Bigness and the Search for an Emergent Asian Identity: The Formative Work of William S W Lim and DP Architects

Abstract

In the period of decolonization, Asian cities were facing intense modernisation and urban development. This process was often coupled with the search for and legitimisation of a new national identity, and the resultant urban forms were ambitious and large-scale. The visions of think tanks and architects were co-opted as part of the state’s technological narrative of urbanisation, in part because there was a lack of public resources. Projects were envisioned and built with a mentality of post-war development thinking, with increased professionalisation in architectural and multidisciplinary skill sets. The agenda was to use architecture and the city to aid in the making of a consumerist middle-class population while whetting their appetite for automobile ownership, private luxury housing, shopping, and the promise of modern living. Even though the governments were often the initiators of such colossal urban reorganisation, this was a period that witnessed a transnational exchange of ideas, especially because of the involvement of think tanks and private practitioners.