Unit 8 by William Lim Associates, 1983
(Image source: Innovative Architecture of Singapore by Robert Powell)
As the post-Modern movement in architecture of the 1970s and 1980s is being re-evaluated, I wanted to devote this post to an underrated building that has eluded most lists of significant architecture in Singapore - Unit 8 condominium (by William Lim, 1983) at Holland Road. This building remains unchanged and has aged well, even if overgrown trees have made the front facade difficult to photograph.
I once asked William Lim the circumstances in which he entered the so-called "post-modern" phase of his work and turned his back on Modernism that characterised his prior work like the People's Park and Golden Mile complexes. I don't remember his exact reply, except that after the Metabolist movement fizzled out with the 1970 Osaka Expo (coinciding with when he was finishing his two urban mega complexes), he visited the post-Metabolist work in Japan - presumably by architects like Arata Isozaki and Kazuo Shinohara - and that marked the start of this new phase that included some houses and a chapel at St. Andrew's Junior College.
Appreciating this building demands a familiarity with Robert Venturi's 1965 treatise, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, which highlighted limitations in the dogma of the modern movement and unleashed post-Modernism. Venturi argued for a "both/and" approach to architecture, one that was complex, contradictory and could not be reduced to an "either/or" one-liner. Instead of Mies van der Rohe's "Less is More," Venturi advocated "Less is a Bore." My sense is that William Lim was paying attention to Venturi at this time since his speeches and writings from this period often referred to Venturi's arguments.
Plan and Elevation, Unit 8
(Image source: Innovative Architecture of Singapore by Robert Powell)
The building plays intelligently with the rift between what you see and what you get. The building's front facade is coded with various hints of what occur behind it but don't give too much away. The semi-circular pediment may just be a flat wall, but indicates the semi-circular lift lobby behind it. The fenestration (windows) are seemingly regular, yet contain subtle irregularities on the upper two floors to suggest that those two floors are different.
It is startling how the building synthesizes seemingly irreconcilable inconsistencies. The flatness of the front facade lends a false impression that the apartments behind are square to (perpendicular to) the street wall on plan, yet the two right-most apartments on each floor are tilted on plan. This information itself is subtly codified on the front elevation through the white break in the pink wall with 2 slightly canted walls (the break in the facade is unfortunately covered by trees in the first image). The verticality of the front gives way to a complete horizontality at the back. The straightness of the front gives way to curves at the back.
Back view, Unit 8
(Image source: www.ura.gov.sg)
One notes that at this moment in Singapore's architectural history, discourse on either tropicality or local modernity in architectural practice had yet to evolve into maturity in Singapore. This building is rather the product of importing an intellectual trend/movement that began in the West (but carefully understood and rigorously applied) not unlike how Modernism in Singapore itself was an import that had its roots in Europe.
The post-Modern movement of the 1970s and 1980s was subsequently derided as being slavish, historicist or simply lacking in gravitas, yet few practitioners deny the impact and potency of Complexity and Contradiction to contemporary critical design practice. While the accomplishments of Unit 8 is largely forgotten or overlooked in Singaporean architectural culture, attempting to close-read the building yields rewarding insights into the kind of intellectually rigorous practice that remains in short supply among many local practitioners in Singapore.
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