New Book Announcement: “Everyday Modernism: Architecture and Society in Singapore” by Jiat-Hwee Chang and Justin Zhuang

Everyday Modernism: Architecture and Society in Singapore, Jiat-Hwee Chang, Justin Zhuang, Darren Soh (photos) (NUS Press, November 2022)
Everyday Modernism: Architecture and Society in Singapore, Jiat-Hwee Chang, Justin Zhuang, Darren Soh (photos) (NUS Press, November 2022)

Everyday Modernism is the first comprehensive documentation of Singapore’s modern built environment. Through a lens of social and architectural histories, the book uncovers the many untold stories of the Southeast Asian city-state’s modernization, from the rise of heroic skyscrapers to the spread of utilitarian typologies like the multi-storey car park. It investigates how modernism, through both form and function, radically transformed Singapore and made its inhabitants into modern citizens.

The book’s 33 essays are richly illustrated with some 200 archival images and drawings as well as more than 90 contemporary photos by architectural photographer Darren Soh. It covers the beginnings of Singapore’s modern landscape, including its first condominium, columbarium, flatted factory, and pedestrian overheard bridge, amongst others. But the book is also interested in endings, investigating how modern buildings have changed over time, and been adapted for new uses or even threatened with redevelopment today. By examining the evolution of the once exceptional into the typical and by learning how abstract spaces become lived places, the book traces how modernism has become part of everyday life in Singapore.

 

Everyday Modernism: Architecture and Society in Singapore
by Jiat-Hwee Chang and Justin Zhuang, photographs by Darren Soh
NUS Press, November 2022