THE unique design of several buildings on the National University of Singapore's Bukit Timah campus, and the former seaside Customs post at Collyer Quay, have won them the right to be preserved.
These post-war structures are likely to join the 6,500 buildings which have been conserved, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said yesterday.
The Bukit Timah campus, which dates back to the 1920s, has played host to five tertiary institutions - Raffles College, the University of Singapore, the National Institute of Education, the Singapore Management University, and the current NUS.
One of the four buildings in the area approved for conservation - the 10-storey high Science Tower - was designed by local architect Ho Kok Hoe and opened in 1966.
It was built after a research tour to Britain to study how buildings for the sciences were being built there.
The URA's deputy director for conservation and development services, Mrs Teh Lai Yip, said that the buildings on the campus here 'were inspired by very traditional British colonial design with two quadrangles and one elegant forecourt'.
Another 11 pre-war buildings in the Bukit Timah campus area will be made national monuments at a later date.
Mr John Ting, an architect, said the campus evoked a sense of 'serenity, serendipity and repose' that could be found in universities with long traditions around the world.
At Collyer Quay, the former Customs Harbour Branch building came up in the 1960s and was one of the earliest public buildings fashioned in the Modern style.
While it is not as well-known as the nearby Clifford Pier, its slender, mushroom-shaped watchtower and umbrella-like pavilions are 'eye-catching', said the URA. It was used by Customs officers till February 2004, when they moved to Pulau Brani.
The URA said the building, together with Clifford Pier, serves as a reminder of a time when the mouth of the Singapore River was the hub of shipping activity, which was a major lifeline of Singapore's economy.
The building is up for sale, to be conserved and adapted for commercial use.
INSPIRED DESIGN: These archways are a feature of many of the old buildings on the Bukit Timah campus.
PRESERVING A SLICE OF HISTORY: The Bukit Timah campus, which dates back to the 1920s, has been home to five tertiary institutions.
FOR POSTERITY: The former Customs post at Collyer Quay, in the Modern style, is one of the buildings to be preserved. -- STEPHANIE YEOW
