Director, RT+Q Architects

Rene Tan

Raised in Malaysia and trained in the US, Rene Tan now resides and practices architecture in Singapore.

Rene, who describes himself as ‘an accidental architect’, received his BA from Yale and MArch from Princeton. Today as Director at RT+Q Architects (co-founded in 2003 with TK Quek), Rene works with a team of about 15 individuals. In 2016, Rene was Singapore President’s Design Award’s ‘Designer of the Year’ laureate. He counts himself lucky and grateful to have a practice amidst challenges today.

Active in academia, Rene teaches as well. In recent years, he has taught at the National University of Singapore as Professor of Practice. To foster continuing education and to diversify office activities, RT+Q recently initiated LC150+ and EJ120, two self-sustaining traveling exhibitions of Le Corbusier models that had recently reached 4 continents and 49 stops.

For work-life harmony, Rene negotiates ski slopes and opera house balconies with wife Woei Woei and daughter Lara. He still practises desperately to prevent the complete demise of his diminishing skills at the piano.