Singapore

Some photographs from my recent trip to Singapore. The main reason for traveling there was that my employer, The Glasgow School of Art, has just begun to offer design courses there following an agreement with the Singapore Institute of Technology and so I was sent to give some design history and theory lectures. I flew via Dubai with Emirates and, before boarding the plane, I had dinner at Glasgow Airport, which was surprisingly good. Steak and chips - rarely fails to please:

Changing planes at Dubai the next morning:

A Sheikh with a modernist agenda, not just a modernising one. Who'd have thought that possible?

 

Dubai's very bling airport:

UFO light fitting:

I arrived in Singapore on Saturday evening and, on Sunday, I went with my good mate Jonathan Boonzaier, whom I had not seen for two whole years, plus two Australian acquaintances of his, to Bataam in Indonesia by fast ferry across the Strait of Malacca. From there, we took another fast ferry to visit the casino ship Leisure World, originally Norwegian Caribbean Line's Skyward of 1969:

Shipping in the Strait of Malacca:

Bataam:

Leisure World:

Brand new Cosco container ship en passant:

Onboard Leisure World:

Luncheon:

Various Maersk Line container ships:

Onboard the Marina Express for the crossing back to Bataam:

Dinner for four at Jonathan's place:

Well, that was a good way to spend Sunday. Monday morning, however, I got up pretty early and headed for Temasek Polytechnic in Tampines where The Glasgow School of Art/Singapore Institute of Technology courses are delivered. The School of Design building is a late work by Sir James Stirling and rather good, I thought. It certainly provides a series of very pleasant semi-outdoor communal environments and is a very sociable building, considering that it is also rather big:

The Glasgow School of Art's premises within:

 

I gave four lectures and helped out afterwards in studio:

Me with Frazer MacDonald Hay, the big boss man at GSA in Singapore.  Top bloke.

 

Some of Temasek Polytechnic's own signs were rather wonderful:

Luncheon:

Dinner at a restaurant in Little India:

 

The next evening, I was invited with GSA colleagues to a 'do' at Arup Associates and so this meant taking a taxi downtown:

 

Spectacular view:

 Next morning's tabloid headlines:

 

 

On Thursday afternoon, there was a staff meeting not involving me so I went on a wee exploration of Chinatown:

Part 2 to follow shortly.