DATUK SERI LIM Chong Keat, renown retired architect-cum-urban designer, was involved in the design and construction of the Kompleks Tunku Abdul Rahman (or KOMTAR for short), Asia’s second tallest tower when it was completed in 1985. It remains the tallest building in Penang today.
Lim also designed the Singapore Conference Hall (completed in 1965) and the Jurong Town Hall (completed in 1974) which are among the first modern buildings to be designated by the Singapore Heritage Board as national monuments.1
For a man heavily involved in the professions of architecture, urban design and acoustics, which blend together studies of the sciences and the arts, it is not surprising to see why he was also drawn towards the study of botany.
In a recent conversation with Lim, he shared with me his journey in botanical research and taxonomy. When asked what inspired him to venture into botany studies, as an auto-didactic amateur, he says, “One’s curiosity about the natural sciences has to be self-motivated. To be educated is to know what you don’t know.” So what then did he not know about botany? Palms, he said.
