Our Team

Adrian Lai (Principal)

Registered Architect (ARB) in United Kingdom; Registered Architect (BOA) in Singapore

National University of Singapore (NUS), B.A. (Arch), 1999; Architectural Association, AA Diploma, 2003.

Adrian Lai founded META in 2012, after a decade of practising architecture in London and Singapore. Instrumental in the delivery of Singapore’s multiple award-winning Gardens by the Bay while working with Wilkinson Eyre Architects in London and Singapore, Adrian brings with him a strong history of designing and delivering prestigious award-winning buildings. In addition to the President’s Design of the Year 2013, the RIBA Lubetkin Prize 2013 and WAF’s Building of the Year 2012 awarded to the Gardens by the Bay development, Adrian was also responsible for the design development and delivery of the 438m-high Guangzhou’s International Financial Centre (awarded the RIBA Lubetkin Prize 2012) and One Coleman Street (Concrete Centre Award for Sustainability 2007) in Central London. With META, Adrian won the prestigious URA Architectural Heritage Award for Conservation and Innovation in 2018 and the SIA Design Award in the Special Category in 2019 for Khong Guan Building, recognising skill and sensitivity to deliver a building that was “careful, clever and elegant.”

Adrian is an Adjunct Asst Professor at the Department of Architecture at National University of Singapore (NUS), teaching Singapore’s next generation of architects since 2011. He graduated at the acclaimed Architectural Association (AA), UK, and is a registered architect with the Architects Registration Board (ARB) in UK and Board of Architects (BOA) in Singapore.

Adrian has also spoken at industry events and workshops, including Archifest (2012 & 2019), NUS and the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). In 2013, he presented the Keynote Speech at the Conference of the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design (CAADRIA) 2013. He has been an active Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) Council Member since 2020 and was a co-curator of the Singapore Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2023).