Not many people see beauty in drains and canals.

Ong Ker Shing of Lekker Design is an exception. Through her architecturally-trained eye, mundane objects such as drains and canals can be aesthetically pleasing while serving a functional purpose.

Her touch for seeing splendour in every day objects has been instrumental in getting her design firm, founded together with a partner Joshua Comaroff, noticed by global design names including the renowned Swiss architecture firm, Herzog & De Meuron.

The six-year old Lekker Design clinched an award for its winning design Respiration (for drains/canals) in a local competition 10 TouchPoints Design Competition which aimed to look for innovative solutions to everyday living experiences.

Moving on, Lekker Design will be going global as they have been selected by Herzog & De Meuron as one of 100 firms to design 100 villas in Mongolia.

Periscope catches up with Ong Ker Shing to find out how she started on her design journey and the plans ahead for Lekker Design.

How was Lekker Design founded?

Shing: I met Joshua Comaroff in design school at Harvard in 1997. He was a couple of years ahead of me and was actually the teaching assistant for one of my studios. I guess it was then that we started to talk about design, and started working together on a couple of small projects.

We founded Lekker Design in 2002 after we graduated. We then decided to move to Asia and so founded the company in order to do a few projects. In 2006, we focused on working full-time in the firm.

You were one of the eight winners of the 10 TouchPoints Design Competition which aimed to look for innovative solutions to everyday living experiences. Can you tell us a little more about your winning design Respiration (for drains/canals) and how it can make everyday living better? How has winning the competition changed you or your firm?

Shing: This was a fun competition. Josh and I studied both Architecture and Landscape Architecture when we were in school, and we have always been keen to work on projects that combine the two in an interesting way. The 10 TouchPoints Competition to re-design the Drains and Canals seemed like an ideal way to do just that.

Our winning design titled Respiration combined aesthetics and function. We proposed expanding the Big Drain in one area, and naturalising it so as to harness certain natural processes that could help with flood management, and create a microclimate in which airflow is encouraged and the ambient temperature can be lowered. We also introduced some floating pavilions that would rise and fall with the water level. In this way, people could actually inhabit the Big Drain — previously just a large, infra-structural element in their neighbourhoods — and benefit from flood management through natural systems.

What are some of Lekker Design’s works?

Shing: We are working on quite a varied selection of projects, architecture and landscape, small and big, theoretical and real.

Currently, we are working on a residential project Stain House. The concept behind this project is to turn stains into an integral design feature of a building. Instead of trying to keep stains away, why not turn it into a meaningful formal technique in architecture.

What we are most excited about right now is that we’ve been selected by (the famous Swiss architects) Herzog & De Meuron as one of 100 firms to design 100 villas in Mongolia. This is going to start in a couple of months, and we are thrilled by this opportunity.

Have you always wanted to be a designer? What inspires you professionally and/or personally?

Shing: While I have not always been convinced that I would grow up to be a designer, it has certainly always been one of the things that I’ve been aware of since I was quite young.

It might seem like an obvious thing to say but I find that our physical environment provides an immediate and visceral experience that is hard to ignore. I just enjoy looking at things around us, and analysing them. Also, nothing gives my partner and I a greater kick than being on a construction site whilst something we are working on is being built.

Singaporeans are a practical lot and may not see the immediate benefits of design. What would you say to someone who does not see the benefits of design?

Shing: Design, actually, is everywhere, and in everything. It’s just that people have different tolerances for design in different fields.

For instance, I think most people would agree that they enjoy having the choice of various designs for their mobile phones. Here, not only is the practical, functional design of the phone appreciated, but also I would say that people see the benefits of the other “frivolous” aesthetic aspects of design.

However, it becomes difficult on the scale of a building, for many reasons. It would be difficult to sell to a client the concept of adding a room that’s purely for creating a sense of wonder and of awe, or of beauty, without it also having a particular functional use in the way that we think about functional categories today. I think that as designers in the building industry, that is the challenge that we face.

What are your dreams and aspirations for Lekker Design?

Shing: We just want more opportunities to build, and for more people to know about us and our work. We can’t complain so far — we have been in the business full-time for just less than two years and we are getting some good work out there.

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