New heritage group on mission to save modern buildings here.
Written by Ng Keng Gene for The Straits Times. Published on 12 August 2021
A new heritage non-profit is looking to shift Singapore’s conservation focus towards modern buildings — many of which were designed by local architects and tell of the country’s urban renewal in its early independence years.
While about 7,200 buildings have been conserved here, many of them, including shophouses and black and white bungalows, were built during the colonial period, and are not representative of independent Singapore.
The new group, called Docomomo Singapore, is the local chapter of the Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites and Neighbourhoods of Modern Movement (Docomomo International). Founded in 1988, Docomomo International is currently based in Lisbon and has more than 70 chapters across the globe.
Dr Chang Jiat Hwee, the new group’s research and content lead, said: “Singapore today is thoroughly modern, not just in the city centre but also in public housing estates. So if we want to tell the Singapore story, how can we not focus on Singapore’s modern architecture?”
Dr Chang, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s Department of Architecture, said modernist architecture spans roughly the 1930s to the 1980s, and includes four main styles — art deco, modernism, brutalism and postmodernism.
In the local context, these include large and striking buildings like the former Public Utilities Board Building in Somerset Road and the now-demolished National Stadium, as well as “everyday modern” infrastructure like animal-shaped playgrounds and Tiong Bahru estate.
