[[ARCHITECTURE]] [[Buildings and [[Structures]]]] [[Centre]] [[January]] [[Medal]] [[Unfederated]] [[Wales]] [[ker]] [[liu]] [[thai]] [[wiki-architecture]] # Liu Thai Ker Liu Thai Ker (23 February 1938 – 18 January 2026) was a Singaporean architect and a master planner of the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore. He was also the founding chairman of the Centre for Liveable Cities. Early life and education Liu was born on 23 February 1938 in Muar, Johor, when it was an Unfederated Malay State of the British. He was the eldest son of Liu Kang, a pioneer Nanyang Style artist. His family moved to Singapore after the conclusion of World War II. He studied in Chung Cheng High School, where he skipped a grade due to academic excellence. After graduating, he worked as a substitute teacher at Kong Hwa School in order to save money for further studies. He had plans to go to China to study art, but his mother convinced him to study architecture instead. With the assistance of a donation from the Lee Foundation, he enrolled in the University of New South Wales in 1962, where he graduated with a first-class honours degree in architecture, and was also awarded a medal for being the top student. He furthered his studies at Yale University in 1965 with a masters in urban planning, where he was again awarded a medal for being the top student in the faculty. Career During his time at Yale, Liu formed close relationships with his professors. One of them introduced Liu to I.M. Pei, who offered Liu a job at his firm. He also worked in Loder & Dunphy in Sydney. Following Singapore's separation from Malaysia in 1965, Liu felt a desire to "change the fate of Singaporeans". He was approached by Teh Cheang Wan, the Chief Executive Officer of the [[Housing]] and Development Board (HDB), and offered a job at HDB as head of the Design and Research Unit. In 1969, Liu returned to Singapore and joined HDB, eventually becoming its CEO in 1979. In 1989, he moved to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) as its CEO and chief planner, where his contributions included the revision of its Concept Plan. In 1992, Liu left public service to join RSP Architects Planners & Engineers (RSP) as a director. During this time, he designed Marina Bay Cruise Centre Singapore and the Chinese Cultural Centre. He also did city planning for more than fifty cities, among them Fuzhou. Then Fuzhou party secretary Xi Jinping, impressed by his city plan, approached him to design Fuzhou Changle International Airport. In December 2017, at the age of 79, Liu left RSP to found Morrow Architects and Planners, named after his father's artistic studio. In 2024, Liu was working as an urban planning adviser to Fiji as well as the Chinese provinces of Sichuan and Guangdong. Personal life Liu was the son of Liu Kang. He married Gretchen Gustafson, an American journalist, in 1984. They had two children, Daniel and Kristin. Daniel was a People's Action Party (PAP) candidate for Aljunied GRC in the 2025 general election. The PAP team lost to Pritam Singh and his Workers' Party (WP) team with 40.29% of the vote. Liu died on 18 January 2026, at the age of 87, after developing complications from a fall the previous week. Awards and honours Liu has been awarded: Public Administration Medal (Gold) 1976 Meritorious Service Medal 1985 Singapore Institute of Architects Gold Medal Medal of the City of Paris, France (2001) Asean Achievement Award for Outstanding Contributions to Architecture (1993) Honorary Doctorate, University of New South Wales Notes == References ==