Past ACCFs

Independent Theorist and Writer

William S W Lim graduated from the Architectural Association (AA) London and continued his graduate study at the Department of City and Regional Planning, Harvard University. His professional work involves architecture, planning and development economics. He was principal architect at Malayan Architects Co-Partnership from 1960-1967, Design Partnership from 1967 to 1991, and William Lim Associates from 1991 to 2002.

William Lim is president of AA Asia and co-founder and chairman of the Asian Urban Lab (2003). He was president of the Singapore Heritage Society from 1988 to 1997, and of the Singapore Planning and Research Group from 1966 to 1968. Presently, he is Adjunct Professor of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, and Guest Professor of Tianjin University, China. He was conferred a Doctor of Architecture Honoris Causa by RMIT University in 2002 and Honorary Professor of LaSalle-SIA College of the Arts (Singapore) in 2005.

Currently, Lim writes and lectures on a wide range of subjects relating to architecture, urbanism and culture in Asian cities as well as on current issues relating to the postmodern, glocality and social justice.
Lim is the author of the following books:

1. Equity and Urban Environment in the Third World - with special reference to ASEAN Countries and Singapore (1975)
2. An Alternative Urban Strategy (1980)
3. Cities for People : reflections of a South East Asian Architect (1990)
4. Contemporary Vernacular : evoking traditions in Asian Architecture, co-author with Tan Hock-Beng (1997)
5. Asian New Urbanism (1998). – translated into Japanese, entitled 21st Century – The Image of the Future Asian City.
6. Alternatives in Transition (2001)
7. Alternative (Post)modernity (2003) – translated into Thai.
8. Have You Been Shanghai [ed]? Culture and Urbanism in Glocalized Shanghai (2003) – The book is bilingual (English & Chinese)
9. Architecture, Art, Identity in Singapore – Is There Life after tabula rasa? (2004)
10. Asian Ethical Urbanism: A Radical Postmodern Perspective (2005) – translated into Vietnamese.
11. Contesting Singapore's Urban Future (2006) – The book is bilingual (English & Chinese)
12. (Lee Kah Wee ed.) Architecture, Culture, Ethics – A Workshop in NUS (2006)
13. Asian Alterity with special reference to Architecture & Urbanism through the lens of cultural studies (to be published end 2007)

He is also volume co-editor on World Architecture: A Critical Mosaic 1900-2000, Volume 10, Southeast Asia (1999) and Editor of Postmodern Singapore (2002).