HISTORY OF SINGAPORE’S MODERN ARCHITECTURE

INTRODUCTION

Singapore

Officially known as the Republic of Singapore, is the world's only sovereign city-state that is also an island country. It lies in Southeast Asia off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula and 137 kilometres north of the equator. Made up of the lozenge-shaped main island (widely known as Singapore Island, but also as Pulau Ujong, its native Malay name) and over 60 much smaller islets, it is separated from Peninsular Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the Singapore Strait to its south. The country is highly urbanised, with very little primary rainforest remaining. Its territory has consistently expanded through land reclamation.

The city of Singapore was founded in 6 February 1819 (Originally known as the port of Temasek, which was founded in the 13th century by Sang Nila Utama, a prince of Srivijaya). After separating from the colonial rule of Great Britain on 31st of August 1963 Singapore joined Malaysia on 16th of September 1963 and finally gained its independence in 9th of August 1965.

The country’s capital is Singapore and the population on this 716.1 km2 sized island is about 5 400 000 people consisting of Chinese 76.8%, Malay 13.9%, Indian 7.9% and other ethnicities 1.4% (2000). These people divide in to religious groups as follows Buddhist 42.5%, Muslim 14.9%, Taoist 8.5%, Hindu 4%, Catholic 4.8%, other Christian 9.8%, other 0.7%, none 14.8% (2000).

Architectural influences

Largest early influence to Singapore’s architecture comes definitely from the British. From 1826 to 1963 the country’s architecture had its roots deep in the Great Britain, because of the colonial rule that was introduced by Stamford Raffles who arrived to Singapore with Willi...

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...rted appearing on the cityscape of Singapore’s core city area.

1970s to the present

From the 1970s to late 1980s the city was dominated by modern architecture, particularly the brutalist style. Changing international architectural trends introduced some architectural styles (particularly the postmodernist style) here.

Works Cited

The World Factbook (USA Central Intelligence Agency, 2000)

Architectural Heritage – Singapore (Urban Redevelopment Authority, 2004) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Singaporean_history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraced_house http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bungalow http://app.singapore.sg/about-singapore/history/early-history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Singapore http://theculturetrip.com/asia/singapore http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architecture_of_Singapore