People
Directors
Anuj is passionate about creating ecologically responsible and nature-inspired designs for the built environment that are good for people, biodiversity and ecosystem services. He founded bioSEA to bridge the gap between biodiversity & ecology professionals and architects in built environment design.
As the first trained Biomimicry Professional in Southeast Asia, he also founded the Biomimicry Singapore Network which is part of the Biomimicry Institute’s Global Networks. Anuj combines his deep ecological and biodiversity knowledge with biomimicry to create thematic landscapes such as butterfly gardens and experiences in tropical ecosystems. He has also been associated with the Nature Society (Singapore) for over 15 years and with BirdLife International on regional bird conservation.
Anuj is a National Geographic Explorer, a recipient of the Joan Mosenthal DeWind Award for Lepidoptera (Butterfly) Conservation by Xerces Society, USA and the Cities of Love Environmental Sustainability Award, Singapore.
Priyanka has over 15 years of experience in corporate governance, finance and startup consulting with degrees in sustainable & green finance, company secretarial services and law. Her expertise includes quantifying the monetary benefits of nature and how such valuations can create a strong proposition for nature in the built environment.
Biodiversity & Ecological Design Consultants
Saloni is a BSc. graduate from the University of Melbourne, specializing in Zoology. She is passionate about biodiversity conservation and has experience in educating and involving the wider community in conservation efforts. She has rehabilitated orphaned and juvenile grey-headed flying foxes and monitored populations of the endangered Leadbeater’s Possum in the Central Highlands of Victoria using environmental DNA analyses.
She has a soft corner for the little things that run the world – invertebrates – and has studied the effects of light at night on riparian and grassland invertebrate assemblages. As a design & research ecologist, her interests lie in using ecological principles to integrate biodiversity into the urban fabric.
James Khoo is crazy about insects. He is the managing director of The Curious Pangolin, a film and biodiversity consultancy company focused on content with a social and environmental conscience. He is a leading figure in video documentation of performing arts in Singapore and employs his documentation techniques in the recording of local insect biodiversity. His environmental work is focused on soil-based agriculture and its interactions with insects and other arthropods. He works with farmers and like-minded educators to raise awareness and understanding of insects.
Rick is a marine ecologist with over 10 years of fieldwork experience. He has worked on mangrove species distributions across elevational gradients in Singapore and the impacts of sedimentation in Thailand, as well as on the impacts of algal growth and sedimentation on coral reefs in Singapore. In Australia, he has worked on the spatial configuration of marine habitats, specifically in remnant oyster reefs in New South Wales. Finally, in Europe, he worked on the spatial sedimentation effects in Dutch Eastern Scheldt oyster reefs.
Rick’s background in marine biology and global work experience makes him well suited to advise on the restoration and rehabilitation methods of degraded and/or urbanizing marine and coastal environments.
Wei Kit is an Ecologist with experience in applied environmental research and engineering studies, as well as consultancy projects in both coastal and terrestrial environments. His multi-disciplinary experience encompasses ecology, geomorphology, coastal processes, hydrology, and geohydrology. He has conducted flora and fauna surveys, ecological monitoring, a topographic and geophysical survey in natural and urban ecosystems and hydrological modelling.
Wei Kit believes in the importance of cross-disciplinary and collaborative work in solving complex environmental problems. He enjoys being in nature and the process of understanding how nature works. He is also active in local environmental volunteering during his free time.
Katharina’s works on the integration of ecosystem service benefits into buildings. Her doctoral research project at Utrecht University (Department of Biology and Real Estate and Campus) collaborates with bioSEA and Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. With a Master’s degree in Bio-Inspired Innovation and a background in ecological impact assessment, she is interested in the benefits that nature-based building designs can have by monitoring ecosystem services. Through workshops that link science and industrial practice, she supports building developers in sustainable decision-making towards ecological functionality.
Jeremy has been researching and working on ways to combat climate change and reduce its destructive effects on our society for over a decade by optimising plant growth to sequester carbon into the soil.
His company, Terra Matters, seeks to develop and refine methods to expedite biological carbon sequestration in the tropics. The power of supporting ecosystems to regenerate soil is the most powerful, proven method in the fight against climate change, but it is one that everyone must start participating in. Terra Matters mission is to provide practical solutions to help everyone fix carbon, from families living in apartments, to schools, corporations and agribusinesses.
Yun Hye Hwang is a landscape architect with expertise in developing low-maintenance naturalist landscapes. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture in the College of Design and Engineering at NUS. Her research, teaching, and professional activities speculate on emerging demands in fast-growing Asian cities by exploring socio-ecological design and management versus manicured greenery and the multifunctional role of everyday landscapes. She focuses on transferring knowledge of urban ecology from academia to practice through active interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaborations.
Karam Golen has been in the landscape industry for the past 35 years and has been practising Landscape Architecture for over 20 years. He has vast experience in Project & Landscape Management/ Designs. In his course of work over the years, he has managed many prestigious projects which cover interesting aspects like installing Water Harvesting tanks, Green Walls, Green Roof, Irrigation system and Water Management system.
Lin Lan is fascinated by ecological and humanistic design for landscapes. She believes that landscape design is the perfect integration of ecology, space and people. As a landscape designer, she is passionate about incorporating ecological principles into her designs, studying the interrelationships between each natural element in a design and carefully considering the ways in which they co-exist in the landscape design. She is committed to developing different strategies and design highlights for each project to maximize its unique characteristics and potential.
Biomimicry Design Consultants
Nathan is a designer and researcher based in the USA. He focuses on understanding and translating principles from the structures, relationships, and algorithms in living systems for applications in the built environment. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Sustainability, a Master of Science in Biomimicry, and a Master of Architecture from Arizona State University.
Nathan is a member of Biomimicry Professionals and the founder of nuLUCA, a design firm that provides education and consulting to help others find regenerative design solutions.
Lisa is Projects Principal of a regional firm (AtelierTTSG/ PT AtelierTT), with robust consultancy experience in the built environment, launching businesses and cultivating international collaborations in ASEAN. Certified in GreenMark, Universal Design and Public Policy, she consults on business partnerships, policy and writing.
Lisa holds a B. Sc. from Boston University, M. Arch from the University of California, Los Angeles and PCPPA from Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore.
Munshi is an architectural designer with a Bachelor of Architecture from the National University of Singapore and an Masters of Architecture from the Singapore University of Technology and Design. His interests are in computational Architecture and sustainable design, where he assists in the design and CFD simulation of biomimetic design solutions.
Ruiee is an architect, with an interest in coalescing the definite boundaries between the built and natural environment. To bridge the gap, she attended the National University of Singapore and received her master’s degree in Landscape Architecture, which introduced her to an understanding of the tropical landscape and biodiversity. With a background in Architecture and specialization in Landscape, she looks to create meaningful design solutions that contribute to creating spaces within biodiverse surroundings.
Grace is a passionate biologist, trainer, writer, and adventurer. She is totally at home in the natural ecosystems, trekking in forests, kayaking in the mangroves, or just exploring the seashores and coastline. A zoologist by training, she uses the outdoor classroom, creative methodologies, and E-learning for her teaching of biology, and the development of educational curriculum and resources. Grace has developed and conducted programs, workshops, and learning trails for several Singapore governmental organizations, Singapore Science Centre, and primary and secondary schools. She has also conducted eco-literacy programs for teachers and trains nature guides. Grace also conducts consultancies for private organizations in environment education and sustainable development.
Collaborators and Advisors
Jamie is an ecologist and practitioner of Biodiversity Sensitive Urban Design principles with experience in Singapore, Australia and further abroad. He is well versed in both terrestrial and aquatic ecology, with a passion for habitat rehabilitation and afforestation from a holistic ecology perspective.
Having worked on all sides of the playing field through his career (developer, designer and consultant) gives Jamie a deep understanding of balancing ecological and development objectives. He has a particular passion for wetland and stream restoration, the re-establishment of wildlife in urban environments, and mapping local-scale habitat types and conditions.
Carsten is the director and founder of Enviro Pro Green Innovations (S) Pte Ltd, with more than 25 years of professional experience in the area of sustainable water management and bio-engineering. He has worked in South-East Asia continuously since 1993 and is based in Singapore, where he founded Enviro Pro Green Innovations (S) Pte Ltd, a member of a regional group of companies under the Enviro Pro brand.
Carsten has worked closely with Singapore government agencies such as National Parks Board and Public Utilities Board, providing specialist design advice on applied bio-engineering solutions and sustainable drainage programs. His environmental management experience includes undertaking water quality assessments, contaminant source studies, biodiversity and land-use assessments, and environmental risk/impact assessments and pollution control studies.
Lahiru has worked at different scales of forest restoration and agriculture throughout Asia with a diverse set of stakeholders. His past engagements involve working in the government as a Senior Arborist at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, describing over a dozen new tree species and working on forests, termites, and finally wetlands with a focus on peatlands and mangroves. He has also worked as a consultant to private sector organizations, ASEAN and NGOs working on forest restoration/EIAs/HCVs and policy. In his personal life, Lahiru has worked as a hands-on smallholder farmer on his family farm in Sri Lanka exploring agroforestry techniques.
Perrine heads the Resilient and Inclusive Cities lab at Nanyang Technological University (NTU)’s Asian School of the Environment. Her work focuses on urban ecosystem services, ecosystem-based management, and water resource management, aiming to improve practices for “designing with nature” in Singapore and Southeast Asian cities. Prior to joining NTU, she was a senior scientist with the Natural Capital Project at Stanford University, where she conducted ecosystem services assessments and developed decision-support tools. She has previously worked as an environmental engineer in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Selvam is the Founder of Amozonia Landscape Pte Ltd that offers forest and water inspired landscaping services since 2002. Their services include conceptualization to implementation through a team of designers, gardeners, arborists, horticulturists and wetland experts. Selvam, an avid environmentalist and gardening enthusiast, has drawn great inspiration from vast rainforests ranging from the Amazon to Borneo, both in naming his company and providing forest themed landscape services to clients. Amozonia now has offices in Singapore, Malaysia, India and Thailand and has received numerous national and international awards.
In awe with bird flight, kayak sailing and the natural world, Christian studies aviation materials science, engineering, and applying biomimicry’s principles in designs. With a technical background in metallurgy, ceramic coatings and biobased materials, he’s currently working to develop space exploration ground support equipment. He aspires to create a global community that’s inclusive and generous in its functional outcomes by learning from local ecosystems. Christian holds a Biomimicry Professional certification from Biomimicry 3.8 and a Masters in Biomimicry from the Arizona State University.
Lidia is an architect and a researcher in biomimetic design. Her work contributes to the body of research that seeks to redefine environmental design in architecture through mimicking natural systems, changing approaches from conventional separated building systems to adaptive and integrated solutions and methods for enhanced sustainability and resilience in architecture. She received her PhD on Biomimetic Living Envelopes from the Delft University of Technology, carried out her postdoctoral studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on biomimetic thermal solutions, and worked at the AA London and Cardiff University, UK. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor in Architecture at the University of the West of England in Bristol, where she leads the biomimetic front in research and teaching.
Hortense is an Assistant Professor at the Nanyang Technological University of Singapore since 2019, as a joint faculty at the Schools of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering. Her research aims at developing new manufacturing approaches to create structural materials with multifunctional properties through the design of their microstructures, which are bioinspired. The materials employed are mostly ceramics as well as naturally grown materials. In 2020, Dr Le Ferrand was awarded the prestigious NRF fellowship to further develop bioinspired 3D printing methods at NTU.
Rupert is internationally recognised for his work in nature-inspired construction and is active within bio-inspired innovation, acting on the advisory panel for Biomimicry UK. He holds a part-time post at Nottingham Trent University and is also the Director of Freeform Construction Ltd.
Rupert’s research spans swarm construction robotics, construction scale 3D printing, and agent modelling in order to realise the construction methods used in nature for emerging human technologies. Rupert is an expert in how termites and their extraordinary mounds operate.
Dr. Kuowei Eleazar-Godfrey Chiu (aka KC) has been educated and worked in Taiwan, Singapore, Australia and the USA. He is a tenured assistant professor at the Tunghai University in Taiwan, specialising in nature-based intelligibility, urban design and biomimicry. He holds the best inventive patent paper in Singapore Architecture and Civil Engineering Conference in May 2019. Dr. KC founded the Regenerative Earth and Anthropocene Design Lab (READ) and recently won the Third Place of the Mars City Design 2020 in the category of ‘Marschitecture’.
Petra is an architect with a passion for biology and biomimetic design. She holds a PhD in “Biomimetics in Architecture” from the Vienna University of Technology in Austria and worked internationally on three continents in inter-and trans-disciplinary design, research, and education, at the intersection of biology, architecture and art. Until recently, she was an Associate Professor at the Biomimicry Research and Innovation Center at The University of Akron, US, and founded the Biodesign Lab. Her work has been published widely in books, journals, exhibitions, and documentary films. She leads her own company Transarch in Austria, carrying out research on biological structures for biomimetic innovation in architecture and the built environment.
Alumni
Past Staff & Consultants
Celine Tan
Architectural Design Associate
Madhvi Chulet
Architectural Design Consultant
Maitreyee Fadnavis
Architectural Design Consultant
Past Interns
Atticus Cummings
Architectural Design & Biomimicry Intern
Bu Jing Yi
Biomechanics Intern
Ilina Shah
Biomaterials Intern
Leanne Haan
Urban Greenery & Biomimicry Intern
Reavathi Kumarappan
Vernomimicry Intern