Equator>

For over 15 years, Equator Works’ efforts have celebrated the hot and wet climate while delivering sustainable and durable projects crafted with care.

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Erik G. L’Heureux (PhD) FAIA, LEED AP BD+C, is the founder and consultant to Equator Works>. He leads the research by design activities at Equator Works>, creating sustainable strategies for the “Architecture of Equatorial Envelopes” in hot, wet, and dense “Equatorial Cities” to meet the challenges of a warming world.

L’Heureux has completed over 40 projects including his “simple” series (A Simple Headquarters, A Simple Terrace House, A Simple Factory Building) and such built work as the NetZero energy and super low carbon adaptive reuse of the Equatorial School of Architecture and Equatorial Student Commons (Yusof Ishak House), in addition to Hut House, Stereoscopic House, and 1000 Singapores exhibited the Venice Biennale. His work has been peer reviewed and awarded by the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction, the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Society of American Registered Architects (SARA), the INDE Design Awards, the World Architecture Festival (WAF), a President of Singapore Design Award, and featured in nearly 100 professional and design periodicals, including Oculus, Icon, InDesign, Design+Architecture, Architecture Asia, and Archinesia among others.

L’Heureux’s pioneering integration of creative practice and academic research into mid-20th-century equatorial architecture and its relationship with the urban environment, climate, and atmosphere in Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Ghana, and Brazil earned him a Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design Wheelwright Prize (2015-2017).

L’Heureux has published Renovating Carbon (2023), Drawing Climate (2021), and the monograph Deep Veils (2014) with notable publishers, including Birkhäuser and ORO Editions. Many are now in the academic collections of Harvard, Columbia, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, University of California, Berkeley, Cambridge University, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and elsewhere. In addition to his designs, books, and monographs, L’Heureux is also the oft-published author and co-author of numerous articles and papers, including “Climatic Design and Its Others” (2020) in the peer-reviewed Journal of Architectural Education that received the Best Article Award, Scholarship of Design in 2021.

L’Heureux received his PhD from the School of Architecture and Urban Design at RMIT University, where he was awarded an RMIT prize for research excellence in design. A graduate of Princeton University, he received his Master of Architecture as a recipient of the Suzanne K. Underwood Design Award. He received his BA in Architecture as a James W. Fitzgibbon Scholar at Washington University in St Louis. He was later honored with a Distinguished Alumni Award in 2007. L’Heureux is a registered architect in the USA and Singapore, NCARB certified, and a LEED-accredited Building Design and Construction professional. L’Heureux was elevated to the prestigious College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects in 2020 in recognition of his contributions “to advance the science and art of planning and building by advancing the standards of architectural education, training, and practice.”

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Collaborators and Recent Staff

Azli, Zuliandi Bin Abdul; Bensko, Heather; Bonifaz, Joaquin; Cao Zhe Jing; Chan, Juliana; Chan, Rayannaa; Chandar, Anirudh; Cheong Yong En, Grace; Chia, Patricia; Chia, Sean; Choung Yongsu; Chua Gong Yao; Conceicao, Stefanie Ervite, Maria; Goh, Cassandra; Kuek Chee Ping; Kwon Seula, Sara; Lau, Angelia; Lee, Wen Hui Joleen; Lee, Zeno; Leong Yue Qi; Leung, Eva; Liang Yuan Yuan; Lie, Epiphanie; Lim, Kelvin; Lim, Reuben; Lim Shing Hui; Loy Li Jun; Mei Liang Kai, Alvin; Nagamalai, Vignesh; Ng, Ai Lian Sarah; Ng, Kevin; Ng Sze Wee; Ng Weiqi; Ngai, Dixon; Nur Rafifah; Ong, Alistaire; Ong Chan Hao; Oh Pei Yu; Park, Da Song, Emily; Peh Sze Kiat, Iven; Phau Yun Nong; Putra, Andrei; Seow, Dannie; Schaetz, Florian; Shim Woon-Ok; Tan Bing Hui; Tan Hong Yang, Jason; Tan, Vanessa; Tan Yuan Zhi; Vltavsky, Grit; Wong Shujun; Wong, Amanda; Xiao Ma; Yang Han; Hi Yi Yun; Yong, Daniel; Zapanta, Rommel; Zulkarnain Bin Mohd Zin.

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Equator Research Pte Ltd is currently looking for talented architecturally trained designers and interior designers focusing on decarbonization and ESG reporting to fill various roles in our rapidly growing practice.

Please send a letter of interest, resume, and portfolio to info@equator.work

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All photographs and drawings on this site are copyrighted and are not to be used without the prior written permission of Equator Research Pte Ltd.