Alongside Government Architects Abbie Galvin and Emma Williamson, John reflected on the personal journey adjacent to his work, sharing some of the defining moments that have shaped his life and career in architecture.

For John, the talk was an opportunity to expand on some of the ideas that continue to shape his practice and inform conversations within the office. Ecology is one such idea - a word that finds its way into many discussions at Choi Studio. As John shared in his talk, the term comes from the ancient Greek word oikos, meaning house or place to live. Ecology is, in this sense, the study of our dwelling place: the interrelationship between organisms and all aspects of their environment, and the ways these have evolved together over time. It is a way of thinking that resonates deeply with architecture. While the discipline is sometimes understood as separate from the natural world, John reflected on how that boundary becomes less certain as one expands the lens of space and time.

Seen this way, architecture, people and landscape are not discrete conditions, but part of a broader and more entangled whole.