A Dialogue with Lead8’s Co Founders: Christine Hau, Claude Touikan, David Buffonge and Simon Chua

The Hong Kong-founded and international architecture and design firm, Lead8, celebrates its 10th anniversary. Now ranked in the world’s top 50 largest architecture practices and third in the retail sector globally by WA100, Lead8’s Co Founders discuss their incredible trajectory.

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In their home city of Hong Kong, Lead8 has earned a reputation as thoughtful innovators, winning appointments to some of the most significant future-defining projects in the Special Administrative Region. From 11 SKIES connected to Hong Kong International Airport to the New Central Harbourfront Site 3, Lead8 has continued to push the boundaries of progressive urban planning, sustainable design and experiential placemaking.

As the firm has gathered speed outside of Hong Kong in recent years, their expertise can now be found shaping urban regeneration projects in Japan, ‘park-oriented’ communities in Southeast Asia, low-carbon mass timber visions in North America, mixed-use waterfront districts in the UK, and the next-generation of curated retail precincts in the Middle East.

Reflecting on their journey and what’s next for Lead8, the firm’s co founders share the vital lessons they’ve learned along the way, how the market is evolving and where to next as they step further onto the global stage.

As you reflect on your first ten years, what has been the secret to your growth and success?

Chua: Since the beginning, we’ve been interested in addressing the urban challenges and possibilities of our time, not just for the clients we partner with but also within the cities in which we live and work. HarbourLoop was the first initiative that allowed us to showcase the depth of our expertise as we explored future low-carbon strategies for Hong Kong’s harbourfront connectivity, community engagement and sustainable development.

In many ways, HarbourLoop helped lay the groundwork for our winning design for the New Central Harbourfront Site 3, one of the most important strategic additions and opportunities to transform Hong Kong’s Central Harbourfront experience.

Constant curiosity and our team’s receptiveness to understanding the issues facing the industry has underpinned our work and the Lead8 brand – and this has helped to form our reputation and in turn our success.

Which of your projects best represents your approach to addressing key issues that are facing the industry?

Buffonge: We’ve had the fortune to work on many high-profile projects that we believe will define a new generation of developments. One Bangkok in Thailand recently opened, a transformative world-class neighbourhood in the heart of the city, and is the culmination of many years of hard work strategising how we can humanise large-scale developments, a theme that will resonate with many in our industry,

One Bangkok brings a strong focus on urban ecologies to rewrite the retail narrative and experience in our dense urbanised cities. Our design scope spans two key retail precincts and looks very carefully at how we bring the landscape into buildings, weaving in nature and open-air realms, and capturing the local identity and global appeal of this amazing city within our built environment.

As your work takes you further around the globe, what regions do you have a particular eye on?

Hau: Our team was recently in Saudi Arabia to present at Cityscape Global and see our clients in the Middle East. Beyond the scale of development in the region, the desire for world-class design and innovation is incredibly inspiring and a welcome challenge and opportunity for our designers as they actively conceive the future of the cities in these countries.

Of course, Asia is our home, and very much an important regional focus for Lead8. From Southeast Asia’s affinity for biophilic design where we recently completed the landscape-driven Bintaro Jaya Xchange in Indonesia to North Asia’s push for cultural heritage and preservation with the work we’re doing for Wakayama City in Japan, there is a lot we are looking forward to.

We have also recently crossed the Pacific and are building our relationships in North America and seeing the immense opportunity to partner with firms and developers that are revolutionising the building industry there.

Are these new geographies demanding different design approaches?

Touikan: We are seeing the rise of a new era of developments – integrated resorts, creative reuse, urban ecosystems. There is a strong focus on environmental performance and new strategies for sustainable design across all the markets we work within.

Learning from different geographies and development styles is one of the greatest benefits of working more internationally. Every project is trying to bring to life a future vision within a unique set of conditions. It becomes interesting when we can adapt ideas from other places to inform a new design solution elsewhere.

For example, in North America, mass timber building is embraced on a much wider scale than in Asia. There is the potential for the material to revolutionise our construction and design industry here, and so we’re interested in uncovering these connections to introduce new design solutions.

Working around the world, what would you say has been the most important factor for the business?   

Hau: Relationships and partnerships, with our clients, within the industry and most importantly, with our teams. Nurturing talent is incredibly important to Lead8 and we’re proud to work alongside many of our current team members who have been with us since day one. Over our years together, our colleagues have matured into their roles, and that strengthens the next layer of leadership at Lead8.

We were all recently together on the Star Ferry for our anniversary celebration, which was a special moment for the team, and to come together across all of our international studios in Hong Kong.

Our long-term relationships are the reason why Lead8 is here and still thriving, and so I would give anyone looking to establish and grow a business that advice. Work with people you admire and trust, and mutually support each other through the highs and lows.

Following the opening of One Bangkok, what else can we expect from Lead8 in the near future?

Chua: The opening of One Bangkok was a big moment for our Lead8 team, seeing this transformative, city-changing project come to life after so many years. There are still many moments like this ahead of us. ITC Shanghai will open later next year and will redefine the Xujiahui district of the city through its people-first infrastructure design.

There are also the future phased openings of 11 SKIES in Hong Kong, which will complete the experiential retail, dining and entertainment offerings – our team recently visited to see the progress and it is unlike anything I’ve seen before.  Within the aviation space, we also have a VIP terminal in Southeast Asia that is almost ready to announce to the market and we can’t wait to share how we’re helping our clients evolve the travel experience as this sector continues to elevate how we think about transit-oriented design.

How are you continuing to push the envelope of conventional design thinking for Lead8 projects?

Touikan: This year, we launched the concept of the “Fifth Season” to address a demand in the industry to understand what the future could hold for living more harmoniously with nature. The “Fifth Season” represents a paradigm shift in urban planning and design and helps to transcend the conventional boundaries of indoor and outdoor spaces. The vision to reimagine our urban landscapes is incredibly relevant the world over and it has helped us show how we can create and deliver more vibrant, interconnected environments in our cities.

Our research into a more biophilic approach to design also led us to mass timber, and we’ve put this into practice with a conceptual scheme for Vancouver’s waterfront. There are incredible, sustainable materials in the market that haven’t yet made their way on a broader scale to Asia, and we’re interested in raising their profile to usher in a new way of thinking for building in our home region. We may just be on the cusp of seeing mass timber high-rises in Asia.  

Given how much the industry has changed in ten years, what do you feel will define the next decade? Buffonge: Today, we have far greater access to the technologies and material innovations that can allow our buildings and cities to function at a much higher level. Our vision is to continue to close the gap between the built and natural environments and live more sustainably within the world.