Who are the Totems Tribe?

Founding Director WOHA

Architect, Artist, Science and Nature enthusiast

Totemic Bird: Willy Wagtail

Richard Hassell co-founded the Singapore-based architectural practice WOHA in 1994. He is an Adjunct Professor for the School of Design at The University of Western Australia, and a Member of the Architectural Design Review Panel of Singapore’s Land Transport Authority.

WOHA work at all scales, from buildings to masterplans, and see their projects as living systems that are connected to the city as a whole. With every project, the practice aims to create a matrix of interconnected human-scaled environments. These spaces foster community, enable stewardship of nature, generate biophilic beauty, activate ecosystem services and build resilience.

Richard, Anuj and Joo Kok, together with their teams, are developing the Totem movement as a way to contribute to urban biodiversity through volunteering their collective expertise.

Founding Director bioSEA

Principal Ecologist and Biomimic

Totemic Bird: Salmon-Crested Cockatoo

Anuj founded bioSEA with an aim to make our built environment good for people, species and the climate. As an ecologist and a trained biomimic , he works at the intersection of architectural design, landscape architecture and wildlife conservation.

Anuj is active in the conservation world as a National Geographic Explorer, preventing extinctions coordinator at BirdLife International and core member of Nature Society (Singapore). He is also the co-founder of the Biomimicry Singapore Network and lectures at the National University of Singapore.

bioSEA is an ecology and biomimicry design consultancy that specializes in ecological placemaking, conducting biodiversity surveys and ecosystem service assessments across all scales from buildings to urban. It is also trying to mainstream the adoption of biomimicry in the built environment.

Anuj and Richard have worked together on many of WOHA’s projects, first to assess the built works, and now to design productive ecosystems in urban environments.

Founder and CEO of Systmz

Totemic Bird: Birdsnest Swift

Joo Kok founded Systmz based on the philosophy that if you creatively solve complex design problems, the business will follow the solutions.

Systmz is a top-ranking laboratory and healthcare furniture solutions provider, known for delivering innovative and high quality products. Systemz develop intuitive design solutions with user-friendly products and optimum layout, creating better working environments.

Systmz is building a community of design excellence, taking on design and manufacture challenges at the cutting edge of digital and industrial machining.

Joo Kok and Richard met at the Presidents Design Awards in 2008, where both were receiving an award, and have looked for ways to work together that are outside the pressures of conventional projects.

Modern Farmer

Totemic Bird: Bald Eagle

Zac Toh spent his childhood in his father’s nurseries, plucking weeds, propagating plants, driving forklifts and bobcats. The nursery is his second home, having spent a large part of his childhood there, playing and working alongside his father and brother. These fond memories as a child sowed the seeds in Zac to prepare him for a thriving career ahead in the green industry today.

Adversity introduces a man to himself.

Today, Zac serves on the board of 3 main companies, with 2 founded by him but all linked to Urban Greenery and sustainability.

GWS Living Art specializes in creating a sustainable world with smart green solutions, such as Green wall systems, Green roof systems, IOT Green technologies and smart water systems. The Gaiamat Green Roof Mat system won Zac the Building and Construction Control Authority’s Innovator of the Year award in 2017.

Citysprouts builds communities through sprouting green spaces and programmes and aims to bridge the gap between people, food and nature.

Chop Ching Hin is one of the leading wholesale landscape nursery supplier across South-East Asia.

Singapore Chapter

Australian Chapter

Architecture Student and Nature Enthusiast

Totemic Species: Olive-Backed Sunbird

United Kingdom Chapter