NUS DoA M.ARCH1 OPTIONS STUDIO - DIALOGICAL DESIGNS AND HETEROTOPIC ARCHITECTURE (2020/2021) by NUSDoA2022

YEAR 4 OPTIONS STUDIO COMPILATION OF SELECTED WORKS

2020/2021 M.ARCH 1 STUDIO CONSTANCE LAU

DIALOGICAL DESIGNS AND HETEROTOPIC ARCHITECTURE IN THE NEW NORMAL

IMAGE CREDIT: YIN MENGHUA

MASTERS DESIGN PROJECTS INTERESTS Masters Design Projects include those explored in two Options Design Research Studios (M.Arch 1), the Advanced Architecture Studio and the Thesis project in M.Arch 2. All studios may explore issues relevant to the interests of the Research Clusters, adjunct teachers and professors in practice. Students are encouraged to capitalise on faculty expertise in widening the scope of investigations which collectively strengthen the Thesis Project in M.Arch 2. Essential and Elective modules are useful in underpinning your Masters studio investigations. Although Options Design Research studios may be varied in content and method, students are advised to be selective and to use them as ‘learning runways’ to identify a Thesis topic and to apply accumulated knowledge there. The Advanced Architecture Studio preceding the Thesis may be used to explore thesis drivers in greater detail and focus. It is expected that the Thesis project will be the most comprehensive and extensive study of all the Masters Design Projects. _______________________________________________________________________________________

DESIGN AS INQUIRY Masters projects can be research investigations where design forms a principal mode of inquiry. Methods can be heuristic or empirical or in mixed modes of inquiry. There are a number of research methods in design investigations leading to different outcomes but they are by no means exhaustive: • • • • •

textual/graphic analysis of theoretical concepts with investigations drawn from critical discourse using text references, works of art/representation quantitative analysis to verify qualitative hypotheses with simulation, physical experiment, prototype testing and mixed methods scenario-driven speculative design to suggest solutions to emergent need. The process in itself is a new way of seeing/thinking which generates many solutions. One version of a solution may be articulated spatially and in full materiality new research knowledge is interpreted in architecture as a new way of thinking/making/ experiencing existing practices, processes or existing technologies are applied to design and which produce ‘unprecedented’ outcomes

PROJECT ATTRIBUTES A good Masters project is one where: • • • •

the research process informs design strategy which can be followed through a coherent sequential process of explorations or iterations the research generates an underlying order giving rise to a number of architectural or urban propositions the research or issues engaged with, give rise to new solutions through design, some of which are singular, permutable or recombinant it addresses the contextual specificities of site, material, spatial, culture and program

and all of the above are communicated through architectural drawings, well-crafted models and annotations which curate a design process and outcome(s) that can be understood without a verbal presentation by the author Beyond a commitment to individual academic portfolios, Masters projects play an important role in characterising the discursive ethos of a design school. It is important that you do your best. _______________________________________________________________________________________

RESEARCH CLUSTERS RESEARCH FOCUS At DOA, our advanced research delves into critical issues of architecture today and tomorrow. In particular, we anticipate and observe new demands and novel forms of buildings, cities, environments, and nature that are emergingthroughout Asia and the equatorial region. DOA research clusters coalesce creative practice, technology, urbanism, landscape, preservation, and the specific expertise of our faculty members into a productive synergy and alignment between teaching and research. The following five clusters drive the M Arch I Design Research Studio Options sequence, the M Arch II Design Thesis and the graduate level elective offering across our Master of Architecture programme. These are nonetheless included in the BA Arch programme booklet so that students may understand the various research interests of their faculty. _______________________________________________________________________________________

I. RESEARCH BY DESIGN The Research by Design (RxD) cluster develops translational research approaches through creative practice. It emphasises the importance of rigorously engaging critical and creative practice in making, writing, and thinking in architecture. RxD strives for innovation and influence in the built environment through its research outcomes. To date, a number of these outcomes have won awards and made considerable impact. RxD focuses on design in Asia and around the equator, and on research into contemporary concerns as well as the identification of speculative future directions. Members work in a range of design modes from sole authorships to collaborative and interdisciplinary configurations. As a group, RxD leverages its combined creative expertise, teaching within design studios and graduate elective modules. Research outcomes include leading buildings, texts, exhibitions, installations, films, drawings, photographs, and object-making, alongside design monographs, edited volumes, and research papers. RxD’s commitment towards integrative and translational creative practices empowers design research with intellectual and critical bearings, for a discipline in transformation.

II. HISTORY, THEORY AND CRITICISM The History, Theory and Criticism cluster develops critical capacities to examine questions of built environmental production and consumption within the historical and contemporary milieu. Taking architecture and urbanism in Asia as a primary focus, members work in interdisciplinary and transnational modes. Our members conduct research into a wide range of topics against the context of colonial/postcolonial and modern/postmodern Asian contexts, teaching these with the aim of encouraging historical literacy and consciousness in students, to enable them to understand how the present is historically sedimented. Besides teaching, members also publish widely and in diverse forms, organise and participate in major conferences and workshops, curate key exhibitions, and advise both governmental and non-governmental organisations in related fields around the world.

III. TECHNOLOGIES The Technologies cluster investigates environmentally performative or sustainable building forms and systems, and generative-evaluative processes for designing liveable environments. It employs traditional and emerging technologies that contribute to a new understanding of the human ecosystem, and emerging computational methods and techniques for discovering the relationships betweenform and performance. Members investigate the relationship between human and natural landscapes, at every scale, from the building component scale to the urban scale. Special emphasis is placed on the examination of high-density Asian cities, and on application of design and building technologies in a tropical context.

IV. URBANISM The Urbanism cluster aims to contribute towards development of sustainable resilient models and innovative advanced urban strategies to cope with various environmental, social, economic and technological challenges facing Asian cities today and in the future. The starting point for this research is a comprehensive understanding of the complexity and distinctive characters of emerging urbanism in the region. Against this backdrop, members investigate emergent urban design issues related to community and participation; conservation and regeneration; ageing and healthcare; well-being and built form; modelling and big data; and resilience and informality. These issues are examined from multiple perspectives and through both inter-disciplinary and transdisciplinary collaborations, in order to question conventional norms and conceptions and establish new visions for a progressive and human-centric sustainable urban future.

V. LANDSCAPE STUDIES The Landscape Studies cluster undertakes research to generate new knowledge of landscapes as socio-ecological systems, and promotes the use of knowledge in governance systems and landscape design to improve the well-being of humans and enhance the ecological integrity of the environment. The geographic focus is primarily high-density urban regions in Asia; however members of the cluster also work in the transitional zones within the rural-urban continuum, where urban regions are expanding at a rapid rate and encroaching into rural landscapes. The overall research approach is both interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary. The cluster looks not only at advancing theoretical concepts and knowledge, but also applying the knowledge in practice and public policy, to shape the environment. Areas of research span a wide spectrum of the socioecological dimensions of landscape: from landscape science and landscape management, to design research and sociobehavioural studies.

STUDIO CONSTANCE LAU

DIALOGICAL DESIGNS AND HETEROTOPIC ARCHITECTURE IN THE NEW NORMAL The role of dialoguein design practice is adopted as questioning and incomplete, with the capacity for user intervention to assume authorshipto shape the reading and outcome of the work. This creation ofmultiple interpretations is furthered through spatial explorations in Michel Foucault’s notions of heterotopia and heterotopic spaces that encompass layers of meaning within theirapparent uses and established contexts. These arguments, in conjunction with Italo Calvino’s ‘Invisible Cities’ (1974) and DarranAnderson’s ‘Imaginary Cities’ (2015) will be used to formulate a postpandemicnarrative for how –Singapore -a city can be reimagined through ‘interdisciplinary approaches that embrace multiple perspectives’.

Dr Constance Lau

AN ANTIDOTE FOR A SOCIETY DOMINATED BY SYMBOLIC CAPITAL CLAUDINE FANG YU TIAN

An Antidote for a society dominated by Symbolic Capital & A Minor Architecture of Capitagreen: Microcosms of displaced landscapes by Claudine Fang Yu Tian A heterotopia is a point of resolution for a society in crisis, a society seemingly in a state of arrhythmia as defined in Rhythmanalysis. It aims to bring society back to a state of eurhythmia, a state of harmony and resonance. It exists as a culmination of the tension between capitalism and the push for justice, namely the need for a more egalitarian and inclusive society. Singapore, a city defined by codes and order, produces a textual language of its own. A well-constructed language as mentioned in The Order of Things is necessary to introduce the possibility of a constant order into the totality of representations. The constructed textual language is consolidated into a Book of Codes, used as a means of communication between the people and minor architects. With the interpretation of these representations of the textual into physical actions that contest the order, structures of power become undone. This proposal thus questions the pre-pandemic emphasis on capitalism and examines the role of coding in architectural design. In this post-pandemic era where changing global trends are reshaping the way in which people live, work and play, the Central Business District (CBD) is chosen as a site where a minor architecture is used to deconstruct underutilized office buildings. Such buildings are described as “content and ubiquitous; in appearance they refuse to acknowledge regional styles, climates or landscapes” (Stoner, 2012). Their arid language of mostly glass facades and steel structures makes them vulnerable to minor experiments as they can easily be deconstructed and diminished as if it were another kind of ‘natural’ resource. The CBD is thus likened to graveyards of the capital, which are “representative of the fields, forests and quarries of our present time”. In doing so, the segmentation and management of time brought about by the manifestation of the political ceases to exist and fluid time is given back to the people, liberating them. It is a place where visitors from all walks of life are invited to participate, representing a confluence of cultures that reflects a microcosm of Singapore’s multi-racial society. To complement the deconstruction process, reconfiguration of the multitude of floors within the office buildings will produce a new typology of public spaces. Where layers of vertical space which was once controlled by private corporations had very limited access, it can now be free and accessible for all. The juxtaposition of public spaces onto once privatized spaces further perpetuates the ambiguous nature of a ‘public space’. The function and programme of the spaces will be determined through participatory design, where the community will be involved in collaborative design processes to determine the type of spaces they envision these new spaces to have. Authorship is put into reverse, and the design process becomes editorial. Within the new typology, microcosmic systems of public spaces emerge, creating varied spatial experiences that facilitates a wide range of activities and interactions. These public spaces take precedence from landscapes present within the surrounding context, displacing them. The physical spaces within the microcosms become a ‘democratic resource’, acting as a ‘stage’ for social interactions and cultural practices through allowing for the mixing of people of different races and socio-economic backgrounds. Thus, the public spaces in itself becomes a communicative medium. In its totality, it is a catalyst for responses that seeks to mobilize and bring about change for the betterment of society and contributing to a larger Singaporean identity. This can only be achieved through the site that caters to the masses, containing spaces that bring forth experiences for all.

An Antidote for a society dominated by Symbolic Capital

The CBD is likened to graveyards of the capital, which are “representative of the fields, forests and quarries of our present time”

Book of Codes

The constructed textual language is consolidated into a Book of Codes, used as a means of communication between the people and minor architects. With the interpretation of these representations of the textual into physical actions that contest the order, structures of power become undone.

A Minor Architecture of Capitagreen: Microcosms of displaced landscapes

To complement the deconstruction process, reconfiguration of the multitude of floors within the office buildings will produce a new typology of public spaces. Where layers of vertical space which was once controlled by private corporations had very limited access, it can now be free and accessible for all.

Participatory Design

Authorship is put into reverse, and the design process becomes editorial.

Bibliography: Bremner, Lindsay and Till, Jeremy, A Cracking Read: Toward a Minor Architecture by Jill Stoner (2012), <https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/books/a-cracking-read-toward-a-minor-architecture-by-jill-stoner> [accessed 26 September 2020] Calvino, Italo, Invisible Cities (United States of America: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1974), pp. 69 Comaroff, Joshua, Built on Sand: Singapore and the New State of Risk (2020), <http://www.harvarddesignmagazine.org/issues/39/built-on-sand-singapore-and-the-new-state-of-risk> [accessed 14 August 2020] Fogarty, David, Cities step up bid for green pandemic recovery (2020), <https://www.straitstimes.com/world/cities-step-up-bid-for-green-pandemic-recovery> [accessed 14 August 2020] Foucault, Michel, The Order Of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences (London: Tavistock/ Routledge, 1970), pp. 136177 Hee, Limin, Constructing Singapore Public Space (Singapore: Springer, 2017), pp. 197-212 IPBES, Global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (2019), ed. By E.S. Brondizio, J.Settele,S. Diaz, and H.T.Ngo (Germany) Kiang, H.C, Liang, L.B, New Asian public space: Layered Singapore (Singapore: National Univeristy of Singapore, 2009) Kornhaber, David, The Birth of Theater from the Spirit of Philosophy (Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern Univeristy Press, 2016), pp. 46-50 Kwang, Kevin, Singapore society must maintain ‘informal and egalitarian tone’: PM Lee on tackling inequality (2018), <https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singaporesociety-must-maintain-informal-and-egalitarian-tone-pm-10239110>[accessed 12 September 2020] Lefebvre, Henri, Rhythmanalysis: Space, Time and Everyday Life (London/New York: Continuum, 2004), pp. 11, 14, 16, 46-50 Office for Metropolitan Architecture, Two Libraries For Jussieu University, Paris (Architectural Association School of Architecture, 1993) pp. 36-44 Pallasmaa, Juhani, The Eyes Of The Skin: Architecture and the Senses (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2005), pp. 26-34 Remizova, Olena, The Structure of The Architectural Language (Ukraine: Kharkov National University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, 2015), pp. 82-83 Schumacher, E.F, Small Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered (New York: HarperCollins, 1973) Spina, Danton.C, Confused Spaces: Theatricality as a Device for Defining Different Types of Public Space (United States of America: the Faculty of California Polytechnic State University, 2013), pp. 1-16 Stoner, Jill, Toward a minor architecture (United States of America: MIT Press, 2012), pp. 1-19, 38-39, 104-105 Subramanian, Samanth, How Singapore Is Creating More Land for Itself (2017), <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/20/magazine/how-singapore-is-creating-more-land-for-itself.html?auth=logingoogle1tap&login=google1tap> [accessed 14 August 2020] Vidal, John, The Rapid Decline of The Natural World Is A Crisis Even Bigger Than Climate Change (2019), <https://www.huffpost. com/entry/nature-destruction-climate-change-world-biodiversity_n_5c49e78ce4b06ba6d3bb2d44> [accessed 22 August 2020]

AN ALTERNATIVE SINGAPORE STORY OF LIVES & SITES CBD AMUSEMENT PARK: AMENITIES OF ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE NEXT CENTURY CHEN SIQI

OPEN WORK, CLOSED SITE, THE DECONSTRUCTION OF A CONSTRUCTED LANDSCAPE AS A MULTILAYERED HETEROTOPIA YIN MENGHUA

Open Work, Closed Site, The Deconstruction of a Constructed Landscape as a Multilayered Heterotopia Post-Pandemic Open structures and Upcycling Marina Bay Cruise Centre by Yin Menghua A0173422M

The practice of architectural design in this instance is approached via the arguments raised in Umberto Eco’s The Open Work (1989). The design proposal explores the theoretical notions of ‘openness’ through multiple interpretations that occur in issues of site, techniques of programming and user interventions. The process begins by critiquing existing predetermined readings of sites in Singapore, specifically sites of reclamation in the central business district (CBD). Hence in response to the notion of a fixed site, a system that prioritizes flexibility in programming through a range of scales is proposed for a post-pandemic context. Open work An ‘open work’, according to Eco, is incomplete by nature of its configuration and hence requires completing. The author of open works only hands over the components of a construction kit. The poetics emerge as the interpreter chooses for himself his own modes of approach and his own manner to set up the interpretation, and thus extend to the utmost degree his perceptual faculties. Explorations of The Open Work that begin with Alexander Calder’s mobile sculptures and readings of Baroque architecture is extended to modern architecture, in this instance, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion. These different interpretations and outcomes of ‘openness’ are employed as design strategies to formulate an architectural proposal that consequently reveals these ideas through a range of – S,M,L,XL – scales on the chosen site of the Marina Bay Cruise Centre. Closed site The notion of open work is simultaneously used to critique the rigidity of land use in Singapore, specifically the reclaimed sites in the central area. These sites of reclamation are symbolic of the state’s agenda of progress and, as it shifts its focus from one phase to another, constructs closedness and inequalities through mono-functional “islands” of infrastructure. With over-engineered forms and gigantic scales, these clusters reject any alternative interpretations and contributions afforded by an ordinary user, resulting in poor resilience when the external environment changes as demonstrated during the pandemic. The deconstruction of the constructed landscape As a counter to the fixed reading of site, an open structure is proposed at one of the most closed sites, the Marina Bay Cruise Center, a defunct building in the aftermath of the pandemics. Although sited at the waterfront, the Marina Bay Cruise Center invites only the cruise passengers and rejects any public use. The first step towards flexibility enabled the site to unbiasedly maintain its entertainment function and be transformed into an isolation facility when required.

Post-Pandemic Open structures and Upcycling Marina Bay Cruise Centre As opposed to the closedness of the cruise center, the components of the proposed open structure comprise of ambiguity, multiplicity, and incompleteness. It offers alternative readings across a spectrum of scales – from the smallest scale of a curtain, to the largest scale of the masterplan. At the Small scale, the reflectiveness and softness of specific material choices negates the fixed existence of the architectural elements. At the Medium scale, furniture units are dually designed as architectural partitions and means of enclosures so that users, through new arrangements, are empowered to construct their own spatial boundaries and experiences. At the Large scale, the state of the architecture is indeterminate and adaptable. In anticipation of future pandemics, the structures can be quickly converted to an isolation center. Exterior boundaries are set up but a certain level of user autonomy remains in the interior spaces. During normal conditions, they are sites of public leisure, at the same time offering routes into the entertainment facilities within the cruise for public enjoyment. Other than programmatic spaces, pockets of in-between spaces without intended functions are left for the creative interpretations on the part of the user. At the eXtra Large scale, the open structure enables alternative routes to experience the site. It spans from the cruise center to the leftover spaces at shore whereby the formerly closed site of high-end consumeristic entertainment is opened up as a part of a public waterfront. Hence the land is given back to the people. The structure, as a piece of open work, juxtaposes the fixedness of Marina Bay Cruise Center. Being ambiguous and incomplete, it can be approached by anyone in any desired manner. It is up to the user to decide how the story unfolds within.

Open Work

The Traffic Light

The Art Work

The Open Work

Examples of Open Work in the Field of Art and Architecture

Open Work

Movement and Multiplicity in the Calder’s Mobile Sculptures

Barcelona Pavilion as the theatre

Barcelona Pavilion as the landscape garden

Barcelona Pavilion as paradoxical asymmetries Reflectiveness and the sense of mystery

Asymmetrical symmetries & Abstract specificity

Multiple routes and open circulation

Barcelona Pavilion in relation to Open Work

Multitude of readings and contestations

Closed Site

Land reclamation as a closed form of development

Post-Pandemic Open Structures and Upcycling Marina Bay Cruise Centre

Steel

Glass

Fabric

String

S - Material ambiguity - reflectiveness, softness and dynamism

M - Movement of architectural elements and multiplicity

Steel Frame Glass Wall

Steel Frame Curved Glass Wall

Marble Wall Glass Panel

Steel Frame Glass Wall

Steel Frame Plastic Chair

Steel Frame ETFE Membrane

Translucent Fabric

Opaque Fabric

Steel Frame Glass Panel Cable Connection

M - Movement of architectural elements and multiplicity

As Isolation Facility

As Public Theatre

L - Alternative intepretations of architecture

As Isolation Facility

As Public Theatre

L - Alternative intepretations of architecture

L - Multiple routes and open circulation

As Isolation Facility 1 MRT Station 2 Test Centre 3 Waiting Zones 4 Isolation Ward 5 Recovery Exit

2 1

XL - Alternative intepretations of site

As Public Leisure 1 MRT Station 2 Visitor Centre 3 Market / Cafe / Fishing Station 4 Public Theatre 5 Cruise Entertainment 6 Flea Market 7 Indoor Concert 8 Water Sports Station

2 1