What's in a name

We've been asked many a time why PLY?

Before we started up the practice and were dreaming about names there were many names floating around in our minds. A few years back any name that had the word 'Urban' was fashionable. Then there was 'Office for' and 'Office of' etc. There were also names that suggested or were derivative of the word 'architecture' - hence all the 'archi-something' names that were popular of the previous generation of architects (well, at least here locally) emerged. Or a name that reflects a firm's work culture or interest, a methodology it believed in, its ethos, modus operandi. Traditionally of course, people have long used their names for their professional business. Either in full, or of late in acronyms like ABCD Architects which was convenient too.

So, why PLY?

Practice of Lee and Yeo (our last names). Not quite what we were thinking of all these while but simple enough for us. Not quite the ubiquitous building material known in short for plywood, although we do like working with it. Nor is it so much to 'ply' the trade although we inevitably do it. Perhaps its about layers, which we do like to create in the meaning of our work, and definately not anything to do with the mathematical equivalent.

And Studio because its not office, atelier, collective, collaborative, laboratory, workshop, architects, design etc.