Architecture And Independence

Building Memories

Architecture, Power and National Identity

The first edition of Architecture, Power, and National Identity, published in 1992, has become a classic, winning the prestigious Spiro Kostof award for the best book in architecture and urbanism. Lawrence Vale fully has fully updated the book, which focuses on the relationship between the design of national capitals across the world and the formation of national identity in modernity. Tied to this, it explains the role that architecture and planning play in the forceful assertion of state power. The book is truly international in scope, looking at capital cities in the United States, India, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Kuwait, Bangladesh, and Papua New Guinea.

Swan and Maclaren

Swan & Maclaren were one of the main architectural practices working in Singapore from their foundation in 1892 through to independence in 1965. As such, the history of Singapore architecture, during that period, is very much the history of Swan & Maclaren. The output of the firm was extraordinary, ranging from corporate blockbusters like the Hongkong & Shanghai Bank and the Union Building of the 1920s, to factories, shophouses, department stores, hotels, schools and university buildings, railway stations, churches, mosques, a synagogue, bungalows, even the odd cattle shed. 0The scope of the book covers the period from the mid-1880s, when the two eponymous founding partners, Archibald A. Swan and J.W.B. Maclaren first came to Singapore, and continues through to the end of the British era in 1965.