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1982
THE ARCHITECTURE OF RAPID DEVELOPMENT
The architecture
of rapid development is naturally different from the architecture of stable
and wealthy societies. The fact is that the design time has to be shorter
and the construction simpler. Architects of rapid development must enjoy
working fast. They must be able to expand outside their professional spheres
to understand and even contribute to the political, economic and organisational
parameters which affect their designs. Many of the attitudes and ideals
gained through the educational systems of more wealthy and stable societies
are not applicable at the stage of rapid development which Singapore has
been experiencing.
The following is a list of some of the values in conflict:
THE LIBERAL
ACADEMIC/
PROFESSI0NAL VIEW
o Change is destructive
o Subsidise social services including housing
o Planning must be comprehensive
o Cautious
o Perfectionist
o If development is painful, do it slowly
o The State should collect enough taxes to provide a minimum function
o Less control
o Self-regulation
o More private initiative
o More voluntarism
THE GOVERNING
VIEW
o Change is good
o You get what you pay for
o Ad-hoc actions get things done
o Daring
o Pragmatic
o If development is painful, do it quickly and get it over with
o The State must be sovereign and rich in order to play a catalytic role
o More control and more order
o More regulation
o More public initiative
o More organisation
It can be
seen now the extent to which there is a conflict of values. The values
of professionals trained in the traditional way will have to under-go
considerable readjustment in their thinking
in order to function effectively in a rapid-pace environment like Singapore.
If they reject the values, they will not be effective at all. If they
uncritically adopt the values, they will become mere cogs in the wheels
of the machine and lose their creativity. The hardest thing that they
have to do is to maintain intellectual balance and a sense of wholeness
and perspective. The resolution of the contradicting values is the key
to the maintaining of the creative stance.
To be effective in the hectic professional environment of Singapore, the
architect must have the appropriate mental attitude and a wider range
of skills. Until 1963, all Singapore's architects were trained in Australia
and England. The local architecture school produced its first gra-duates
in 1964. The local graduates are pragmatic and less prone to vexing over
philosophical issues. The academic tradition of the National University
of Singapore has evolved away from the liberal academic traditions of
Australia and the west.
The locally-trained architects have a duty to their profession and to
architecture to maintain their creativity whilst being pragmatic. Although
they must be thoroughly modern, they are still inevitably Asian and their
own sense of self-worth and wholeness needs to be expressed. The wholesale
importation of foreign architecture and architects and the uncritical
appreciation of their work will in the long run damage their creativity
and self-respect.
THE LESSONS
OF RAPID DEVELOPMENT: SPEED AND CHANGE
Singapore's economic development relied heavily upon the ability to mobilise
masses of people behind various policy initiatives. Changes in occupation,
changes in emphasis from white collar to blue collar work, changes in
the educational system, language, etc. were more readily accepted because
everywhere, tangible and visible signs of progress and development could
be seen. The power and determination of the Government and the bureaucracy
could not be resisted.
Lesson: If rapid development is to be achieved, experience of change
must be often, visable and inevitable.
Many architects and planners trained in England and Australia could not
accept easily residential densities above 360 persons per ha. They considered
anything higher than this to be inhuman, yet the average density of the
HDB environment is around 840 persons per ha. and it can be seen that
in spite of the high density, that with adequate facilities and open space,
such high residential densities are acceptable and even desirable. Density
creates opportunities for interactive social life. Lesson: High
density design should be regarded positively.
THE SINGAPORE
IDENTITY
Rapid change of ideas in human societies is always accompanied by a sense
of rootlessness. The quality of the urban environment which can embody
the emerging new society and culture will have to cater to the need for
cultural identity and this has to be related to the multi-ethnic origins
of Singaporeans and also their sense of modernity. Whilst they move to
define their modern identity through the work that they do and the life
styles that they lead, they will also want the comfort and the secu-rity
of knowing their past.
The challenge
for architecture in Singapore is therefore to serve as a means to physically
symbolise the two aspects of the Singaporean iden-tity - the old and the
new. Whatever the role to be played by Singapore's architects in the Marina
City to be built, this will not change the fact that this new City will
be the last great City to be built in this century. If it is to be an
authentic and mo-dern Asian City it must, to paraphrase Nietzche, be at
the junction of history between what was and what is to be.
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