Jason Pomeroy

Jason Pomeroy
File:Professor Jason Pomeroy, Founding Principal of Pomeroy Studio.jpg
Born	27 July 1974 United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Canterbury School of Architecture, University of Cambridge
Occupation(s)	Architect, Academic, Author, TV personality
Television	City Time Traveller season 1 (Channel_NewsAsia, 2014, 2015) City Redesign (Channel_NewsAsia, 2015) BBC World, 2015
Practice	Pomeroy Studio Singapore
Buildings	Idea House, Malaysia Trump Tower Manila, Philippines Newpark, Malaysia B House, Singapore Azure Urban Beach Residences, Philippines (2014) Asian Century Center, Philippines (under construction), Century City, Philippines (2014)
Website	www.pomeroystudio.sg

Professor Jason Pomeroy (born 27 July 1974) is an award-winning architect, masterplanner, academic, author, and TV personality. He is the Founding Principal of Singapore-based Pomeroy Studio – an urbanism, architecture, design and research firm described as being at the ‘forefront of the green agenda’.

Previously, Pomeroy designed Asia’s first carbon-neutral prototype home, the Idea House (Malaysia, 2010), and recently Singapore’s first operational carbon-negative landed property, the B House (Singapore, 2015). He is ‘one of the world’s leading authorities on skycourts and skygardens’, and is the author of “The Skycourt and Skygarden: Greening the Urban Habitat”.

He also works to raise awareness of the cultural role architecture plays in society in his popular TV series ‘City Time Traveller’, and ‘City Redesign’ aired throughout Asia and the Middle East.

Early life and education

Jason Pomeroy was born in North West London, and is the only son of an English father and Malaysian mother. He grew up in the UK, though spent his summer months in Malaysia. He cites the lush foliage of his family’s back garden as first sparking his passion for the natural habitat; and the wigwams he built there as a child as his first foray into architecture.

A visit with his father to Sir Christopher Wren’s St. Paul’s Cathedral, at the age of eight cemented his passion for architecture and the built environment.

Pomeroy undertook his first and post-graduate degrees in architecture at the Canterbury School of Architecture (1992-1995; 1997-1998). It was during this period that he was drawn to the study of Asian cities (in particular Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore), and how they sought to ‘salvage open space for social amenity, recreation [whilst trying to] retain low carbon footprints - despite their potentially energy intensive, high-density settings’.

An interest in the sustainability of the construction and project process led him to complete a Masters degree in ‘Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment’ (IDBE) at the University of Cambridge (2005).

Early career and projects

Pomeroy joined the architectural practice of Yorke, Rosenberg and Mardell (YRM) in London, UK, in 1998 – a London-based firm who were early pioneers of British modernism.

In 2000, Pomeroy joined the Japanese architecture, engineering, construction and development corporation Kajima, where he worked in Brussels, London and Amsterdam.

Five years later, Pomeroy joined the London office of the architecture, urbanism and design firm of Broadway Malyan in 2005, and relocated to Singapore in 2007 to establish the company’s Singapore office. Projects of note include the Vision Valley Malaysia (2009) – an 80,000 acre network garden city extension of greater Kuala Lumpur; Idea House (2010) – first carbon zero house in Asia, Milano Residences (2015) – Asia’s first fashion branded residences with interiors by Versace, Trump Tower Manila (2016) – the tallest residential condominium when completed in 2016.

Later career

Pomeroy Studio and projects

Pomeroy left Broadway Malyan Asia to establish the sustainable design firm Pomeroy Studio in Singapore in 2012, creating a number of landmark green projects that include: B House (2015) – the first carbon negative house in Singapore; Gramercy Sky Park (2012) – the tallest residential skypark in the Philippines; Newpark (2015), a new township set to contain the first zero-carbon public realm in Malaysia; and Century City (2015) – a residential and commercial district that includes Trump Tower Manila, the Philippines.

The Studio’s approach to design, which Pomeroy calls ‘E-BISD’ (an acronym for Evidence – Based Interdisciplinary Sustainable Design) reflects his belief that a sustainable product can only be created if there is a sustainable process in place.

Research

The vertical urban theory

For over 10 years Pomeroy has researched the attributes of sky-rise social spaces around the world, and is one of the world’s leading authorities on skycourts and skygardens.

Both his research and design projects of various international architects were brought together in his book, entitled The Skycourt and skygarden: greening the urban habitat (Routledge, 2014).

Towards Zero Energy Development

The first major research project under this field was the Idea House, completed in 2010, which was at the time Asia’s first carbon-neutral prototype home.

The entire process – spanning the impact of climate change, the collaborative design process, concept design, construction through to the realisation of the house and its environmental performance – was detailed in Pomeroy’s 2011 book ‘Idea House: Future Tropical Living Today’ (ORO Editions). His research continued with the B House, set to be Singapore’s first carbon negative landed property (generating more energy than the house should typically consume) upon completion in 4th Quarter in 2015.

Teaching

Pomeroy has held visiting professorships at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Mapúa Institute of Technology, and the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He teaches courses with a sustainable architecture and urbanism bias and currently holds an honorary professorship at the University of Nottingham and a tenured professorship at Universita IUAV di Venezia. He teaches a module on vertical urbanism within the MSc in Sustainable Building Design at the Nottingham University / BCA Academy. He also leads zero carbon floating community workshops at Universita IUAV di Venezia.

Television

City Time Traveller

In 2014 Pomeroy worked with Xtreme Production to jointly conceive an architecture travel series for Singapore’s Channel NewsAsia.

Pomeroy was both host and architectural consultant of the series. It received a ‘highly commended’ award at the Asia TV awards in 2015, and was extended to a second season.

City Redesign

Pomeroy hosted the four-part architecture documentary series, ‘City Redesign’, airing on Singapore’s Channel NewsAsia from March 2015 to April 2015 as part of Singapore’s 50th anniversary. The series uncovered the evolution of Singapore architecture as a result of its economic transformation from colonial trading port, to global financial centre, to technology, entertainment and leisure hub. The four part series tells the tale of “…how Singapore created its buildings, and how the buildings created Singapore”.

• Episode 1: Built on Work
• Episode 2: High Rise, High Life
• Episode 3: Designing Fun
• Episode 4: Heritage in Progress

Media, speaking and events

Pomeroy delivers keynote lectures and addresses at industry conferences globally. Pomeroy sits on the editorial board of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat and is an active member of the Singapore Green Building Council.