Singapore Chronicles Architecture

The early structures in Singapore were constructed from locally available materials.



After British colonisation, more durable materials were used in buildings, which were designed like those built in London or Delhi. Alongside these were the shophouse blocks that filled the grid of the early town. As locals came through the ranks of public service and later struck out on their own, local architecture firms were set up at the turn of the 20th century and by 1958, architecture was taught at the Singapore Polytechnic. The periods of nation-building and global city calibration led to works by both local and foreign architects that now endow the skylines and landscapes of the island- state.