Professor Tai Lee Siang
Head of Pillar, Architecture and Sustainable Design
Director, DesignZ
Programme Director, Design and Artificial Intelligence


Professor Tai graduated with honours from NUS in 1987 and has practiced as an architect and urban planner since 1990. His key projects won both local and international awards and were featured in a URA exhibition “20 under 45” in March 2004. He held the position of President of Singapore Institute of Architects from 2007 to 2009 and consolidated the institute’s “Blue Print” to establish numerous firsts.

On the Design front, he led the inauguration of ARCHIFEST – a festival that promotes architecture excellence among the professionals and general public. He then pioneered the first Practice Convention 2009 – a strategic forum to address practice concerns of Singapore architects. In the same year, Prof Tai also initiated the establishment of the Architecture Professional Course that prepared young graduates to sit for the Professional Practice Examination. In 2010, Prof Tai chaired the formation of DesignS – an alliance comprising 8 Design-centric Associations to promote Singapore Design Brands.
 
On the sustainability front, Prof Tai was appointed as Chairman of REACH, Environmental Sustainability Committee in 2008 - a committee set up to provide feedback to the Inter-Ministry Committee on Sustainability Development. Prof Tai formed the SIA Green Committee, leading to the first collaboration on the Green product exhibition with BEX Asia 2009 and International Green Building Convention with the Building Construction Authority of Singapore (BCA). Since March 2010, he has been elected President of Singapore Green Building Council, a key body for the promotion and advocacy of Green Buildings in Singapore. 

Prior to joining SUTD, Prof Tai was Executive Director/Communications & Engagement (C&E) at BCA where he oversaw the BuildSG cluster to transform the construction industry in workforce capabilities, partnership and collaboration as well as internationalisation. He also led BCA’s efforts in supporting the construction firms through the launch of the $1.36 billion construction support package. On the engagement front, Prof Tai led industry dialogues to facilitate and support firms’ restart, and stepped up communication efforts on construction restart matters. 
 
Prof Tai was also a pioneer trustee member on the board of SUTD since 2009 till July 2021.