Architecture
The design itself was conceived by one of Singapore's most renown architects, Leong Swee Lim (1935-2002) of Swan and Maclaren Architects, whose design subsequently won first prize in an open design competition. The design of the structure has been one of Swee Lim's most famous and significant contributions towards the legacy of Singapore's architectural history. The architect's conception of the four identical pillars each 70m high, represents the shared experiences and unity of the four major races of Singapore - Chinese, Malay, Indian and other races. Henceforth the memorial is essentially one of Singapore's iconic landmarks of heritage that truly embraces the virtues of a multi-racial and cultural city, whose unity is inevitably one of the pillars for Singapore's modern day success, harmony and prosperity.
The memorial has also been affectionately described by some as resembling four giant chopsticks. Unseen to the eye, the remains of the unidentified war victims are buried beneath the monument and truly adds to the material significance of the structure whose history it represents.
Read more about this topic: Civilian War Memorial
Famous quotes containing the word architecture:
“I don’t think of form as a kind of architecture. The architecture is the result of the forming. It is the kinesthetic and visual sense of position and wholeness that puts the thing into the realm of art.”
—Roy Lichtenstein (b. 1923)
“And when his hours are numbered, and the world
Is all his own, retiring, as he were not,
Leaves, when the sun appears, astonished Art
To mimic in slow structures, stone by stone,
Built in an age, the mad wind’s night-work,
The frolic architecture of the snow.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)