Lim Chong Keat — The man and mind behind Jurong Town Hall
Inspired by the designs of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, Datuk Seri Lim Chong Keat knew at just seven years old that his interests lay in architecture. He rose to become one of the pioneers of Singapore’s post-independent architectural scene, with a legacy that includes national monuments such as the Singapore Conference Hall and Jurong Town Hall. In recognition of his contribution to Singapore’s development, Mr Lim was awarded the Public Service Star and the Singapore Institute of Architects’ (SIA) highest honour, the SIA Gold Medal. Periscope speaks to the 88-year-old about his memories of working on Jurong Town Hall.
By Fiona Liaw and Tay Qiaowei
How did you get your ideas, back when the local post-independent architectural scene was developing in the sixties and seventies?
The conditions in the architectural competitions were rather interesting, because you never knew if you were going to be inspired to come up with a very original concept. I have often been asked about our designs, and people ask where I copied them from. And this is of course the exact opposite of the idea of creative originality — indeed a lot of buildings become copies and derivatives of others, and many of them can also be identified. But one of the parameters of good training for an architect is how to make your own statement without being a derivative. You may be influenced, or you may belong to the same school. For example, I do believe in tropical design and good sun shading as these will have a bearing on how you do your design.
So I cannot speak for other architects, but the teams I worked with were looking for original solutions and every building had its own challenges and thereby its own inspiration.
The science of architecture is important because a lot of people think of design as drawing pretty pictures… You don’t say, “I’ll just draw the pretty front and then let the engineer sort it out, or let the plumber decide where the pipes will go.” You have to be very clear about the structure, the plumbing and all the other aspects of access to the building.
Do you remember what Jurong was like when you first started designing Jurong Town Hall?
One of the first buildings we did in Jurong was the National Iron and Steel Mills project. I remember seeing the hills being cut down — it was all red earth. So we saw the development of Jurong and the beginning of the industrial town.
When this competition came about, the first thing we realised was that it was actually a town hall without a town. Jurong Town Hall, being situated on a hill by itself, was obviously meant to be a very special edifice symbolising the area. But unlike other town halls, like the Boston City Hall that is related to the city and integrated with the public square, the distinctive thing about Jurong Town Hall is that it was not really related to the town, because back then there wasn’t really a town. It was an industrial estate.
I was actually quite shocked by the fact that right now, Jurong Town Hall is surrounded by skyscrapers! Jurong has really changed a lot.
So what inspired Jurong Town Hall’s design?
In retrospect, the clock tower looked like a periscope so people have likened the building to a ship, submarine, or aircraft carrier. British architect and cartoonist Louis Hellman actually sent me a cartoon as a Christmas card of a helicopter about to land on top of Jurong Town Hall like a helipad! But when we designed it, our only intention was to enclose the auditorium within two chamfered blocks. To create the lower and upper entrances and exhibition routes was also part of our inspiration.
I think the building speaks for itself as a large building on the top of a hill. Fairly monumental in the simplicity and the uses catered for: the auditorium, spaces for exhibitions, the offices, so on.
I think generally, best designs happen at a flash, and to do a major building you have to have a very comprehensive awareness of the brief, the function, the space and so on. So I guess you have to say it was inspired by the circumstances of the site.
Could you share some interesting facts about the building?
Now, there’s a trend towards green buildings. In the case of Jurong Town Hall, the central concourse where you enter from the lower entrance has natural ventilation. Inevitably, in a tropical, damp climate, you’ll still need air conditioning for offices, but the sun shading fins on the windows certainly made the building more favourable.
It is also a building that looks different from all four sides. For example, the entry gives you a different impression compared to the long clock-tower side.
I think the base of what can be called Singapore’s pioneer architecture like Jurong Town Hall was very well addressed by the local contractors. This credit was achieved before the establishment of international contractors like the Japanese and Koreans in Singapore. So the building celebrated the capabilities of local consultants, engineers and everybody else.
What were the most memorable parts of this project?
The design brief was quite specific about the clock tower. And if I recall correctly, we only hit on the final design after midnight, just before the submission in the morning. One of my associates Kok Siew Hoon and I worked on it and finished it at 4am that morning.
Also, the opening ceremony of Jurong Town Hall on 2 June 1975 — I remember they started with the blackout, then the voice came over, “In the beginning there was nothing, then came Goh Keng Swee and Jurong was born!” Then lights came on and the parade came out like the Red Guards. It was fancy!
Looking back at all the buildings you’ve worked on, how would you describe your “style”?
I believe that we can call our works architectonic. Which means to say it had a very integral sense of form, structure, infrastructure, function and spaces — all as clearly articulated as possible.
The science of architecture is important because a lot of people think of design as drawing pretty pictures. But the meaning of the word architectonics is that beyond design, you have to be really complete in your knowledge of structure and infrastructure. A good building must integrate all these things together. You don’t say, “I’ll just draw the pretty front and then let the engineer sort it out, or let the plumber decide where the pipes will go.” You have to be very clear about the structure, the plumbing and all the other aspects of access to the building.
You also cannot be interested in public spaces if you haven’t been in public spaces, or had a feel of what it’s like. Architecture is a total involvement, as total as you can be.
Each special building has its space for inventiveness that makes it different. Recently, this museum of architecture in Hong Kong called M+ has been collecting works by Southeast Asian architects, and they have included a lot of our work. Whether a historian can see that it’s the same architect for the Singapore Conference Hall, Negeri Sembilan State Mosque in Seremban and Jurong Town Hall, I shall leave it to the historians to comment. But you can see that the style is not specific to certain motifs because each building had its own inspiration. I daresay that’s the challenge of architecture.
