References and Resources.
This page includes a shortlist of the references and resources on modern architecture in Singapore that we use. While there are still not many good books written about modern architecture in Singapore, the list of online resources has been growing in the past few years due to the efforts of depositories like the National Library of Singapore, National University of Singapore Libraries, and M+ Hong Kong. If you have any suggestions, please do not hesitate to let us know by emailing us.
Books.
Chang, Jiat-Hwee. A Genealogy of Tropical Architecture: Colonial Networks, Nature and Technoscience. London: Routledge, 2016.
A book that includes chapters on the histories of modern typologies like the military barrack, hospital, and Singapore Improvement Trust housing in Singapore and the broader British colonial networks.
Davison, Julian. Swan & Maclaren: A Story of Singapore Architecture. Singapore: ORO Editions and National Archives of Singapore, 2020.
A lushly illustrated book on one of Singapore’s oldest architectural firms. It includes accounts of a few of the early modernist buildings by the firm.
Edwards, Norman, and Peter Keys. Singapore: A Guide to Buildings, Streets, Places. Singapore: Times Editions, 1988.
An extensive guide to buildings in Singapore with accompanying maps. As a book published a few decades ago in the rapidly changing landscape of Singapore, it is also a valuable documentation of buildings that have since been demolished.
Lai, Chee Kien. Through the Lens of Lee Kip Lin: Photographs of Singapore 1965-1995. Singapore: National Library Board and Editions Didier Millet, 2015.
A book based on the collection of photographs donated to the National Library of Singapore by pioneer architect and architectural historian Lee Kip Lin.
Loh, Kah Seng. Squatters into Citizens: The 1961 Bukit Ho Swee Fire and the Making of Modern Singapore. Singapore: NUS Press, 2013.
A book on the socio-spatial history of kampong resettlement and making of the Bukit Ho Swee housing estate, one of the earliest post-independence public housing estates.
Ho, Weng Hin, Dinesh Naidu, and Kar Lin Tan. Our Modern Past: A Visual Survey of Singapore Architecture, 1920s-1970s. Singapore: Singapore Heritage Society and SIA Press, 2015.
A three-volume book that features photographs of key modern buildings taken by the late Jeremy San.
Powell, Robert, and Kheng Soon Tay. Line, Edge & Shade: The Search for a Design Language in Tropical Asia. Singapore: Page One Pub., 1997.
An architectural monograph of Tay Kheng Soon and his firm Akitek Tenggara published during Tay’s tropical architecture phase. Many of Tay’s writings are also compiled in this professionally produced book.
Wong, Alfred Hong Kwok. Recollections of Life in an Accidental Nation. Singapore: Select Books, 2016.
An autobiography by Alfred Wong, a pioneer architect of Singapore.
Wong, Yunn Chii, ed. In Their Own Words: Pioneer Architects of Singapore Polytechnic. Singapore: Department of Architecture, NUS, 2019.
A self-published compilation of interviews conducted by NUS undergraduates with pioneer architects Chan Fook Pong, Lee Seng Loong, Liew Peng Leong, Ong Teong Pin, Tay Kheng Soon, Teoh Ong Tuck, and Wee Chwee Heng.
Wong, Yunn Chii, ed. Singapore 1:1 City: A Gallery of Architecture and Urban Design. Singapore: Urban Redevelopment Authority, 2005.
The catalogue of an exhibition organised by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. It consists of brief descriptions of a selection of modern and contemporary architecture.
Wong, Yunn Chii, ed. Singapore 1:1 Island: A Gallery of Architecture and Urban Design. Singapore: Urban Redevelopment Authority, 2007.
The catalogue of an exhibition organised by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. It consists of brief descriptions of a selection of modern and contemporary architecture.
Unpublished dissertations, theses and research reports.
Hoong, Bee Lok. “Victor Chew: An Architect.” Unpublished B.Arch. Elective Study, National University of Singapore, 1981.
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.
Seng, Eunice. “Habitation and the Invention of a Nation, Singapore 1936-1979.” Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Columbia University, 2014.
Seow, Eu-jin. “Architectural Development in Singapore.” Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Melbourne, 1973.
Speechley, Soon-Tzu. “The Classical Language of Architecture in British Malaya, 1867-1941.” Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Melbourne, 2021.
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.
Online and archival resources.
Architects Team 3/Lim Chong Keat Archive, M+ Collections, Hong Kong
Scans of photographs and drawings from the 1950s to the 1980s.
Lim Chong Keat Archive, PictureSG, National Library of Singapore.
More extensive (and less curated) scans of photographs and drawings from Lim’s Archive.
Singapore Pioneer Architects, NUS Libraries Digital Gems.
Scans of thesis reports produced by the first few batches of architectural students who studied at the Singapore Polytechnic, before the programme became a part of the National University of Singapore. Access restricted to NUS students and staff members.
Architecture Cartoons, Singapore Graphic Archives
Commentaries, complaints and comics by the early students of Singapore's first architecture school.
Journal of the Singapore Institute of Architect (SIAJ) Covers, Singapore Graphic Archives
Early covers of SIAJ which presented critical commentary on the city state’s urban development.
Mimar: Architecture in Development, Archnet
Complete set of all 43 issues of Mimar (1981-1992), the only international architecture magazine focusing on architecture in the developing world at the time.