Lai Chee Kien Author

Lee Kip Lin (1925-2011) was a well-known architectural historian, educator and professional architect. After graduating from University College of London's Bartlett School of Architecture in 1955, Lee returned to Singapore to practise, and subsequently began teaching architecture at the Singapore Polytechnic from 1961, and later at the University of Singapore from 1969. In the 1970's, he was a member of the Preservation of Monuments Board and advocated many efforts to conserve buildings and historic districts in Singapore. From 1982 onwards, he researched and published several books on architectural and urban heritage, among them the seminal work The Singapore House: 1819-1942 (1988). Lai Chee Kien is an architectural and urban historian, as well as a registered architect in Singapore. He researches mainly on the histories of art, architecture, settlements, urbanism and landscapes in Southeast Asia. He graduated from the National University of Singapore with an M. Arch. by research in 1996, and a PhD in History of Architecture & Urban Design from the University of California, Berkely in 2005. His publications include A Brief History of Malayan Art (1999), Building Merdeka: Independence Architecture in Kuala Lmpur, 1957-1966 (2007) and Cords to Histories (2013). He collaborated with Koh Hong Teng for the graphic novel Last Train from Tanjong Pagar (2014), which introduces readers to the railway histories of Singapore and Malaysia.