In fall of 2012 I had recently graduated from architecture school at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. I packed an (extremely heavy) backpack and flew to Singapore to start my career. I’m an American citizen, and had prospects for jobs in the United States. So why did I decide to move halfway across the world to work in Asia?
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| Enjoying the skyline of Singapore. Almost every building visible in this view has sprung up within the past 5 years, including Marina Bay Sands, three 200m+ curvaceous towers topped with a cantilevered skypark. |
1) ACTION
New York and Chicago are great, I would love to have worked there during the post-WWII economic boom when these cities were rapidly developing. London is awesome- and I’d gladly have taken a job there during the industrial revolution. In the course of my five years studying in Chicago, a handful of small projects with tight budgets and a few meagre skyscrapers were completed. During the same period in Singapore, the number of incredible projects completed is nearly impossible to count. Right now, Asia is THE place to be an architect.
2) PEOPLE
Asia is quickly urbanising to an advanced state, becoming denser and more vibrant than any civilizations ever to exist on earth. With all these people come opportunities to create housing, public transportation/infrastructure, and all kinds of structures in a way which benefits a large amount of people, and the market is simply massive. I remember seeing a banner in Chicago several years ago where a condominium development was billing itself as the fastest selling building in the city, having sold about 15% of its apartments in 6 months. Later that day, I saw news that Oasia Downtown, a spectacular green-clad 27 storey tower in Singapore had sold out in a single day. The rapidly expanding middle and upper classes in Asia are fueling phenomenal growth.
3) SPEED
Asia is building like crazy right now- and it’s doing it at an extremely fast pace. Clients eager to push out new projects, efficient civil service, and the availability of cheap labour means that a project which might take over 10 years to build in the western world, can be completed in just a few years in Asia. This means that within the first decade of my career, I’ll have several completed projects under my belt, rather than toiling away on one for years.
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| This large, extremely complex building (PARKROYAL on Pickering hotel by WOHA Architects) was completed in just over four years. |
4) MONEY
I’ve decided to be an architectural designer, five years in university could pay out much higher in law or finance. I’m not so concerned with personal income, but I do care about having a client with money to spend. Budgets are seemingly limitless, and clients are increasingly willing to spend on quality designs to raise marketability and profit margins. Governments have also begun to recognise the value of design to improve urban conditions and create international renown for their cities. Whatever the reason- it’s hard to relate to my classmates now working back in the states, who are struggling with tight budgets on refurbishment jobs as the architecture billings index remains unstable.
Architects in North America and Europe have been turning more and more to projects in Asia as a way to maintain profitability since the financial crisis of 2007. But rather than working on projects from afar, why not move out to Asia and take advantage of the action, people, speed, and money (not to mention the incredible food :D) that these vibrant economies have to offer?
For more on this topic, see my other post on architects in Singapore.
