Canberra’s foreign embassies are designed to reflect national traditions. However, historic styles, when literally reproduced, can create a Disneyland effect. The modern State of Singapore, a combination of three Asian cultures with a British colonial overlay, rejected this approach. It wanted to express its 20th-century identity as a city-state banker, trader and manufacturer. The idea was to introduce a degree of sculptural tension to illustrate the interaction of disparate cultures. Singapore’s climate (and Australia’s) is symbolised in lattice sunshades, overhanging roofs, double posts and veranda iconography.