Biography
Calvin Chua is an architect and urban strategist working at the intersection of sustainable design, planning and advocacy. He is the founder of Spatial Anatomy, a strategic design practice working on projects across scales, culture and geographies, with an interest in urban adaptation and transformation. The firm has developed regeneration masterplans in Southeast Asia, activated a heritage district through an architectural festival in Singapore, and developed adaptive reuse framework for ageing malls.
Complementing his practice, Calvin engages the wider design community through writing op-eds for various magazines and exhibiting at various festivals, including directing the Singapore Archifest (2023), exhibiting at the Singapore Light to Night Festival (2022), Hong Kong Centre for Heritage Arts and Textile (2022), Seoul Biennale (2017, 2019, 2023) and Venice Biennale (2021, 2023). In parallel, Calvin serves as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at SUTD and in 2022, he was a Visiting Professor at the Korea National University of Arts.
Recognised for his unique approach towards design practice and social causes, Calvin is an Asia 21 Next Generation Fellow (Class of 2022), global finalist for the Lisbon Triennale Millennium bcp Debut Award (2022). In addition, Calvin’s projects and opinions have been featured in various news media, including CNA, CNN, Zaobao, Monocle, etc.
Prior to founding his own practice, Calvin worked with leading architecture and urban planning firms in Europe. A registered architect in the United Kingdom, Calvin graduated from the Architectural Association School of Architecture.
Education
- AA Diploma, Architectural Association, London, UK
- Postgraduate Diploma with Merit, University of Westminster, London, UK
Research Interest
- Architectural and Urban Typologies
- Urban Regeneration
- Environmental Systems
- Political Theory
Awards
- Asia Society Asia 21 Next Generation Fellow, 2022
- Lisbon Triennale Millennium bcp Debut Award Finalist, 2022
- Special Judges Award, Taipei International Design Award, 2021
- Longlist for Royal Academy of the Arts Dorfman Award, 2020
- Young Leader of Tomorrow and a Topic Leader for the St Gallen Symposium, 2015
- Design Residency in Doha under the British Council Old Doha Prize, 2013
- Wilmotte Foundation Prix W, 2012
Selected Publications
- ‘The public housing paradox in Singapore’, in The Architectural Review, Sep 2023.
- ‘A Nation by Design’ in Jacobin, Issue 48, 2023.
- ‘Urban Experiments in the Capital and Border Regions’ in AA Files 78, 2022
- ‘Saving Singapore’s Golden Mile Complex’ in Tribune Magazine Issue 11 (Spring 2021)
- ‘Four Columns and a Roof: An Insight into Architecture in Southeast Asia’ in Beyond the West (Die Gestalten Verlag: Berlin, 2020)
- ‘Strata Megastructure: Architecture of Flexibility and Enterprise’, in The Impossible of Mapping (Urban Asia), (NTU CCA: Singapore, 2019)
- ‘Productive Peripheries: Rethinking the HSR Project’, The Singapore Architect, 2018
- ‘Shorefront: A Microcosm of Georgetown’, The Singapore Architect, 2018
- ‘Lessons for the Founders Memorial from other cities’, CNA, 10 Dec 2017
- ‘The Office Park: Architecture between Nature and Production’, The Singapore Architect, 2017
- ‘Pop-up Pyongyang´ in Dongwoo Yim et al, North Korea Atlas (Damdi: Seoul, 2014)
- ‘Greater Singapore: Exporting the City State’, MONU, Issue 18, 2013
- ‘The (non) Architecture of Sustainability’, Singapore Architects, Issue 274, 2013