Author

Tay Kheng Soon
Singapore August 1990

1990
ARCHITECTURE AND NATIONAL IDENTITY

None of the major projects undertaken by foreign architects in Singapore have received any international acclaim. This is a curious situation given the tremendous scope of the building programme over the years of rapid development. For excellence to grow, there has to be a critical climate of opinion with appropriate mechanisms for criticism.The expression of critical views is more than being disparaging. One major characteristic of critical thinking is the ability to finely differentiate categories and meanings.

Criticality is therefore the capacity to uncover the under-lying assumptions behind an action or design. Only when there is good quality criticism can improvements come about. Talent is also sharpened and focused by criticism. It is obvious that in Singapore, we do not have enough criticism; therefore design
is not pushed and the ideas are not stretched. The result is a certain mediocrity of ideas.

Until all major buildings undergo critical review, even retrospectively, we will not be able to make progress. We must delve deeper into the nature of designing for a modern, Asian tropical city.

The main disappointment with the last generation of buildings designed by foreign architects in Singapore is that they are not at all outstanding when put on the world stage. The disquiet with the foreign architect syndrome is therefore not just a rice bowl issue, it has to do with national conscience and national sentiment. Architecture, it is argued, can help foster National Identity.

When the Singapore National Identity ultimately comes to be recognised in its architecture, it will be because it has been able to integrate Singapore's modernity with its Asianess and the fact of its tropicality all together. Architecture can project modernity, tropicality and promote a style of life that is true to the place so that we can be what we are and not a parody of something else.

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