Singapore Songlines
Theory Article, 2016
Singapore Songlines is an essay written by Rem Koolhaas that tracks Singapore’s rapid transformation – how Singapore has become a successful city from scratch, within 30 years.
Koolhaas drew links between Singapore and Metabolism – a Japanese architectural movement.
The Metabolist movement started because “In the 1960s, many cities around the world witnessed an unprecedented economic growth and urban expansion which created unusual pressure on architects to find appropriate solutions to the problem of overpopulation. Including post-war Japan who was in need of residential and urban housing. With this in mind the group began designing structures that would formally be capable of maximizing efficiency. The Metabolists concerned themselves with housing large populations while preserving the autonomy of the individual in a modern world.”

Fig.1: Nakagin Capsule Tower
(Source: http://www.detail-online.com/blog-article/capsule-hotels-by-kisho-kurokawa-25353/)
The Metabolist movement explored strategies for urban development, the collective form, and designing cities that are flexible and adaptable to changeable functions in the future, in response to their environment. To create Cities of the Future.
Similar to Singapore, we had to cope with the lack of housing due to limited land space. The solution was to build upwards and hence the HDBs.
“Public housing in Singapore generally comprises high-density, high-rise developments, mostly located in the suburban areas. The majority of public housing estates are self-contained communities with not only the essential facilities to meet the residents' basic needs but also various community amenities such as schools and recreational facilities.

Fig.2: Singapore’s Public Housing
(Source: http://www.rooflines.org/2741/public_housing_building_communities_vs._providing_a_place_to_live/)
One interesting observation is that in Singapore, it is so convenient for everyone because in almost every heartland, there will be a shopping mall, numerous grocery shops, food courts, a park and even places of worship. All these are catered for the people living in the area, “in response to their environment”.
More examples of the Metabolist movement in Singapore would be buildings like Golden Mile Complex on Beach Road. The Golden Mile Complex represents the first Asian segment of megastructure realized anywhere.
It is “another landmark… a complex arrangement of form and mass that reflects the shapes and volumes of the spaces within.” … It contains a 1,896 seat cinema, 200 shops, a 16-story office tower, 539 parking spaces.
In relation to the collective form, Golden Mile Complex has entertainment services, shops, offices and even residential spaces. And all of these are “no longer separate and autonomous but absorbed in a single sloping 16-story multi-use complex.”
“Despite intense urban development, Mr Lee made it clear that greening was a priority. He wrote in his memoirs, “One arm of my strategy was to make Singapore into an oasis in Southeast Asia, for if we had First World standards, then businessmen and tourists would make us a base for their business and tours of the region.”
Despite intense growth in housing and urban redevelopment, Singapore’s main priority was still to become a hub where people and businesses from all over the world took interest in.
Koolhaas also theorized that Singapore has no culture. Singapore is very mixed and diverse as a multi-racial society, but it results in us becoming mixed and generic too in terms of our culture. This is because Singapore is only 30 years old, everything came from ground zero and all of our growth and transformation was almost all planned (by the government).
“Singapore is incredibly “Western” for an Asian city, the apparent victim of an out-of-control process of modernization.”
For example, our lifestyle, from our behaviour to the clothes we wear and heavily influenced by the West. All these prove that in Singapore, we only follow what is trendy and take it as our own ; whatever is trendy at the moment, we will just copy.
Reason being, Singapore as a trading port, we celebrate tourists. The retail environment and tourist spots are the main areas of interest by tourists. Orchard Road is filled with brands like Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Prada etc., Winter clothes are sold in the Summer and all year round, and the biggest celebrated event held at Orchard Road than the sale is Christmas – most Singaporeans don’t even celebrate Christmas.
“Singapore is a city in a garden”, but most of this “garden” is artificial. It was made, again, for commercial reasons. Examples include Changi Airport’s arrival hall, and Gardens by the Bay. The Airport is where tourists and businessmen first get a glimpse of Singapore, but the trees planted there are put in non-natural conditions and conditioned by non-Singaporeans. Same goes for the Gardens by the Bay. We have spent billions of dollars to build a garden for tourists to visit.

Fig.3: Gardens by the Bay
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geKHBz8JUhE)
“Now it is at the heart of one of the world’s most dynamic regions. Under Mr Lee, Singapore made the most of these advantages. Under Mr Lee, Singapore welcomed foreign trade and investment. Multinationals found Singapore a natural hub and were encouraged to expand and prosper.”
As my conclusion, all these shows how tourism driven Singapore is, but it also shows that the intention of Singapore has resulted in a successful city.
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Text & Sources:
1) Outsider Japan / Architecture in Japan: The Metabolist Movement. [online] Available at: http://tiny.cc/metamove [Accessed 3 Aug. 2016].
2) Metabolism: An Architectural Movement in the 1960s . [online] Available at: http://tiny.cc/metamove2 [Accessed 3 Aug. 2016].
3) Public housing in Singapore | Infopedia. [online] Eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Available at: http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_1585_2009-10-26.html [Accessed 5 Aug. 2016].
4) Koolhaas, R. and Robilant, M. (2010). Singapore songlines. Macerata: Quodlibet.
5) National Parks Board. (2016). [online] Available at: https://www.nparks.gov.sg/about-us/special-tribute-to-mr-lee [Accessed 5 Aug. 2016].
6)Why Singapore became an economic success. [online] Available at: http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/03/economist-explains-23 [Accessed 5 Aug. 2016].
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