awards as well, like the Best of The Best accolade at the 2022 Red Dot Design Awards and the Automobiles/Vehicles award at the iF Design Awards 2022.
TAKING DESIGN ONE STEP FURTHER
The very best designs do more, whether they’re in the architecture or automotive sectors. “How can a piece of architecture contribute back to the community or society? Can a hospital be a gathering point for education, research or collaboration? My answer to that would be, very much so,” said Mr Gn.
“The operating theatres can still exist, but so can a civic plaza or a collaborative cafe, where people can gather as a community, or a kind of patient-education area that tells you what to do after your discharge from the hospital.”
Computational design allows Mr Gn to simulate a variety of real-world conditions and scenarios to determine the best solutions for addressing architectural, environmental and human design factors. “It gives us recommendations on what the most optimised or performative outcome is,” he said.
He sees the ability for an object to exist in harmony with its surroundings as a key aspect of sustainability. “Sustainability doesn’t just rely on buildings and ecology. I think it covers a slightly broader spectrum of inclusivity, of social and human impact,” he said.
In the case of the Kia EV6, this manifests itself in the focus on the in-car user experience. For instance, dual 12.3-inch curved displays present key information to the driver and occupants clearly.
The spacious cabin, extensive use of soft-touch materials and features like ventilated front seats help create a relaxing ambience, making for a more pleasant journey.
Said Mr Gn: “I believe in diversity and inclusion, about safety and well-being, and community involvement. Sustainability is about people. It’s about the community.”
Mr Gn knows that acting sustainably comes down to important personal decisions. “If we make the choice to own a car, we have to do so balancing the needs of the earth and the community, as much as we can,” he said. “What I look for in a car is the perfect integration of performance, sustainability and beauty.”
That might well be the same thing that Kia’s designers strove for in creating the Kia EV6. Yet not every sustainable act has to come in the form of a grand creation like an award-winning building or electric car.
Sustainability can start with the basics, said Mr Gn, with small choices such as recycling and turning off electrical appliances when they’re not needed. In other words, sustainability can be built from the ground up into something bigger and more meaningful, like the creations that grow one Lego brick at a time.
Find out more about how Kia is trying to make motoring more sustainable.
