Ven. Shi Fa Zhao, the current president and abbot of Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum, was approached by STB to redevelop the temple. Besides stipulating the building design to be ‘traditional’, it is also requested that the temple contains facilities and hold events for both locals and tourists.

The temple had gone through a total of nine proposals before its design was finalized. The abbot rejected a design that was too ‘contemporary’, therefore, deemed out of place in the Chinatown landscape. He also rejected a design with Southern Chinese typology, which is the style adopted by temples with a long history in Chinatown. As such, a temple with Southern China architecture would have been an authentic reflection of the migrant history of Singapore. The design of the temple has a Northern Chinese style with strong influences from the Chinese Buddhist architectural style of the Tang Dynasty.

Shi Fa Zhao is also the founder of the Metta Welfare Association, a non-profit voluntary welfare organization (VWO) that provides special education, welfare services, community and medical care to the intellectually disabled, elderly and terminally ill in society.[1]