As we approach the first year of the passing of Maria Warner Wong, my life partner and the co-founder of WOW Architects and Warner Wong Design, I can’t help but reflect upon our early beginnings, and can fondly trace the trajectory of thinking and influences that shaped us.

I recall when we were at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in the late 1980s, and as a young woman, Maria had proposed ‘emotion’ as a basis for design thinking and a legitimate way of creating. Her world-famous critics had gently chided her, and reminded all of us that architecture was about intellect resulting in space and form, and that emotions were best left to other disciplines!

When Maria and I had referred to ‘Eastern Philosophies and Aesthetics’, and proposed nature-based solutions in our design studio projects, our post-modern and post-structuralist professors had steered us back to the dominance of the then prevailing Eurocentric discourse, and referenced the origins of modernity and technology in the West.

Perhaps the most memorable and impactful aspect of our GSD education was the influence of our professor, Tadao Ando, who through his own example had instilled in us a spirit of resistance and original thinking.

Through the decades leading up to today, this choice of walking our own path served us well in evolving our ethos, rooted in regenerative design and cultural identity, as we developed our practice and projects in the countries of the Global South.

Today, as we look upon the problems that plague our planet, and reflect upon the mostly self-inflicted issues created by decades of disrespect and disregard of environmental sustainability, it seems very timely to refer back to using our hearts and minds to revisit the basics in every sphere of human knowledge. We will be then better equipped to design, create, and build the future while repairing the mistakes of the past.

We need more diversity of thought, inclusiveness in various disciplines and openness to correcting mistaken directions to make a positive impact in the built environment. Most urgently, we as architects, planners and designers should participate in the formulations of new policies, and the tweaking of outdated economic and professional models to redefine and reclaim leadership roles in the reshaping and regeneration of a healthier planet. And of course, we will be better human beings in the process.

So, cheers to you, Maria for having the courage and foresight in partnering with me, and steering me with emotion, mindfulness and perseverance. May your love of nature, original thinking, and enduring design legacy continue to influence us in the years to come!