d+a | Issue 116 • Jun/July 2020

/ FEATURE / 14 spaces, which served to transform the way Singaporeans live, work and play. “Our modern buildings became the manifestation of Singapore’s experimental urban renewal programme under the Government Land Sales that shaped the city’s future,” says Ho. In a way, some of the early modern buildings also paved the way for the Asian city in time to come. “High-rise and high-density are terms we are familiar with now but back then, they were alien. These buildings were ahead of their time andmade it possible for everyone to see and experience what the future might be,” says Tiah. EXISTENTIAL THREATS To better understand modern buildings, it is important to take a step back in time to understand how their design language came about. “It became a proposition after World War I in Europe, when a lot of quick rebuilding was necessary in the devastated cities,” explains Mok. Among the pioneers of the Modernism movement were Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe from Germany and Le Corbusier from France, with the latter influencing the design of many public housing projects in the United Kingdom. Modernist architecture adopted the use of new industrial materials and technology resulting in characteristics such as simplicity of form; functional, flexibile and flowing spaces; exposed structure; and lack of ornamentation. Advancements in technology also accelerated their popularity, specifically the invention of reinforced concrete, resulting in buildings that did not need to be enclosed by load-bearing walls. “In fact, the void deck in our housing development board buildings owes its origins to some of these Modernist ideas,” adds Mok. The use of steel and glass technology enabled the opening up of views and increased transparency through ribbon windows that then transformed the spatial relationship between the inside and out. While the style was considered avant-garde when it first came to the fore, market forces soon discovered a way to commoditise it. “People found it convenient to build fast and make fast money. By the second half of the 20th century, modernism had become adopted internationally, with many cities looking the same. “To make things worse, many of the modern buildings were poorly built, resulting in a movement corrupted by money,” explains Mok. Through its research, Docomomo-Sg has identified several other contributing factors that threaten the existence and future of modern buildings, particularly the privately-developed residential and mixed-use post-1965 ones in Singapore: 1. Modern buildings suffer from deteriorating conditions due to aging fabric and services, as well as inadequate maintenance. There is a lack of legislation that mandates enforcing preventive maintenance of private properties to prevent premature building decay. 2. Owners face sharply depreciating property values, as these modern buildings reach the mid-point of their land lease, compounded by the uncertainty in qualifying criteria for a building lease top-up. FROM TOP: MOK WEI WEI, TIAH NAN CHYUAN, JONATHAN POH, HO WENG HIN