Singapore architect Chang Yong Ter on nature, spirituality and distinctive homes

Singapore architect Chang Yong Ter, founder of Chang Architects, has spent over two decades creating distinctive homes shaped by nature, spirituality and a philosophy of doing things differently. His projects include the acclaimed Elok House and Moongate House, a Good Class Bungalow in Bukit Timah.

For more than two decades, Singapore architect Chang Yong Ter has created distinctive homes shaped by nature, spirituality and an instinct to do things differently. The founder of Chang Architects, whose portfolio consists mainly of residential projects, believes good architecture can make us better humans.

“I value every project as having the potential to be something unique, interesting and inspiring. The starting point is always the physical needs and aspirations of the client, and the site conditions,” Chang told CNA.

Among his early works is Elok House, a three-storey intermediate terrace house off Orchard Road featuring full-height green walls and trees growing through the floors. Completed in 2005, the project won the President’s Design Award in 2008 and was exhibited at the Jia Curated design festival in Bali in August 2026.

Another notable project is Moongate House, a Good Class Bungalow (GCB) on a 32,658-sq-ft plot in Bukit Timah. Despite the client’s aversion to rounded forms, Chang adopted an extremely linear design language with precast modular panels serving as sun-shading devices and windows.

Chang’s approach extends to Cornwall Gardens, completed in 2014 on a 16,081-sq-ft GCB site. Responding to the client’s request for a darker, moodier atmosphere and the sloping gradient, he designed the house around a central courtyard with a swimming pool at the base and a terraced roof garden echoing Southeast Asia’s rice fields.

Beyond homes, Chang co-founded Wondrous Light Children’s House, a social enterprise and children’s enrichment studio on Kampong Bahru Road. Guided by Dr Rudolf Steiner’s Waldorf pedagogy, it bans digital devices and occupies a three-storey shophouse with a pond, rope swing, mud pit and edible rooftop garden.

Chang, 57, attributes his path to architecture to a cold he caught before his A-Level examinations, which led to poor results that prevented him from studying engineering. A friend recommended architecture, and he was accepted. “My only reference of architecture was HDB flats, but from that point on, my curiosity was piqued and I became fully immersed in the subject,” he said.