Interview: Hans Brouwer, leading architect

“Architecture is a tough profession. The economics are getting tougher and the markets that are currently really active, the BRICS [the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa], are extremely competitive.”

That’s the opening gambit from one of Asia’s leading architects, 52-year-old Hans Brouwer. However, despite the fairly jaundiced outlook, and the fact that this is a man who has experienced the hell of bankruptcy, he appears happy and relaxed when we meet.

Last year, one of his designs, The River, a 265-metre-high masterpiece, won Best Luxury Condo development at the Thailand Property Awards, and in the last 10 years Hans has been steadily racking up the plaudits. His work has graced the front cover of Wallpaper magazine, and his company, HB Design, now has three offices in Singapore, Bangkok and Phuket. They have 20 skyscrapers under construction or due to begin imminently in India, totalling over 13 million square feet of saleable area.

No wonder he’s happy and relaxed, then; despite a hectic schedule, Hans’s company is going from strength to strength.

Fruitful beginnings

Born to a Thai mother and a Dutch father living in Hong Kong, Hans was schooled in Switzerland and opted to begin his university years there. He then transferred to the University of Southern California for the remainder of his degree

“Architecture just seemed the most interesting thing to do. I was really good at geometry, maths and physics, especially 3D geometry,” he tells me.

“After almost dropping out in my first year, I needed to catch up. I learnt that …

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In today’s ‘global village’, travel is ubiquitous, a fact of modern life, available to the masses and accessible to a far greater spectrum of society than ever before.

Myself and my fellow designers now boast a client base that has seen top-end real estate in world class cities. They have stayed at five star hotels and resorts in the sorts of destinations highlighted by luxury travel magazines, so the bar on expectations has been raised. What was ‘good enough’ yesterday isn’t today.

This is good news for the design industry, because it puts a premium on quality design – the upper end of the market appreciates stylish, luxurious and functional design and is willing to pay extra for it. But just what constitutes good design? ‘Good design’ is an ephemeral term and one that demands to be defined.

The modernist architect Louis Kahn once wrote: “I believe that in architecture, as in all art, the artist instinctively keeps the marks which reveal how a thing was done.’’ I’m a firm believer that design should not be reduced to style, likes or dislikes. Design is the business of matching meaningful form to the complexities of project parameters: site, orientation, brief, budget, market demands and more. Arriving at the most appropriate solution should be process driven.

Too often, design is seen by non- architects as a moment of divine inspiration, whereas in reality, good design is very Darwinian in its progress – that is to say that it evolves over a series of stages. Many ideas are explored, and many, needless to say, end up on….

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Despite its considerable public relations problems — an overwhelmed bureaucracy, widespread corruption, well-documented violence against women and massive inequality among other pressing issues — investors are forging ahead in India. The country’s property market is robust and the construction boom is underpinning markets in other parts of the world due to a trickle down in demand for resources: think Perth’s property growth on the back of the regional mining industry.

Jones Lang LaSalle India’s review of Indian residential property in 2012 stated that Mumbai’s residential section started to pick up after almost two years of relative sluggishness, driven largely by increasing demand and stable pricing. Capital values grew between 9 and 10 percent. “The increased demand for residential units came from robust commercial office market activity in south central Mumbai. Also, these sub- markets benefited from more attractive pricing when compared to premium addresses of South Mumbai,” explained Ramesh Nair, Managing Director for West, Jones Lang LaSalle India. Nair predicted 2013 would see more project launches, particularly in Mumbai where demand is strongest.

So India is a major mover and shaker on the investment front, but investors are well known to be increasingly choosy about where they live and/or work. Here in Hong Kong, commercial developers will admit to making sure their buildings stand up to global sustainability standards or run the risk of losing blue chip tenants to other properties. The same holds for residences, where more and more owner-occupiers and tenants alike want a better building. Given India’s perceived lack of organisation and considerably bigger fish to fry (general housing stresses make Hong Kong’s look like a minor inconvenience) how is it possible the country can be a green leader?

India is the world’s largest democracy and has one of the worst track records in …

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