Architects Team 3/Lim Chong Keat Archive 建築三人小組／林蒼吉作品檔案
The Architects Team 3 / Lim Chong Keat Archive documents about thirty-six built and unbuilt projects from the period between 1958 and 1987, by the Malayan Architects Co-partnership (MACP) and its succeeding firm, Architects Team 3 (AT3), co-founded by Lim Chong Keat.
Early projects consist largely of residences for the emerging Malayan professional class, with the architects’ modernist lineage tempered by responses to the tropical climate and local materials and patterns of use. MACP, and later AT3, did much to shape the central business district of Singapore. This began with their project for the Singapore Conference Hall and Trade Union House (1961–1965). Later public, civic, and corporate projects include the Malaysia-Singapore Airlines headquarters (now the Singapore Airlines building, 1965–1967), the United Overseas Bank headquarters (1971–1973), the Development Bank of Singapore headquarters (1969–1975), and Jurong Town Hall (1969–1974).
AT3 proposed further experimentations in form and space in later residential and condominium projects, such as the house for Robin Loh in Hong Kong (1973); the self-developed Starpoint House and Flats in Singapore (1971–1973), inspired by Buckminster Fuller’s hexagonal Dymaxion House; and Ardmore Park Flats (1977), one of Singapore’s early luxury high-density condominiums, with its distinctive trefoil plan. Other projects in Malaysia and further afield include the KOMTAR tower in Penang, Malaysia; the Seremban and Sabah state mosques, Malaysia; and the Bank of Ceylon headquarters in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The archive includes slides, papers, and publications that illuminate the state of architectural discourse when the projects were conceived, including documentation of one of the Campuan meetings, a series of intellectual exchanges that Lim Chong Keat organised with Buckminster Fuller in Singapore.
The archive is a valuable resource in situating modernism in Asia in a global context. This is clearly illustrated by Lim Chong Keat’s relationships with influential designers such as James Kinoshita of Hong Kong firm Palmer & Turner, Thai architect Sumet Jumsai, British architectural illustrator Louis Hellman, and György Kepes, Lim’s teacher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is also evident in his work with Singapore architects William S. W. Lim and Tay Kheng Soon, who founded Design Partnership; and his friendship with Buckminster Fuller, whose concept of the geodesic dome became a recurring theme in Lim Chong Keat’s designs and with whom Lim collaborated on the KOMTAR project.
This material was held in the offices of Architects Team 3 in Singapore and was donated to M+ in 2015.
M+ acquired all available material relating to architectural projects and the administration of the firm, but did not acquire documents of a more personal nature.
Arranged chronologically by project, and by format.
The bulk of the archive of the Malayan Architects Co-partnership and Architects Team 3 are in the possession of Lim Chong Keat.
Early projects consist largely of residences for the emerging Malayan professional class, with the architects’ modernist lineage tempered by responses to the tropical climate and local materials and patterns of use. MACP, and later AT3, did much to shape the central business district of Singapore. This began with their project for the Singapore Conference Hall and Trade Union House (1961–1965). Later public, civic, and corporate projects include the Malaysia-Singapore Airlines headquarters (now the Singapore Airlines building, 1965–1967), the United Overseas Bank headquarters (1971–1973), the Development Bank of Singapore headquarters (1969–1975), and Jurong Town Hall (1969–1974).
AT3 proposed further experimentations in form and space in later residential and condominium projects, such as the house for Robin Loh in Hong Kong (1973); the self-developed Starpoint House and Flats in Singapore (1971–1973), inspired by Buckminster Fuller’s hexagonal Dymaxion House; and Ardmore Park Flats (1977), one of Singapore’s early luxury high-density condominiums, with its distinctive trefoil plan. Other projects in Malaysia and further afield include the KOMTAR tower in Penang, Malaysia; the Seremban and Sabah state mosques, Malaysia; and the Bank of Ceylon headquarters in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The archive includes slides, papers, and publications that illuminate the state of architectural discourse when the projects were conceived, including documentation of one of the Campuan meetings, a series of intellectual exchanges that Lim Chong Keat organised with Buckminster Fuller in Singapore.
The archive is a valuable resource in situating modernism in Asia in a global context. This is clearly illustrated by Lim Chong Keat’s relationships with influential designers such as James Kinoshita of Hong Kong firm Palmer & Turner, Thai architect Sumet Jumsai, British architectural illustrator Louis Hellman, and György Kepes, Lim’s teacher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is also evident in his work with Singapore architects William S. W. Lim and Tay Kheng Soon, who founded Design Partnership; and his friendship with Buckminster Fuller, whose concept of the geodesic dome became a recurring theme in Lim Chong Keat’s designs and with whom Lim collaborated on the KOMTAR project.
This material was held in the offices of Architects Team 3 in Singapore and was donated to M+ in 2015.
M+ acquired all available material relating to architectural projects and the administration of the firm, but did not acquire documents of a more personal nature.
Arranged chronologically by project, and by format.
The bulk of the archive of the Malayan Architects Co-partnership and Architects Team 3 are in the possession of Lim Chong Keat.
The Architects Team 3 archive includes Architectural Photography, Book/Periodical, Architectural Model, Ephemera, Architectural Drawing, Archival Documentation, Collage and Photography.
Details
Object Number
CA29
Archive Creator
Archival Level
Fonds
Date
1947–[circa 1987]
Object Count
676 items
Credit Line
M+, Hong Kong. Gift of Architects Team 3, 2015
