Why Singapore is a Destination Where Great Design Matters

A riot of old and new architecture, singapore continues to defy expectations.

“Singapore is a nation by design,” said the city-state’s prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, in a 2018 address. “Nothing we have today is natural or happened by itself. Somebody thought about it, made it happen.” Did they ever. When Singapore was expelled from Malaysia in 1965, the resource-scarce island began a startling transformation. In 50 short years, it would rise from a fledgling nation – albeit with a thriving trade port – into a modern metropolis.

Today, if there’s one building t hat offers a visual representation of that breakneck progress, it’s the National Gallery Singapore. “It’s a wonderful example of adaptive reuse,” says Jane Iyer of Jane’s Singapore Tours, as she leads me through the complex to the fifth-floor terrace. Opened in 2015, the gallery houses the world’s largest public collection of Singaporean and South-East Asian modern art but the 64,000-square-metre building, designed by French architect Jean-François Milou of StudioMilou Singapore, is every bit as impressive as the objects it displays. Two national monuments, the Classical former Supreme Court and Neoclassical City Hall – built in 1939 and 1929 respectively – are now united by a glass-andsteel roof and veil intended to resemble a finely woven rattan or silken ikat dress.

“I just love this small but impressive country,” says Iyer. A native Brit, she’s lived in Singapore on and off since childhood and now leads a team of 28 mostly local guides. “It’s summer year-round. Everything is close together – you can do a lot in a short space of time and there’s a lot to do.”

She’s not wrong. While many people see Singapore as little more than a stopover, others know it by its affectionate monikers: The Little Red Dot (for its compact 734.3-squarekilometre size) or The Lion City (it was said to have been dubbed Singa Pura, “lion city”, by a visiting prince who saw a creature he believed to be a lion). I became an unofficial cheerleader for the sultry city at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula during the six years I lived here, spruiking my home-away-from-home’s virtues to anyone who’d listen – even devising a day tour of its highlights for visiting friends and family.

The express itinerary would start at Gardens by the Bay, a 101-hectare horticultural marvel with more than 1.5 million plants – and the now instantly recognisable Supertrees. Conceived by the National Parks Board Singapore, the vision was to create a “city in a garden”. A bus tours the site every 20 minutes and gives an overview of its themed gardens and two enormous domes; one has a 35-metre-tall indoor waterfall, the other is the world’s largest greenhouse. Next, we’d head to architect Moshe Safdie’s curious wonder, Marina Bay Sands, and ride the lift to Cé La Vi SkyBar on level 57, bypassing the observation deck on 56. One level up, you get the same view of the city’s gleaming skyscrapers, plus a chilled cocktail, for less than you’d pay to be one level down and without a drink.

The final stop would be Tiong Bahru, a neighbourhood full of bright white three- and four-storey Art Deco buildings, where the streets are lined with palm trees. Built as Singapore’s first mass public housing estate, it’s an unexpected delight in a city of high-rise condos – and the place I called home. It’s where you can buy a steaming bowl of peppery Teochew-style bak kut teh (pork rib soup) or a flaky French croissant, sip kopi (highly caffeinated coffee) on a red plastic chair by the roadside and practise pre-dawn qigong with retired “aunties” and “uncles” in Seng Poh Garden or yoga with millennials.

We’d walk a loop, perusing mangosteens, lychees and orchids at the open-air wet market and eating chicken rice or mee goreng from melamine plates at the hawker centre upstairs. I’d take them to Yong Siak Street, where independent bookstores and gift shops stock local authors and artisans, and complete the charm offensive with one of Plain Vanilla’s legendary cupcakes. This would take about four or five hours, capturing a little of how traditional and modern life intersect. I’d also point people to the National Gallery but, unlike Iyer, it hadn’t occurred to me to send someone to the terrace for the view.

“Up here you can see so much: the Colonial Civic District, including the Singapore Cricket Club – one of the city’s oldest sports and social clubs, which was established in 1852,” says Iyer, gesturing towards the vista. “And other eras of history in the surrounding buildings, many designed by world-famous architects, including Chinese-American I. M. Pei and Australian Philip Cox.” Beyond the lawn of the Padang (Malay for “field”) – where historic and sporting events have taken place – the city unfolds. To the east is the sleek and art-filled JW Marriott Hotel Singapore South Beach, which may have inspired the recent $34 million facelift of the Pan Pacific, overseen by FDAT Architects, and the exquisite $152.5 million light-filled transformation of the Mandarin Oriental, led by interior design firm DesignWilkes.

Peeking out behind the luxury hotels is the 165-metre-tall Singapore Flyer, one of the largest observation wheels in the world and among the best vantage points to watch the Singapore F1 night race. The Marina Bay Street Circuit famously weaves past the city’s landmarks, including Old Parliament House, a butter-yellow, two-storey Neo Palladian-style building across the road from the cricket club. Designed by Irish civil architect George Coleman, it was built in 1827 and is Singapore’s oldest surviving government building. Now known as The Arts House, it’s often a stop on Iyer’s bespoke tours and later that day she leads me into the chamber to see the seat of visionary founding father Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first prime minister, who held office from 1959 to 1990. When we visit, the place hums with crowds filing in and out of its chambers for the annual Singapore Writers Festival, held each November.

Very few sites in this ever-changing city are relegated to history. They may continue to honour the past but that doesn’t stop them adapting with the times – there’s something new or evolving every time you visit. “Singapore got under my skin from the moment I arrived by ship in 1963,” says Iyer. “I’m always happy to return.” That makes two of us.

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