The Inaugural Post - Why this blog on architecture, and why now?

I care about architecture. And I care about Singapore. Little surprise then that these two topics converge into the question that I have spent the past few years researching and thinking about- what does it mean to design and practice architecture with sophistication in Singapore?

During my architecture graduate education, I had a graphic design instructor who taught an architecture book-design course who would always ask, "Why this topic? Why now?" My reply is that I have for years found myself restless, angsty and also excited and optimistic about the direction that architecture practice in Singapore is heading. This optimism includes how the terms for local architectural discourse are also gradually broadening.

My angst arises when my many questions and thoughts that remain off the discursive radar screen. Sometimes, something as petty as realising that the intellectual importance of certain buildings in Singapore I care about have not been duly acknowledged riles me. Other times, reading about how "iconic" ugly buildings like Moshe Safdie's Marina Bay Sands are actually admired by other architects kill me.

Most importantly, however, I write for myself - to develop my ideas and articulate my position on themes that will define my future design practice. An architectural academic once told me that creating time to write for yourself on topics that you care about is different from (and more difficult than) writing on topics that others commission you to do. I have contributed articles to Singapore Architect magazine over the past years, assisted in its editing for one year, and have still found it hard to fully develop my opinions/position within that framework, as rewarding as the involvement has been.

My posts generally assume a Singaporean architectural audience and hence may too often quote obscure local references that a foreign reader may find unfamiliar or plain esoteric. Where I am cognisant of this gap, I'll try my best to explain and insert background information. But I apologise in advance for any such gaps.

Few blogs last forever, and all are subject to the vagaries of available time (and inspiration). Let's hope this blog carries on for as long as it does, and that its discoveries will be meaningful. I leave with an image of a different moment in Singapore's architectural history, when currently strong personalities were a little more naive and less formed.

International Exhibition on work by Tropical Schools of Architecture

at Singapore Polytechnic, 1963. A young Tay Kheng Soon, proponent of urban tropicality,

second from right, explains a project (Source: National Archives of Singapore)