Platform for Architectural Transfers in the Indian Ocean rim
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8th May 2025
Thursday 6.00 pm IST
Respondent:  Cole Roskam (University of Hong Kong)
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More Than Just a Military Base: Commercial Construction in Colonial Singapore (c.1920-40)
Nicholas Bill (Cardiff University)






Labelled as one of the ‘Gibraltars of the East’ by the Straits Times, Singapore is so often remembered as the ‘impregnable fortress’ that quickly fell to Empire of Japan in February 1942. However, its role as a major military base did not seriously develop until the 1920s, by which time the British colony had begun to establish itself as a significant trading hub and host to several emerging industries. These activities instigated a wave of commercial construction that would ultimately transform Singapore and the wider Federated Malay States.

This brief presentation will explore how these early developments used some the latest building technologies, originally developed in Europe and the United States, and drew upon resources from across the British Empire. Particular attention will be given to the design and construction of the Sultan Ibrahim Building, c.1940, originally built to house the government offices in the neighbouring state of Jahor. Led by the architectural firm Palmer and Turner, established in Hong Kong, its design followed British Standards but was largely completed by Indian and Chinese draughtsmen. Its erection was carried out by the Singapore-based United Engineers Limited, using structural steel fabricated entirely by Chinese labour in their Singapore workshops and sourced from mills in Australia. Such projects are a testament to the extent of inter-colonial trade that warrants further academic attention.

University of Malaya

 Chee Kien Lai
(Independent scholar)








In 2005, both the National University of Singapore and the University of Malaya (Universiti Malaya) in Petaling Jaya celebrated a century of existence as tertiary institutions, both claiming their founding year to be 1905. There is a more complicated history to this common claim, linked to discourses about colonial education as well as decolonization after World War II in both Malaysia and Singapore.

The institution that was formally inaugurated in 1949 as University of Malaya in Singapore would see it first having dual campuses after 1957, and then separate destinies after 1962. This was one year before Singapore merged with Malaya, Sarawak and North Borneo to form the geobody called Malaysia. This short talk attempts to outline the entwined histories of the two national universities and the fates of postwar Malaya and Singapore as corollaries to these histories. The role that the design of campuses and buildings played on both sides of the Causeway will also be discussed.