About BHN Architecture

OUR HISTORY BHN Architecture  was founded in May 2005, and the practice worked on residential, institutional and commercial projects, providing architectural, landscape, interior and furniture design services for both public and private sector projects. BHNA Pte Ltd  was subsequently established in December 2008 so as to take over the growing disciplines of landscape, interior and furniture design, while BHN Architecture focused on architectural commissions. Today, the portfolio and scale of projects in the offices have expanded steadily to include community, medical, industrial and hospitality projects.   OUR DESIGN PHILOSOPHY We are constantly seeking to provide the most appropriate design for each and every project, remembering all the time that this does not necessarily have anything to do with adopting the latest building technologies, working with the most expensive materials, putting on the trendiest look, using the most sophisticated detailing or dressing with the most popular style. Clues to design solutions are often discerned in the  unique physical context  of each project site, in understanding the  specific needs of our clients  as we  listen and evaluate  carefully their requirements, as well as in the  precise   framing of the problems  and  asking the right questions . Through consistently approaching each project with this rigour, we seek to come up with  simple, straightforward and the most appropriate  design solutions, and in so doing free ourselves of any contrived, stylistic burden. Oftentimes, such solutions turn out to be the most humble yet elegant, subtle and yet natural. Where required, we are not afraid to push the envelope, or encourage the restraint. Even as we endeavour to advance in the artistic aspect and idealisms of architecture and design, we are firm in our belief that meaningful and delightful architecture and design flows alongside logic and nature, as well as a good understanding of the human experience.   OUR NAME AND LOGO Our logo appears as a stylized representation of the bamboo plant. Bamboo has traditionally been appreciated functionally for its wide range of uses as building and domestic products, aesthetically for its grace and beauty, and qualitatively for its virtues of rectitude, resilience and simplicity. Therein we find qualities that BHN Architecture and BHNA Pte Ltd strive to achieve in what we do:  Simplicity and Beauty  in our design,  Practicality and Thoughtfulness  in our products,  Commitment and Integrity  in the services to our clients. Worked into the logo are the letters `B’, `H’, `N’, which is the acronym of our principal’s name, and `A’ for the word “Architecture”. In choosing to use the word “Architecture” instead of “Architects” in our name, we keep in mind that the work we do as architects must be about the celebration of, and contribution towards Architecture. Birthed from the imagination, architecture realized in physical form must be meaningful and bring delight. We hope that through the practice, we may discover and represent what we understand to be authentic and meaningful Architecture in the midst of the many noises and distractions that affect the perception of what true and good design is.   OUR PRINCIPAL Bernard Ng graduated from the School of Architecture, NUS with a Master’s degree in Architecture in 1999, and registered with the Board of Architects in 2005. He is the Founder and Principal Architect of BHN Architecture and Founding Director of BHNA Pte Ltd. Bernard was involved in a wide range of architectural projects and competitions which included single-family homes, collective housing, schools, military institutions, spa and hospitality developments, offices and warehouse buildings while under employment in architectural and multi-disciplinary consultant offices before and after graduating from the university. Prior to establishing his own practice and design consultancy, Bernard headed landscape design in Engawa Design Consultancy, architectural design in POD and led a design team in Tierra Design. Bernard has special interest in the multi-disciplinary integration of architectural, interior and landscape design. Simultaneous consideration of the effects and impact of architecture, environment and landscaping, and interior design is exercised whenever possible to arrive at sensitively integrated and carefully resolved design solutions even in early phases of projects. Bernard’s early office commissions include houses and interior design work, and to this day, despite the significant expansion of the office portfolio, each project, irrespective of size or type, is approached with the same commitment of service and sensitivity to design.