Design Philosophy:
As a custodian of the built environment, Shawn has a penchant for heritage buildings and old cities. Apart from his independent research outside of work, he is also a member of ICOMOS Singapore and Singapore Heritage Society. He was also an arts and architecture docent with the National Gallery Singapore from 2010 to 2016.
Since the start of his career, Shawn has been working on a few keynote competitions such as Jurong Lake District and Changi Terminal 5 with Grimshaw Architects, and other city and district master plan projects in Cieplewo, Phnom Penh and Canberra. Shawn Teo is now a Registered Architect and design/project team lead who constantly offers new ideas and statements for his clients in Singapore. In recent years, Shawn has placed more focus on hospitality- and heritage-related developments to reinforce the knowledge gained from his current projects, in hopes of pushing the limits of architectural design.
Shawn is also the co-President for DPLife, the recreation and outreach arm that seeks to improve work culture and camaraderie through welfare initiatives and events. This has become a fundamental cornerstone for the practice against the much negative perception of this profession and the industry at large.
Shawn has been a firm proponent of practice research, based on his dogma that architecture might just be more than its limitations. Aside from practising architecture, he also enjoys the rigour of design research and exploration, and has been involved in academic research and architectural publications since university. Shawn believes that the practice needs to engage with tertiary and research institutions more meaningfully in order for the profession and industry to improve considerably. Shawn is also a Building and Construction Authority Young Leader and part of The Astronauts Collective, a non-profit organisation that supports youths to explore meaningful pave their educational map and career.
