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Our Modern Past (2015)

Books

we are mindful to give prominence to the photos of these lost architecture; the design is kept minimal with a playful use of typography against well-proportioned photos to balance the overall composition of each spread.

Our Modern Past is a three-volume series documenting modernist buildings in Singapore. With many of these buildings now being demolished, it now serves as the one of the most comprehensive records of modernist architecture in Singapore. Started by the late Jeremy San, Our Modern Past was written by conservationists Ho Weng Hin, Tan Kar Lin, and Dinesh Naidu. Our director Kelley Cheng designed and edited the book, in addition to securing funding from SIA for the printing. The series is split chronologically, spanning from the 1920s to the 1970s. In terms of design, the main focus was to showcase Jeremy San’s photographs. Thus, we chose three single photographs to print on each book cover, with the titles placed off-centre so as to not distract from it.