From the heroic to the everyday: An expanded framework for modern architecture in Singapore.
Written by Chang Jiat Hwee for Docomomo working group dossier
There is a large number and great diversity of buildings in Singapore that can be considered as modern. By modern, we are referring to not just architectural aesthetics but also constructional and environmental techniques, socio-economic processes, cultures, and political rationalities. The quantity and diversity are rooted in Singapore’s short but vibrant history variously as a colonial port city, a post-independent developmental state, and a contemporary global city. In this short introduction of the inventory list, we provide a brief sketch of how the shortlisted modernist buildings help to bring this rich socio-cultural history to life.
Singapore’s historical role as a major port city in Asia meant that it was nourished by different socio-cultural influences brought by people from around the world and thrived as an economically prosperous—albeit unevenly so—and cosmopolitan place. Early modern buildings—such as the Terminal Building at Kallang Aerodrome (1937) by Colonial Public Works Department (PWD), Chee Guan Chiang House (1938) by Ho Kwong Yew, Cathay Building (1941, largely demolished and redeveloped except for the token preservation of a small section of the original façade) by Frank Brewer—capture some aspects of this vibrant colonial modernity.
Transnational flows of ideas and influences on the modern built environment continued in the postwar and post-independence eras as young local architects returned from their overseas studies with fresh ideas and sought to contribute to decolonisation and nation-building. Major modern buildings erected during this era include Asia Insurance Building (1955) by Ng Keng Siang, the National Theatre (1963-1986, demolished) by Alfred Wong and the Singapore Conference Hall and Trade Union House (1965 and insensitively renovated in 2001) by the Malayan Architects Co-partnership. From 1963, batches of architects trained at the first (and until a few years ago, only) architecture school graduated and begin to contribute to post-independence development. Often working with the overseas returnees, these architects came to co-produce a number of significant large-scale buildings as the city-state of Singapore underwent radical territorial revolution with rapid socio-economic transformations. Key buildings of the period that were erected as a part of state-led programmes of urban renewal and modernisation include People’s Park Complex (1973, with the shopping podium opening earlier in 1970) and Woh Hup Complex (1973, later renamed Golden Mile Complex) by Design Partnership, Jurong Town Hall (1974) by Architects Team 3, the former Subordinate Courts building (1975, now the State Courts of Singapore) by Kumpulan Akitek, Pearl Bank Apartments (1976-2019, demolished) by Archynamics Architects, and the former Public Utilities Building (1977). We call the above outstanding individual modern buildings our “heroic modernism”.
Besides the heroic modernist buildings, we are also proposing another category of buildings that is equally, if not more, significant for the understanding of modernism, and its attendant modernity and processes of modernisation, in Singapore. Singapore is one of the most thoroughly modernist cities in the world. An overwhelmingly large proportion of its built environment was constructed after it attained self-government in 1959. The city centre is primarily a result of urban renewal carried out from the 1960s. Around 80 per cent of the population resides in outlying satellite new towns built from around the same time. Both of these were the products of the “Ring Plan” first proposed by the United Nations planning experts and later implemented in a series of Concept Plans. Taking the whole island as a planning unit, these plans radically transformed the territory of the city-state and how Singaporeans live through what Rem Koolhaas characterised as the tabula rasa mode of development typical of modernism. Yet unlike many places around the world, modernist buildings in Singapore are not stigmatised. In fact, the modernist built environment of Singapore is generally accepted and even well-loved by its inhabitants. Though well-loved, most of these modernist buildings remain unknown and underappreciated for various reasons. One of reasons might be that they are so ubiquitous that they are deemed ordinary and thus taken for granted. We call these well-loved but underappreciated modernist buildings “everyday modernism” and we posit that they should be carefully documented and selectively conserved.
Post-independence everyday modernism has its roots in the colonial development and welfare plan carried out in the immediate postwar years. To make up for its previous neglect of the social welfare of the colonised population and in face of international and local pressures, the colonial government begin building public housing, schools, hospitals and clinics at a large scale from the late 1940s to the late 1950s. Many significant buildings in these public realms were erected as a result. In housing, these included flats at Upper Pickering Street (1952-c.2005, demolished), Forfar House (1956-c.1996, demolished), and flats at Dakota Crescent (1958, partly gazetted for conservation). The postwar housing programme came about in part due to the shift in official colonial housing policy in 1938 following the publication of Weisberg Committee’s Report in the same year. Tiong Bahru housing estate (c.1938-1941), which was the first housing estate to be constructed after that policy, has a number of fine prewar modernist buildings that have remained almost entirely intact.
The post-independence government continued these social welfare building programmes at an unprecedented scale. The Housing & Development Board (HDB), in particular, played a central role. It built new housing estates that house around 80 percent of Singapore’s population today. Besides housing, it also planned and designed most of the amenities, such as the town and neighbourhood centres, playgrounds, swimming pools, mosques and community centres. Since these buildings are often planned as a part of larger series rather than as singular entities, we take a typological approach to selecting both representative and exceptional examples to include in our inventory. The slab and point blocks are probably the most basic and common housing typologies. Among the more interesting examples are the double-curved public housing block along Queensway (1973), the first point blocks at 160 Mei Ling Street (1970) and the first and only circular point block at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 2 (1981). Some of the more noteworthy amenities HDB has built over the years are Toa Payoh Town Centre (c. 1972, extensively renovated from the c.1990s), the dove and dragon playgrounds (first released in 1979), Ang Mo Kio Swimming Complex (1981), Darul Aman Mosque (1986), and the former Bukit Ho Swee Community Centre (1982, closed in 2000s and currently vacated).
The other major government agency that planned and designed many public buildings was the post-independence Public Works Department (PWD, corporatised in 1999). For four decades, the PWD developed a series of standardised designs for schools. Numerous attempts were also made to diversify the designs. In the process, the PWD created numerous school buildings that shaped the lives of many Singaporeans during their formative years. We have included a number of schools in this dossier as illustrative examples.
It is obviously impossible to capture the entire range of modernist buildings in Singapore within this short introduction and the list of shortlisted buildings that follows. What we hope to achieve is instead to provide a sense of the general outline of modernism in Singapore. In summary, we note the presence of two types of modernism—heroic modernism and everyday modernism—in Singapore. These are not separate nor mutually exclusive types; rather, they are interdependent categories that help to delineate some differences between singularity and seriality, known architects in private sectors and anonymous architects in public agencies. In doing so, we emphasise the equal importance of attending to the latter form of rather underappreciated modernism in Singapore. We also stress that modernism in Singapore should be seen in continuity, from colonial to post-colonial, from post-independence to the contemporary. It is this historical continuity that tells the manifold stories of modernisation and modernity of this cosmopolitan city-state. It is this sense of the present being sedimented from the past that allows us to think of the continual relevance of our modern past. Much more research, educational and advocacy work is still needed to continue to strengthen and enrich our understanding and appreciation of modernism in Singapore. It is our hope that the Singapore chapter of Docomomo will be further empowered to engage in these activities once it is officially formed.
References
Abrams, Charles, Susumu Kobe, and Otto H. Koenigsberger. “Growth and Urban Renewal in Singapore: Report Prepared for the Government of Singapore.” New York: United Nations Programme of Technical Assistance, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 1963.
Chang, Jiat-Hwee. A Genealogy of Tropical Architecture: Colonial Networks, Nature and Technoscience. London: Routledge, 2016.
———. “Before and behind the Pioneers of Modern Architecture in Singapore.” DOCOMOMO International Journal 57 (2003): 56–63.
———. “Race and Tropical Architecture: The Climate of Decolonization and Malayanization.” In Race and Modern Architecture, edited by Irene Cheng, Charles L. Davis, and Mabel O. Wilson, 241–58. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2020.
Chang, Jiat-Hwee, and William S. W. Lim. “Non West Modernist Past: Rethinking Modernisms and Modernities beyond the West.” In Non West Modernist Past: On Architecture and Modernities, edited by William S. W. Lim and Jiat-Hwee Chang, 7–24. Singapore: World Scientific, 2011.
Chang, Jiat-Hwee, Justin Zhuang, and Darren Soh. Everyday Modernism: Built Environment and Society in Singapore, 1930s to 1980s. Singapore: NUS Press, Forthcoming.
Chow, Fong Leng. “Ng Keng Siang (1909-1967) - Singapore’s Pioneer Architect.” Elective study, University of Singapore, 1979.
Chua, Beng Huat. The Golden Shoe: Building Singapore’s Financial District. Edited by Gretchen Liu. Singapore: Urban Redevelopment Authority, 1989.
Framework and foundation: a history of the Public Works Department, text by Cheong, Colin; Tan, K.E. ed.; researched by Wong Hooe Wai. Singapore: Times Editions for PWD, 1992.
Fraser, J. M. The Work of the Singapore Improvement Trust 1927-1947. Singapore: Singapore Improvement Trust, 1948.
Ho, Weng Hin. “Demolition of National Stadium: Losing a Slice of History” in The Straits Times Review, July 13, 2007.
———. “Dwelling on the point block” in Singapore Architect No. 252, Singapore: Singapore Institute of Architects, 2009.
———. “The Future of Our Modern Past – Rejuvenating Singapore Modern” in mASEANa Project 2019 – Progressive Once More: Rejuvenating Mid Century Modern Architecture in Southeast Asia. Tokyo: Docomomo Japan, 2020
Ho, Weng Hin and Chang, Jiat Hwee. ‘Adding Value without Demolition, Rebuilding: Regenerating Singapore’s Modernist Icons’ in The Business Times, 7 April 2018.
Ho, Weng Hin, Dinesh Naidu and Tan, Kar Lin. “Alternative Visions for a Modern Singapore” in Prudon, T.H.M., and Lipstadt, Helene, (eds), DOCOMOMO VIIIth International Conference Proceedings (Sep 26-Oct 2, 2004), New York: DOCOMOMO US and Columbia University, 2009.
———. Our Modern Past: A Visual Survey of Singapore Architecture, 1920s-1970s. Singapore: Singapore Heritage Society and SIA Press, 2015.
Ho, Weng Hin, and Tan, Kar Lin. Green Ink on an Envelope: The Architectural Practice of Chan Sau Yan Sonny. Singapore: Singapore Heritage Society and CSYA, 2012.
———. “Ho Kwong Yew.” In Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent: A Biographical Dictionary, edited by Leo Suryadinata, 338–40. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2012.
Hoong, Bee Lok. “Victor Chew: An Architect.” B.Arch. Elective Study, National University of Singapore, 1981.
Koolhaas, Rem. “Singapore Songlines: Portrait of a Potemkin Metropolis... or Thirty Years of Tabula Rasa.” In S, M, L, XL, edited by OMA, Rem Koolhaas, and Bruce Mau, 1008–86. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, 1995.
Kwok, Kian Woon, Ho, Weng Hin and Tan, Kar Lin. Memories and the National Library - Between Forgetting and Remembering, Singapore: Singapore Heritage Society, 2000.
Lai, Chee Kien. Through the Lens of Lee Kip Lin: Photographs of Singapore 1965-1995. Singapore: National Library Board and Editions Didier Millet, 2015.
Lai, Chee Kien, Hong Teng Koh, and Chuan Yeo. Building Memories: People, Architecture, Independence. Singapore: Achates 360, 2016.
Lee, Kip Lin. The Singapore House, 1819-1942. Singapore: Times Editions, Preservation of Monuments Board, 1988.
Lim, Chong Keat. “Architecture in Newly Emerging Nations: A Challenge to Education and Practice.” The Builder Sept 6 (1963): 467–68.
———. “The International Context for Southeast Asian Architecture.” In Architecture and Identity: Proceedings of the Regional Seminar, edited by Robert Powell. Singapore: Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Concept Media, 1983.
Lim, Jon Sun Hock. “Colonial Architecture and Architects of Georgetown (Penang) and Singapore, between 1786 and 1942.” Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, National University of Singapore, 1990.
Lim, Teng Ngiom. “Datuk Seri Lim Chong Keat: PAM Gold Medal Award 1997.” In Shapers of Modern Malaysia: The Lives and Works of the PAM Gold Medallists, edited by Teng Ngiom Lim, 88–123. Kuala Lumpur: Pertubuhan Akitek Malaysia, 2010.
Lim, William S. W. Cities for the People: Reflections of a Southeast Asian Architect. Singapore: Select Books, 1990.
Powell, Robert. Architecture of Learning: New Singapore Schools. Singapore: Akimedia, 2001.
Powell, Robert, and Kheng Soon Tay. Line, Edge & Shade: The Search for a Design Language in Tropical Asia. Singapore: Page One Pub., 1997.
Quek, Geraldine C.T., Neo J. H. Kevin Josiah and Lim Y. L. Teri. Conservation Conversations – Pearl Bank Apartments, Singapore: Singapore University of Technology and Design, 2015.
Quek, Raymond. “The Modernisation of the Catholic Church: 4 Churches by Alfred Wong 1958–1961.” Singapore Architect 200 (1998): 92–103.
Seng, Eunice. “Habitation and the Invention of a Nation, Singapore 1936-1979.” Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Columbia University, 2014.
———. “People’s Park Complex: The State, the Developer, the Architect and the Conditioned Poublic, c. 1967 to the Present.” In Southeast Asia’s Modern Architecture: Questions in Translation, Epistemology and Power, edited by Jiat-Hwee Chang and Imran bin Tajudeen, 236–73. Singapore: NUS Press, 2019.
———. “Temporary Domesticities: The Southeast Asian Hotel as (Re)Presentation of Modernity, 1968–1973.” The Journal of Architecture 22, no. 6 (August 18, 2017): 1092–1136. https://doi.org/10.1080/13602365.2017.1365270.
Seow, Eu-jin. “Architectural Development in Singapore.” Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Melbourne, 1973.
———. “Oral History Interview.” Edited by Jannie Poh Hoon Lim. National Archives of Singapore, January 4, 1980.
———. “The Malayan Touch.” Rumah, Journal of Society of Malayan Architects, 1960, 13–21.
Singapore Constitution Exposition, Jan.-Feb., 1959; Souvenir number. Singapore: Dept of Information, 1959.
Singapore Heritage Society, Too Young to Die: Giving a New Lease of Life to Singapore’s Modernist Icons – A Position Paper. Singapore: Singapore Heritage Society, 2018.
Singapore Improvement Trust. Queenstown, Singapore: Final Report of the New Towns Working Party on the Plan for Queenstown. Singapore: New Towns Working Party, 1958.
Singapore Urban Planning Research Group. 65-67 SPUR. Singapore: Singapore Urban Planning Research Group, 1967.
———. 68-71 SPUR. Singapore: Singapore Urban Planning Research Group, 1972.
Soh, Darren (with essays by Yu-Mei Balasingamchow and Yeo Kangshua). Before It All Goes: Architecture From Singapore’s Early Independence Years, Singapore: Darren Soh, 2018.
Souvenir Brochure of the first Southeast Asia Cultural Festival in celebration of the opening of the National Theatre, 1963. Singapore: Southeast Asia Cultural Festival, 1963.
Souvenir Brochure for the Opening of the Singapore Conference Hall & Trade Union House on 15th October, 1965. Singapore: Singapore Government, 1965.
Tay, Kheng Soon. “Neo-Tropicality or Neo-Colonialism?” Edited by Robert Powell and Kheng Soon Tay. Singapore Architect 211 (2001): 21.
———. “On William Lim.” In Nolimits: Articulating William Lim, edited by William S. W. Lim, Robert Powell, Teng Wui Leong, Kah Wee Lee, Lena U. Wen Lim, Kah Heng Tan, Kim Nam Chow, and Jon Kher Kaw, Vol. 117–118. Singapore: Select Publishing, 2002.
———. “Trade Union House and Singapore Conference Hall at Shenton Way.” Singapore Architect 212 (2001).
To commemorate the opening of the National Stadium, Republic of Singapore, 1973. Singapore: National Stadium, 1973.
Wee, H. Koon. “The Emergence of the Global and Social City: Golden Mile and the Politics of Urban Renewal.” Planning Perspectives 0, no. 0 (February 27, 2019): 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/02665433.2019.1581835.
Widodo, Johannes. “Modernism in Singapore” in Docomomo Journal No. 29, September 2003.
Wong, Alfred Hong Kwok. Recollections of Life in an Accidental Nation. Singapore: Select Books, 2016.
Wong, Yunn Chii. “Public Works Department Singapore in the Inter-War Years (1919 - 1941): From Monumental to Instrumental Modernism.” Unpublished Research Report, National University of Singapore, 2003.
———. Singapore 1:1 City: A Gallery of Architecture and Urban Design. Singapore: Urban Redevelopment Authority, 2007.
———. Singapore 1:1 Island: A Gallery of Architecture and Urban Design. Singapore: Urban Redevelopment Authority, 2007.
