Yearbook 2011
Singapore. According to Countryaah official site, the government decided to announce parliamentary elections in May, one year before the term of office expired. The position was advantageous in terms of opinion; Singapore was one of the world’s fastest growing economies, with growth in 2010 of almost 15%. Visit ABBREVIATIONFINDER for the acronym of SGP that stands for the country of Singapore.
Still, the ruling party People’s Action Party (PAP), which has ruled Singapore since the 1950s, achieved its worst result since independence in 1965. However, no threat to losing power was the result – voter support of 60% provided 81 of the 87 seats. But even Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called the election “a water divider”.
Shortly thereafter, national father Lee Kuan Yew, the prime minister’s father, who himself was head of government in 1959-90, announced that he would retire. In total, 87-year-old Lee had served more than half a century in the government, most recently as “minister mentor”.
In August, Singaporeans had to elect their president for the first time in 18 years. Two previous elections had been canceled when only one candidate was considered qualified enough for the job. Now four candidates participated, all with the surname Tan. It was so evenly weighted between the two top names that the electoral authority ordered a recalculation. In the end, Tony Tan was voted winner, with just over 7,000 votes overweight. The victory margin was so scarce that the result emerged as a setback for Prime Minister Lee, who had supported Tony Tan.
In the field of private professionalism, both architects of local origin (and almost always of American education) and foreign architects are active in Singapore the best known among the latter, such as K. Tange, IM Pei, M. Safdie, often associated with local designers, have made the development of the architecture of Singapore a very multifaceted phenomenon. Over three quarters of the island’s multi-ethnic population is of Chinese origin: and it is from that community that most of the local architects working in Singapore come from. Among the most established professional firms is Team 3 International, directed by Lim Chong Keat, who between 1966 and 1969 was president of the Singapore Institute of Architects and played a fundamental role in establishing a privileged link between US professional practice. and Southeast Asia. Among the group’s most notable works is the town hall of the satellite city of Jurong (1971-74) which echoes strong expressionist motifs. The Akitek Tenggara studio founded by Tay Kheng Soon is known for trying to harmonize the traditional Asian way of life and the contemporary era. His most recent works follow this orientation, such as the Chancery Lodge terraced housing complex (1986), or the Chee Tong Taoist temple (1987), in the satellite city of Hougang, translation into the modern language of historical sacred architecture. contemporary era. His most recent works follow this orientation, such as the Chancery Lodge terraced housing complex (1986), or the Chee Tong Taoist temple (1987), in the satellite city of Hougang, translation into the modern language of historical sacred architecture. contemporary era. His most recent works follow this orientation, such as the Chancery Lodge terraced housing complex (1986), or the Chee Tong Taoist temple (1987), in the satellite city of Hougang, translation into the modern language of historical sacred architecture.
But who has contributed most to the birth of what can be defined as regional architecture in Singapore is W. Lim, whose complex research activity in architectural and urban planning throughout Southeast Asia has few rivals. After having created two of the largest commercial complexes on the island, the People’s Park Complex (1972) and the Woh Hup Complex (1974), large terraced buildings that mark the panorama of the city, with St. Andrew’s Junior College (1978) Lim has entered a new phase of experimenting with the shapes of geometry and the expressive possibilities of color, composing a personal Asian version of modern architecture. Among his most recent works we remember the headquarters of the Crittal industry (1979), where color emphasizes sophisticated construction technologies,
Equally strong is the non-local professional presence, especially the US and Japanese, essentially active in the design of the offices of the large companies operating on the island. The American Pei is responsible for the lamellar skyscraper of the Overseas Chinese Bank (1976) and the towers of Raffles City, a gigantic complex completed in 1986, which houses commercial spaces, hotels and conference centers. By P. Rudolph, also from the US, is the bustling residential tower The Colonnades (1987). The Japanese Tange, author of the large indoor stadium in the city, the Singapore Indoor Stadium (completed in 1990), of the geometric tower of the Overseas Union Bank (1980), designed in collaboration with the SAA Partnership studio and of the United office complex, enjoyed considerable success. Overseas Plaza (1983-94),
The recent architectural image of Singapore, marked by the rapid change of the urban scenario, is rich and potentially very promising, but at the same time hyper-fragmented, since it consists of single buildings not connected in an urban context with a precise identity. In fact, there has not emerged a real construction tradition, or school, which deriving from the various trends in progress gives rise to an architecture with clear regional accents. In recent years, also in relation to the new expansion plan of 1991, which indicates the lines of evolution for the territory in the 21st century, the need to give a stronger identity to the city is being debated.