B.A. (ARCH) LEVEL 5: DENSITY | URBANISM | PUBLICNESS. SELECTED WORKS. by NUSDoA2022

YEAR 3 LEVEL 5 COMPILATION OF SELECTED WORKS

2020/2021 B.A. (ARCH) LEVEL 5

DENSITY

URBANISM

PUBLICNESS

IMAGE CREDIT: REBECCA CHONG

LEVEL 5: Density, Urbanism, Publicness The Covid-19 pandemic has uprooted our lives on a global scale. Cities are locked down for an extended period, and their inhabitants told to stay home. These unprecedented social restrictions are counter to our way of life, and careful considerations now intercede everyday interactions that we took for granted before the pandemic. Y3S1 Design 5 theme of DENSITY, URBANISM AND PUBLICNESS? is an opportune moment to critically reexamine our current understanding of these terms in the age of pandemics. New ideas and formulations of DENSITY will emerge as cities grapple with the spread of the coronavirus. Our interactions with each other, and the built environment have also been severely altered, and post-Covid-19 URBANISM may never be the same. On the other hand, PUBLICNESS as the presentation of public self and the display of belonging and sociability has largely migrated to cyberspace, fragmented into small groups and conducted at a safe distance. Nonetheless, we are biologically hot-wired as social and emotional beings. The creative way Italians sing from their balconies to defy social isolation and reaffirm solidarity as a people are undeniable evidence of our longing to be together. “The catch is that, even when life eventually returns to normal, it will not be the same normal we were used to before the outbreak: things we were used to as part of our daily life will no longer be taken for granted; we’ll have to learn to live a much more fragile life with constant threats lurking just behind the corner.” -Slavoj Zizek. Monitor and Punish? Yes Please! Ar. Thomas Kong Year 3 Co-Leader, Unit 1 Leader Dr. Zdravko Trivic Year 3 Co-Leader, Unit 2 Leader

2019/2020 B.A. (ARCH) LEVEL 5

Unit 1: Ar. Thomas Kong (Year 3 Co-Leader, Unit 1 Leader) Ms. Jacqueline Yeo Ms Jaxe Pan Ar. Lee Tat Haur* (Landscape Emphasis) Unit 2: Dr Zdravko Trivic (Year 3 Co-Leader, Unit 2 Leader) Mr. Dean Chew Ar. Khoo Peng Beng Mr. Roy Pang Unit 3: Mr. Bobby Wong Chong Thai (Unit 3 Leader) Mr Steven Hsun Lee* (Landscape Emphasis) Ar. Richard Ho Ar. Ronald Lim *Landscape Emphasis Lecturer Mr. Kenya Endo Senior Lecturer Mr. Tan Chun Liang Terrence

URBAN STUDIO ARCHITECTURE AND THE CITY IN THE AGE OF PANDEMICS 1. INTRODUCTION Architects play a significant role in the design of safe, healthy, inclusive, diverse and equitable spaces. The power of design to influence behavioural change cannot be underestimated. It is ever more vital in a public health crisis, especially for the vulnerable members of society. Throughout history, architects were at the forefront of the design of healthier cities and buildings. Le Corbusier saw the trinity of sunlight, air and greenery as a solution to overcrowding and the poor hygiene of cities. Similarly, Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City movement sought to provide the working class in the U.K. with a healthy living environment by designing satellite towns surrounded by green belts. In Singapore, the beloved hawker centres bring street hawkers together in a space with proper cooking and washing facilities to raise cleanliness and hygiene levels. The Covid-19 pandemic is a spatial and material challenge. Whether it is maintaining a distance of one metre in Singapore to avoid aerosol transmission of the coronavirus, enforcing self- isolation, designing for controlled access circulation and natural ventilation in a building or minimising hightouch surfaces and overcrowding in public spaces, these are design challenges that architects are well placed to meet. In this semester, the studios will research, investigate and design future scenarios of new and modified spatial typologies and experiences at different timeframes that enable us to still live, socialise and thrive in times of containment and quarantine. By proposing the outcomes as scenarios, the goal is to reframe architectural design towards multiple scales and to speculate how buildings, structures, open spaces and objects form a sociocultural, ecological, economic and technological network that will strengthen or redefine urbanism in a pandemic age. The implementation schedule of the market-ready, near future and far future provides a staggered timeframe for students to assess and guide the possible implementation of the designed scenarios. It is inadmissible to remain untouched by the scale, gravity and immensity of hardships and ruins caused by Covid-19. However, the period of human absence has also brought about significant changes to the environment. Wild life reemerged, skies that were once polluted have cleared while scientists have even discovered that the Earth vibrates less as a result of the reduction of human and vehicular traffic. Design 5 is therefore a timely platform for the collective design intelligence of students and tutors to imagine and posit scalable spaces of care, resilience and sociability in the age of pandemics. As Marco Polo reminded the Great Khan on how to escape from the infernal city in Italo Calvino’s Invisible City, it is up to us as caretakers of cities to “...seek and learn to recognise who and what, in the midst of the inferno, are not inferno, then make them endure, give them space.” ___________________________________________________

2. SITE

The Balestier planning subzone (part of Novena planning area) is the testbed for future-oriented architectural and urban scenarios. It comprises a wide range of building types, uses and densities. Public and private residential buildings are intermixed with places of worship, retail and commercial spaces, hotels, eating places, multi-storey factories, schools and a bus terminal. Healthcare facilities are located both within and adjacent to the boundary. The Urban Redevelopment Authority has also identified several well-known shops and culturally significant buildings along Balestier Road, which was designated as a heritage trail in 2011. On the other hand, Whampoa in the north-east has an ageing population with different socioeconomic groups living together, and new immigrants intermingling among residents of over forty years. The selection of the Balestier area provides an excellent opportunity for the units and studios to identify and shape their creative interpretations and responses to the challenges set out in the design brief. _______________________________________________________________________________________

3. URBAN STUDY AND RAPID DESIGN RESPONSE The rapid design response is an introductory assignment that encourages fast ideation and prototyping in a collective effort to address life in the age of pandemics. Students form teams and collaborate in an online emergency thinking and design exercise that will result in compelling design propositions at a small architectural scale (or scales) and implementation schedule determined by the respective units. The ethos of a rapid design (or tactical urbanism in AR2333) response is to be quick, nimble, resourceful, adaptable and collaborative to achieve the team’s mission. The five stages of a rapid design response are Observe, Empathise, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test (refer also to Lydon and Garcia, 2015). During this initial stage (Week 1-4), the studio will be aligned with AR3223 Introduction to Urbanism. The module will support the collection and analysis of data pertinent to specific spatial typologies and spatio-temporal scales in pre-, during and post- pandemic conditions. Desktop research and on-site investigations will help articulate the rapid design response(s) and speculate on future scenarios. _______________________________________________________________________________________

4. ARCHITECTURE AS BUILDING AND NETWORK OF SCENARIOS

In accordance with the respective unit’s interpretation of the year’s design challenge, students work individually on a future-oriented project that responds to the themes of density, urbanism and publicness in the age of pandemics. The design will be visually communicated through a series of riveting scenarios that possess foresight and imagination. It will demonstrate with understanding, empathy and sensitivity how the design is part of an interdependent sociocultural, economic and technological network of human and non-human lives. New data and research from the AR3233 module will complement the spatial and urban mappings. Students are encouraged to review, expand and incorporate ideas developed in the Rapid Design Response assignment in Stage 1. It is recommended that the building has a GFA in the range of 2000-3000sqm, but the size can be deviated based on the ideas of the individual students. _______________________________________________________________________________________

5. LEARNING OBJECTIVES Design 5 will examine, speculate and propose new forms of density, urbanism and publicness through questioning and unfolding specific spatial typologies in the Balestier planning subzone as a response to the challenge of designing for an age of pandemics. In this context, specific Design 5 expectations include: - Developing abilities to conduct systematic urban analysis of the site and specific typologies of public amenities at different spatio-temporal scales to identify and examine critical issues, discourses, potentials and challenges in the age of pandemics. - Boosting the capacity to articulate rapid architectural design in response to a network of sociocultural, ecological, economic and technological urban conditions identified through urban/discourse analysis. - To examine, re-examine and deploy density in the promotion of health and wellbeing in a pandemic age. - To understand, question and reframe/speculate publicness and sociability in the “new normal” of a pandemic age. - Enabling collaborative efforts towards meaningful synthesis, translation and articulation of design scenarios. - Building ability to thorough and comprehensive independent mid-size architectural design development and refinement through thoughtful iteration, critical reflection and self-assessment. - Developing skills in sensible and informative use of analogue and digital tools, advanced projective drawing and model making in the depiction, communication and narration of design scenarios and architectural ideas. - Utilising social media as a collective archival platform to reflect and share ideas on density, urbanism and publicness in addition to conventional modes of presentation. In summary, the specific expectations aim to facilitate the application of learning objectives in studio through: quality of site/discourse analysis/understanding; quality of synthesis and rapid design response(s); critical re-examination and careful refinement of initial idea(s) (process); quality of final architectural design and presentation (visual and verbal); and active engagement in sharing (in studio and through social media). These are also the guiding criteria for the overall assessment of work produced in Design 5, collectively and individually. _______________________________________________________________________________________

UNIT 1 BRIEF Form Follows Health and Well-being: Architecture and the City in the Age of Pandemics Preamble The Covid-19 pandemic is an unprecedented health crisis. It has underscored the importance of designing for health and well-being in our cities. The World Health Organisation defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” [1] The broad definition opens up opportunities for architects to reimagine existing public spaces and buildings by examining conventional understanding of DENSITY, URBANISM and PUBLICNESS as we transition to a “slow-burn” pandemic. Health and well-being are inseparable from the natural and designed environments. It is an alliance that is conjoined, symbiotic and traverses across different scales. Materials we use for our buildings, products designed for our daily activities and public spaces around our neighbourhoods are critical components that will either advance or hinder our individual and collective health and well-being. Students from Unit 1 will learn and apply systematic research, ideation and design methods to transform observation, experimentation and prototyping into innovative design solutions for Whampoa residents of all ages under one of the following categories- Community, Housing, Mobility. Context The Whampoa housing estate in the north-east of the Novena planning district will be the context. Named after the district in China where the prominent businessman Hoo Ah Kay came from, Whampoa has an ageing population with different socioeconomic groups living together, and new immigrants intermingling with residents of over forty years. A private school, a bus terminal, an industrial estate, the Whampoa community club, a mosque, a market and a hawker centre are some of the buildings nestled among the residential buildings and open spaces. The Whampoa river cuts across the housing estate and occasionally one can find individuals or small groups lingering or fishing along the river banks.

[1] World Health Organisation. (1948.). Constitution. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/ about/who-we-are/constitution

UNIT 2 BRIEF Searching for Synergies: Hybrid Re:Connectors

Preamble: The ‘Normal’. In his Rhythmanalysis: Space, Time and Everyday Life, French philosopher and sociologist Henri Lefebvre (2004) describes an approach of uncovering the multiple rhythms of everyday life. He suggests that there are numerous polyrhythms that exist in an environment simultaneously. Depending on their mutual relationship, polyrhythms create the states of eurhythmias and arrhythmias. Eurhythmia refers to a condition whereby individual rhythms unite with one another into the state of health, the normal and the normed – a harmony. Arrhythmia, on the other hand, represents the state of illness and disorder – a pathological state of disharmony, due to discordances and clashes between different rhythms. In such a conceptualisation, physical space, time, people and everyday practices are understood as inseparable dynamic wholes. The ‘New (ab)Normal’. Pandemic, on the other hand, represents an “alien incident” that causes short- or long-term arrhythmias by infiltrating itself into all segments and agents of built and social environment, from the most intimate personal level to a shared public sphere. According to World Health Organisation (2007), health is described as a “state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely an absence of disease and infirmity”. Therefore, with or without pandemics, built environment should take an active role not only in treating and mitigating illness and prevention but also in triggering, catalysing and actively promoting healthful outcomes. Architecture is, however, traditionally seen as “rigid” and slow in adopting to new (unprecedented) conditions. On the other hand, rapid advancement in development of novel technologies, for instance (such as AR, MR or VR), offers new means of user-to-space and people-to-people he Hybrid. Borrowing from the genetics, Joseph Fenton (1985) described the concept of architectural hybridisation as a process in which different forms, functions and users converge in a synergetic and mutually enriching manner, giving rise to new “superior species”. He identified three types of hybrids. ‘Fabric hybrids’ are derived directly from the structure and its correspondence to immediate urban context. ‘Graft hybrids’ represent combinations of different urban forms that articulate different functions they house. ‘Monolith hybrids’ merge different programmes under the unified skin in often unexpected and mutually dependant ways. Process of hybridisation, however, possesses the risk of creating sterility and mere coexistence, leading to ‘mixing for the sake of mixing’ and “false hybrids” (e.g. mixed-use developments). True hybridisation requires greater interaction between structural and programming facets of a “building”, their mutual intensification and activation of the surrounding context.

Project: Predominant strategies to mitigate the presence of pandemic have generated deep disconnection from both built and social environment, causing fear and limited ability to go out, to share and socialise, touch, hug, smell. It also turned numerous public amenities into dis-amenities. Can we envision new architectural ways of re-connecting? How can we enrich architecture’s capacity to turn barriers and confrontations into fertile synergies? By what architectural means can we transform defence mechanisms into adaptable, customisable and safe personal and societal pro-active health enablers? In this studio, you will explore architectural articulations of polyrhythms, infiltration and hybridisation. You will examine strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and capacities of unpacking and enhancing an existing public amenity/typology (e.g., market, community club, bus terminal) in order to generate new synergetic design outcomes in response to the pandemics. While there is a GFA cap of 2,000-3,000m2, there will be no pre-determined programme. Instead, your key programme(s) will be informed by the selected amenity and its network, as well as specific issue(s) and spatial and functional opportunities (eurhythmias and arrhythmias) observed on site. Through rapid design response exercise and spatio-temporal scenario(s), you will develop an architectural project that can fully function in pre-, during and post- pandemic conditions. Site: Your specific site will be carefully determined by the choice of amenity, identified spatial and functional opportunities and the overall strategy/scenario in response to polyrhythms, infiltration and hybridisation demands.

UNIT 3 BRIEF The Quasi-Objects: HUMAN and/versus NATURE Preamble This project centered on pandemics helps to surface the very problematic on the notion of Humans and their relationship with Nature. Since the 1600s, Humans began to differentiate themselves from Nature. They increasingly look at nature as the “out there” as a place of origin to which they had once belonged but from which they had escaped. Nature now became the dominion of animals and plants, the dominion of the non-human. Prior to this idea taking hold, during the antiquity and the Middle Ages, Aristotle’s thoughts prevailed. Humans understood themselves to be at home in a God-given nature-cosmos where all things had a clearly defined place and function. Humans too: They were a natural thing among other natural things, an entry among entries in the great chain of being. And so, in this chain of being, man’s function through what was endowed to him, the faculty of reasoning, was to think and participate in the divine thought that organized the cosmos of which politics was part of. However, a rupture occurred in the 17th Century. Politics and nature underwent radical transformation. In Leviathan, Hobbes suggested in direct contradiction to the Antiquity’s state of politics and the state of nature that the two are mutually exclusive. Consider the inversion. In antiquity, humans had been animals among animals. They were special – rational – animals, but their capacity to reason did not set them apart from nature. It merely distinguished them from other animals: for the animals other than man are subservient not to reason but to instinctive untamed immediacy of passions and needs. Here, though Hobbes and Aristotle are in agreement that only humans are endowed with reason, Aristotle’s reason merely defined the place of Humans in nature. Hobbes thought otherwise. In Hobbes’ scheme of things, Human capacity to reason was what set humans apart from nature; very different from Aristotle’s. This gap between the political and nature is further exacerbated in the 18th Century. Humans saw themselves as the active force in having the language or the categories to understand the world. And in so doing, reduced and objectified Nature to become an empirical field to be studied. At this historical. Based on what I have enunciated, for the studio, I would suggest a response to the proposition that no matter how much the boundaries between nature and humans have blurred, herd immunization is not the answer. And if the freestanding human is an illusion and there is still a place for the shelter-in-place policy as there are to keep the borders shut from viruses, foreigners and animals, the shedding of the “not-self” from self, then how and in what manner and degree can architects and urbanists do in order to accommodate Serres and Latour’s ideas such that the modern (Copernican) differentiation machine (separation between Humans and Nature) be curtailed.

THE COMMON HEIGHTS KEE CHEOW YAN STUDIO THOMAS KONG

01 THE COMMON HEIGHTS -DESIGNING FOR SPATIAL COMMONS IN WHAMPOA HEIGHTS-

NUS ARCHITECTURE, B.A. (ARCH) 3 SEMESTER 1, AY2020/2021 TUTOR: AR. THOMAS KONG Since the pandemic and the consequential implementation of safety measures, the

social

exclusion,

and

isolation

these

residents

have

worsened

drastically. There is also a lack of proper social infrastructure in place to accommodate the de-territorialisation of the human workforce and existing amenities, adversely affecting the physical and psychological well-being of the residents. This project seeks to redefine the rental housing typology by redefining the role of lift lobbies as merely transition spaces. It reimagines the common lift lobby as a system of intergenerational social spaces that forms part of a larger network within the precinct. Through the de-densification of existing communal hubs, curating flexible and diverse spaces for mutual interests, and changing public perceptions of rental flats, this project achallenges the three main themes of Density, Urbanism, and Publicness.

choice of site background and context

In our capitalist society fuelled by productivity and growth, our social class is often defined by the significance of our economic contributions.

While public housing in singapore initially started as a means of housing the poor, the lower-income group within singapore eventually split into “low-income” and “very-low income”. the latter term refers to the bottom 5% of the population by income. It seems the stragglers who fail to keep up are inevitably herded into rental housing.

The residents within these flats are inherently excluded and isolated from the rest of society due to the differences in socioeconomic status, family and educational backgrounds, and access to amenities within the area. This social concern is why I have chosen to focus on Whampoa Heights as the site for my design.

technical drawings programmatic distribution

Looking back at the needs of the 4 identified users, the social

spaces

created

each

floor

have

activities

that correspond to each one of them, providing vertical connectivity opportunity interact.

between for

floors

residents

and

also

different

providing interests

the to

design opportunities areas of focus and intervention

Density is a prevalent issue within the rental flats due to the large number of residents residing within each household and within the block. The focus on mass housing has led to the lack of open spaces crucial for socialising and community bonding. By clearing the two units and the stair well in front of the primary lift lobby a vertical system of social spaces with programmes corresponding to needs of the residents can be introduced. This allows horizontal and vertical distribution of social activities to avoid crowding and provides open air spaces for the residents. Also, by changing the materiality of the existing lift shaft from concrete to glass, we also introduce ventilation and sunlight within the block.

design intervention reimagining public rental housing

The intervention is a continuous wooden frame that folds, twists and turns within the block to curate various spatial qualities

and

activities.

The

intervention

serves

placemaker for residents within the precinct and acts as an indicator of activity.

Beyond

creating

communities

within

each

block,

the

intervention also seeks to foster inter block communities via an open-air roof network which connects the three blocks within the precinct. The rooftop provides fitness equipment, playgrounds, gardening plots and also open-air seating areas for socialising. This creates a new way of life within rental flats and sustains community resilience against current and future pandemics and this system can also be applied to other existing flats in the site.

The increased connectivity, porosity and transparency of the blocks also promotes communal activity instead of self-isolation. From the exterior, the formal expression of the monotonous and cluttered flats is broken through the introduction of spaces for activities and interests. It also changes the perception of rental flat dwellers as stragglers and burdens to society by creating attracting nodes within the estate for members of the public to visit.

intra-block communities lift lobbies as areAS FOR DWELLING

Within the flat, the increased porosity of the lift shaft allows every resident travelling within to be visually engaged by the activity within each floor as he heads upwards. This encourages residents in the lift to visit dwell longer at the lift lobby whilst also acts as a deterrence for unlawful acts within the lift.

A NEW HAWKER CENTRE TYPOLOGY SHARLENE SOW STUDIO JACQUELINE YEO

AN INQUIRY INTO A HAWKER CENTRE TYPOLOGY

With the heightened cautiousness of cleanliness due to the pandemic, are the facilities in the current hawker centres sufficient? The project re-imagines what a hawker centre in Singapore can be. By bringing the back-of-house to the center of the building and manipulating circulation paths of users on different scales, the revamped Whampoa Makan Place aims to create a more visible boundary between the clean and dirty. The project started with identifying underlying issues with the existing Whampoa Makan Place. At first glance, it becomes apparent that the services and back-of-house requirements seems to be an afterthought in the design and planning. Touchpoint analysis further supplemented this observation. With the key issue identified, the design took off with an intuitive approach, by carving form through ideas from the site studies, such as programmatic arrangement, circulation paths, nodes and existing site context. After which, a more rational approach is taken to resolve the space at various scales, with circulation used as a key driver. starting from the site scale right down to a micro scale where the non-structural elements define the different groups of users using the space.

SITE INVESTIGATIONS

THE NEW TYPOLOGY

RATIONALIZING DESIGN PROCESS

LEVEL 1 FLOOR PLAN

LEVEL 2 FLOOR PLAN

LEVEL 3 FLOOR PLAN

BUILDING SECTIONS

EXPLODED AXONOMETRIC

MAMA SHOP PROJECT HAU WEN HUI STUDIO JAXE PAN

M A MA S H OP PROJ E CT The pandemic has definitely made an impact to our lifestyle and we have to consider how will the ongoing and post pandemic experience impact our current understanding and perception of density,urbanism and publicness. Hence, Mama Shop Project aims to look at opportunities to re-design existing mama shop typology in Whampoa, utilising the value of community spirit that comes with it. I was interested to look at the Mama Shop typology as I was able to chance upon a few of them during my site study in Whampoa neighbourhood. It is still frequently visited by the elderly especially in the old neighbourhood such as Whampoa estate. I believe that Mama Shop has the potential in this Pandamic era in Singapore than what is up and coming, like the vending machine, due to the values to the community (human touch, personalised services, community spirit). As a result, using the Mama Shop typology, I strive to strike a balance, achieving crowd-control yet at the same time ensuring that we are not creating isolation. My aim for Mama Shop Project is for it to be able to grow with the neighbourhood through different phases not only in terms of the commerce aspect, but also its community spirit and identity.

CLOSE-TO HOME

ACCESSIBLE

WHAMPOA, BALESTIER

CATCHMENT AREA FOR GROCERY SHOPPING CHOICES

TYPOLOGY STUDY GROCERY SUPPLY CHAIN

USER TOUCHPOINT MAP

POTENTIAL SITE FOR INTERVENTION

Four main users are being selected and studied so as to accurately identify their needs. The user touchpoints are being mapped surrounding Whampoa to understand their daily activities. With that, I was able to deduce the kind of

programs needed to be provided within the neighbourhood itself. Through the touchpoint map, I was also able to identify potential site for intervention.

KIT-OF-PARTS APPROACH

SOCIAL SPACES

AMENITIES

Designing for different scenarios, the kits-of-parts approach allows flexibility for adaptation in terms of programs and retail types. Different design and specific characteristics are incorporated into the

individual kits based on the level of openness needed for the social spaces and amenities. Green facades are also considered.

KIT-OF-PARTS APPROACH RETAIL

In terms of the retail design, three kinds of retail type are designed to fit into the three different scenarios identified. These retails ,different from the traditional mama shops, are made with glass facade allowing more visual connectivity even before physically stepping into the shop. This

allows the congestion and crowd to be controlled in the shop, ensuring socialdistancing at times of pandemic. This also allows the retail to have greater social connectivity with the surrounding social spaces, ensuring that they are not isloated.

IMPLEMENTATION SYSTEM: APPROACH A PLAYGROUND SCENARIO Playground, already acting as a gathering space in the neighbourhood for children, parents as well as elderly, can be a potential intervention site utilising approch A. The mama shop that is being set up thus can

focus on their target audiences, selling snacks and drinks for the children. Hence, the retail type does not have to be too large in size.

PHASE 3:

PHASE 1:

PHASE 2:

Playground Scenario Ground Floor Plan

Playground Scenario Roof Plan

Playground Scenario Front Elevation

IMPLEMENTATION SYSTEM: APPROACH A PARK-CONNECTOR SCENARIO Location outside of the neighbourhood that is frequent by the users can also allow mama shop to thrive. The park-connector is also identified to be a potential site, focusing on serving the users that are

excercising around the area. Similarly, the retail type can be relatively smaller in size, serving as an extension of the amenities and social spaces.

PHASE 3: PHASE 1:

PHASE 2:

Park Connector Scenario Ground Floor Plan

Park Connector Scenario Roof Plan

Park Connector Scenario Front Elevation

IMPLEMENTATION SYSTEM: APPROACH B CAR PARK SCENARIO In the car park scenario, the mama shop serve as the primary driver in the area. Since it targets more users, it has the largest product range, selling more basic necessities, dry food as well as fresh food.

Naturally, the retail type is also larger, allowing roof garden as well as drive through services, catering to the nature of a car park.

PHASE 1: Drive through mama shop being introduced to the carpark at the neighbourhood.

PHASE 2: After time as relationships are formed, community spaces can be introduced.

PHASE 3: After the community spaces become more developed, these pods can then morph based on the user’s needs and preferences. As a result, the mama shop will also be benefited, becoming the landmark and gethering space of the neighbourhood.

IMPLEMENTATION SYSTEM: APPROACH B CAR PARK SCENARIO

Car Park Scenario Ground Floor Plan

Car Park Scenario Roof Plan

My aim for new proposed mama shop typology is for it to be able to grow with the neighbourhood through different phases not only in terms of the commerce aspect, but also its community spirit and identity.

FOOD-CONNECT CHLOE LAU JIA YEE STUDIO LEE TAT HAUR

FOOD-CONNECT FORGING COMMUNAL TIES THROUGH THE COMMUNITY FOOD LAB Food-Connect is a platform where people from all walks of life are brought together. Regardless of all differences, our topophilia or memory of Whampoa will always be related to food. Therefore, FoodConnect serves as the new Whampoa CC where residents where communal ties are forged through the engaging and educational programmes offered. Food-Connect aims to provide not only a Farm-to-Table experience, but an all encompassing experience of the food cycle from the from the production, or agriculture, to the eventual composting. Key spaces include, community farming where residents will come together to grow their own vegetables, flexible storage areas which can be transformed into Farmers’ markets, community kitchens and bakery, Food Technology room which houses the 3D food printing technology as well as the waste composting area where portable water and fertilisers can be retrieved from our food waste.

While the community club is strategically located at the intersection between Northern and Southern Whampoa and the river, it is mainly used for transient, utilitarian activities rather than as a specific destination for prolonged and meaningful communal activities. The master plan endeavours to improve the well-being of the community by envisioning to Whampoa residents more locational choices where mingling can occur safely. The proposed nodal network seeks to connect existing disjointed facilities that are scattered throughout whampoa and decentralise the CC’s facilities to the existing vacant greens to revitalise the Whampoa community.

Masterplan Extension

Facilities Mapping

Intersections Mapping

Circulation Mapping

Proposed Masterplan for Whampoa

Existing Whampoa CC

A’

Site Plan

A Section A-A’

Roof Plan

B’

Zoning Plan

A’

Rooftop Green Thread Storage Area (Temporary farmer’s market)

Terraced Steps overlooking Open Green Space

Community Kitchen and Farm

B Section B-B’ Section B-B’

Storage Area (Temporary Workshops)

Food Technology Area

B’

1 Identifying existing frontages and circulation routes

2 Decentralising CC facilities based on ribbon strips obtained

3 Identification of other ribbon strips based on site

4 Programmatic zoning based on existing ribbon strips

5 Considering human scale and combining various ribbon strips into a single building

Concept Diagrams

South-West elevation

North-West elevation

North-East elevation

South-East elevation

Elevations

Perspective of Community Kitchen and Adjacent Spaces during Mid-Autumn Festival

Perspective of Storage Area during Farmer’s arket

Perspective of Rooftop Garden Thread

Concept Models exploring Intersection between different Ribbon Strips based on Site Conditions

Iterations

Model Showing Ground Floor and Rooftop

Site Model

Community Kitchen with Foldable Glass Doors

RECLAIMING OUR OLFACTION NG JIAN YUAN STUDIO ZDRAVKO TRIVIC

Reclaiming Our Olfaction The diminishing role of our senses by the tyranny of sight has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic through the innate fear of pathogen spread. Masks inhibit our smell and speech, we avoid touching shared surfaces and social distancing rules restrict human interaction. These limitations restrict our perception of space to the predominant sense of sight, severely diminishing our sensorial experience of space through the combined used of aural, olfaction and haptic senses. The premise of this project therefore attempts to reclaim the use of such senses, focusing primarily on olfaction as a impetus to investigate how Whampoa Makan Place can retain its function during a pandemic age. How can our sense of smell detect the danger of a pandemic? What would COVID-19 smell like such that we can avoid it? A primary symptom of COVID-19, anosmia (loss of smell), was identified as the smell of a danger, where the inability to detect scents indicated a danger of being infected. The subsequent curation of a smellscape where the olfactory senses of users would be stimulated became the premise of the project, where such a smellscape highlighting different smells as users pass through could become a form of diagnosis in a pandemic through constant olfactory stimulation. This is achieved through the unveiling of the processes of the hawker centre, both pleasant or foul smelling. The smell of processes like food disposal and composting alongside smells of cooked food and herbs allow patrons to register novel smells that refresh their olfaction and navigate the smellscape with clarity. Regulation of air flow within the hawker centre also allows fresh air to circulate, a condition of paramount importance when dealing with an airborne pandemic. The proposed hawker centre therefore becomes a space of diagnosis and safety during a pandemic, reflecting its essentiality as an amenity and allows its continued function in a pandemic age.

Processes Exposure of various processes like farming and disposing in the hawker centre creates a cyclical rhythm whereby such processes are highlighted to the users instead of relegating them to the periphery. The introduction of perceived good and bad smells at certain points thus allow for a network of smells to be created. Placed at mapped areas of dense human traffic, the perception of bad smells can create a net decentralisation where patrons want to avoid the bad smells. Disposing, farming and composting are examples of perceived foul-smelling activities that are adjacent to eating areas. Exposure of such processes allow users to understand the underlying network of processes that keep a hawker centre running.

Apart from the introduction of smells, these processes repurpose food waste into useful by-products like biogas that is used for cooking and carbon dioxide for plant growth. Fertiliser produced from both processes is reused in farming, which would be harvested by hawkers for their own cooking. The cyclical rhythm created addresses the growing issue of food security highlighted by the pandemic in Singapore, warranting the need for food sustainability to be tackled within amenities like hawker centres.

The final processes of exhausting and introduction of fresh air is crucial in tackling an airborne pandemic. A network of roof forms that regulate air flow allows for the safe usage of the hawker centre in a pandemic, where exhaled and potentially dirty air can be removed swiftly. Through the introduction of novel smells and regulation of air working in tandem to curate a new smellscape within the hawker centre, it allows the hawker centre to continue essential functions even during a pandemic.

Interstitial Spaces Architectural interventions located at identified points of high human density to create differential experiences from the hawker centre as patrons pass through the spaces. Interventions at these points are purging spaces that refresh the olfaction senses of patrons through introduction of fresh air and smells of herb, before they re-enter into spaces with a dominant smell of food. This allows the olfaction senses to be stimulated by novel scents once again, countering the effects of smell fatigue to allow users to perceive the smellscape with heightened clarity.

SUN VERY HOT REBECCA CHONG STUDIO DEAN CHEW

BALESTIER The research group begun with the observation that there exists two realities in Balestier: a Balestier Road teeming with harried pedestrians transiting about and through the area; and situated parallel to this was a quiet canal, that offered a much needed reprieve from the restless energy of Balestier Road. Balestier Road and Whampoa River (as we discovered it was named) are not only directionally parallel however, but as well as in terms of connectivity. These two parallel universes were tenuously linked by minor channels that were unwelcoming to the wanderer, less public due to the abundance of private, gated communities that dominated their streetscapes. It is unlikely that we would have walked these channels as they were either “not fun”, “too hot”, or we just had “no reason what”. To bring people to Whampoa River as well as create an interest in the pockets of urbanism hidden along these minor channels, we sought to focus on amenities of comfort in the area, de-densifying Balestier Road.

THE EXISTING KIM KEAT I chose to focus on elements of shade within the Kim Keat neighbourhood. The exisitng Kim Keat neighbourhood is hostile to the curious wanderer- its roads are unsheltered, its alleyways lack any tangible programmatic qualities or elements of comfort (a ledge to sit on or lean on, anything that would suggest that one is welcome to use the space). Only the occassional Kim Keat denizen knows to traverse the alleyways as an alternative to the already congested major channels that are Balestier and Kim Keat Road. However, looking past the perceived hostility and barrenness of the alleys, their deep street canyons shelter the space, creating a thermally comfortable walking experience. Into the unknown?

KIM KEAT x INTERVENTION The abundance of private property means that to naturally justify the insertion of shelters or elements of comfort in the area, these designs must present a positive spillover effect for neighbouring homeowners. The intervention begins with small scale insertions into the space that draw private activity out of the confines of one’s house into the alleyways, prompting residents to take better care of these spaces, most likely by sheltering them, so as to fully activate the streets for their own use. In Typology D, a more proactive approach to shelter the alley is adopted, in order for the space to be further activated later on. Backstreet’s back alright!

KIM KEAT x 5 YEARS The de facto upgrading of the alleyways into secondary paths about Kim Keat means that it becomes easier to propose a new hierarchy of spaces what was previously the “back side” of a building becomes an alternative front face, or at least a side worth looking at. This perpetuates the cycle of the alleyways becoming more traversed, resulting in the programmes of buildings orientating more towards said alleyways, further increasing the attractiveness of the alleys, so on and so forth. Back side best side...?

KIM KEAT x 10 YEARS 10 years later, and the street hierarchy has been revised. For instance, what was once a back alley in Typology A becomes a proper entrance-way. This does not mean, however, that the main roads of Kim Keat and Balestier become neglected, but rather, part of their traffic is redirected to the previously undertraversed alleyways. In the long run this means a naturally de-densified network, making social distancing almost second nature, and less like a policy that needs to be implemented with copious amounts of tape and surveillance. Or maybe it just means we keep a healthier distance from each other in the first place. And that’s a win for the introverts!!

EXISTING

0 + EXISTING x INTERVENTION

TYPOLOGY PROCESS

YEARS LATER

EXISTING

EXISTING x INTERVENTION

TYPOLOGY PROCESS

YEARS LATER

10 YEARS LATER

Model for Typology A’s immediate intervention. Typology A is defined by a wide alleyway (in the context of this project, wider is defined as more than 2 meters), with a wide buildable area. In this case, it allows for storage shed like extensions to be placed along the alley, transforming the alley into an extension of the house as a result. The alley as it is is already used as an informal storagepoint for bicycles and bikes, with this storage shed extension responds to that existing programme. The balcony extension builds on the existing house profile, offering extra space to the owner of the second floor unit whilst sheltering the alley.

YGGDRASIL LIM WEN JIE STUDIO KHOO PENG BENG

YGGDRASIL CONNECTING REALMS LIM WEN JIE Building on the theme of the holonarchy, the overall scheme attempts to divide Balestier into smaller self-sufficient wards. These wards operate as holons on a localised level. They also take on the character of a situationist city, acting as hosts for events and activities to take place. The project explores connection and movement as a mode of enquiry. Abstract experimentation and drawings area used to frame an investigation into new potential typologies and form that have yet to be discovered. The haptic mode of creation acts as the source of inspiration towards the generation of such forms. Yggdrasil, named after the World Tree in Norse mythology of the same name attempts to fulfill a similar role in modern urban environment. This scheme draws upon the idea of spokes and hubs branching out from a central core, reaching out and connecting to its surroundings. Like its mythological counterpart, the tower connects to three different realms - namely, sky realm (aerial drones), land realm (bridges), water realm (autonomous hydrofoils). The scheme attempts to create a new typology of an urban neighbourhood that connects air, land and water while offering the capacity for flexible use and levels of segragation during times of pandemic or social lockdowns.

THE FARM ELDON NG STUDIO BOBBY WONG

I D E N P A N D

T I T Y E M I C

The year 2050, H30N21 has taken over, and the world as we know it is but chaos. As the death toll climbs and the bodies pile, we fear for the worse. our medical staff and funeral homes struggle to keep up. is there really no hope left? Where lies our dignity as the human race? How do we manage the deceased, how do we bid farewell to our loved ones? As the population cowards in fear, we as designers shall rise up to the challenge.

THE PANDEMIC [In memory COVID19] Amongst the pain and suffering that the pandemic has brought to us, it has also taught us lessons. It has also exposed our pathetic attempt at surpassing nature and the ugly truth of our society. That only in brighter days do we take the time to commemorate the death of our fallen members, only in beter days do we spend time to grieve. Should hell break loose in our reality, we are quick to cast their bodies along with our respect into dark ‘un-sanctuary’ containers and trenches. All for the sake of efficiency and safety of those who live on. This project seeks to provide communal identity within the residential zone of Whampoa whilst addressing the current covid19 pandemic through the creation of a modern cremation center, infused with urban farms and columbarium.

Hidden within the shadows of the farm lies the truth of its structure. A factory as old as industrialization itself. The slaughterhouse is said to be the most efficient form of corpse processing and its ability still holds today. Nothing of value goes to waste as this process allows the human body to undergo a formal breakdown, ranging from washing, removal of hair, blood, and organs which can be sent for donation. The remains are then cremated via Aquamation, a greener upgrade of the former cremation, which utilizes alkaline hydrolysis to breakdown the body, leaving liquid remains and bones. The bones can be easily broken down into ashes to be mixed with concrete to form the shell of the urban farm whilst the liquidized remains can be purified to be used as fertilizer.

DISRUPTION

The farm sits silently only to resurrect should the death toll calls upon it. Its entry sits upon the bridge, its awakening disturbs, forcing all around to bare witness to its unwanted provocation.

CLEANSING

GIVING

As much as we hope for an opportunity to cleanse our souls and wash away our sins, we must acknowledge that that doesn’t exist. There is no soul but only a body. There is no shame, only biology. The farm cleanses the human body for what it is and not what it entails. We wash thoroughly in fear of the pandemic, we care not for human dignity.

It is as if we take throughout our lives, never to truly give without receiving. Just as a slaughterhouse is programmed to breakdown a corpse letting nothing go to waste, the giving proceeds to dissect the human body. Taking valuable material that could be reintroduced to society such as blood, hair, and even organs. The farm lets nothing of value go to waste, our one true moment of giving.

FAREWELL

REBIRTH

The farm’s factory elements are not opened to public witness however, we will not deny people the opportunity to witness the leaving moments of our loved ones. The farewell is an orchestrated event that we are familiar with in modern-day crematoriums where we witness the cremation unit transit into the burning chamber. The farewell however reverses this performance as the units are now presented to the public post experiencing the factory processing. The public then observes a symbolic spectacle of the units being lifted high up into the allocated shelves for the cremation process which happens within the units themselves.

Once cremated, the ashes will be mixed with concrete such as to become the material of the urban farm. The notion of community is enhanced as the individual’s ashes is insufficient to create the modular structure but rather only possible through batches. This results in a change in the identity of the individual to the community and grieving is thereafter no longer just a personal experience but one that can be shared and empathized.

The year 2020 has been trying, ever since the emergence of the Corona Virus (COVID19), the world and its progress has been put on hold, and rather a series of reflections were necessary. In these unprecedented times, we were awakened by the reality that our healthcare system of today is incapable of containing the rapid spread of diseases and viruses. The situation is humbling and it has set into perspective our abilities and flaws. This year, the brief naturally became pandemic-driven, in hopes that we students are pushed to design architecture that is capable of adapting to potential threats. The site was determined generically as the Sub-Zone of Balestier. Our task was to engage the site in both a macro approach whilst addressing the micro-needs of the specified area. To propose an innovative program or response to the pandemic. The site allocated to me is situated within the residential space of lower Whampoa. The area encapsulates a range of communal programs such as the famous Makan Place, the community center, small elderly care centers as well as the HDBs. I believe that this space was perhaps the identity of the Whampoa residence for it houses Whampoa’s most recognizable features. This informed me that the program should address the identity and communal spirit of this town. The program that struck me was, in fact, a columbarium/crematorium, the reality of death is the only common ground in society such that it is a phenomenon that we cannot avoid. Furthermore, the pandemic has also made ‘death’ more prominent and relatable as it becomes a primary fear and concern.

A modern-day columbarium, however, is not the answer to these unprecedented times. Many countries such as the United States are unable to manage the overwhelming body count. Sadly, these unaccounted bodies are tossed into mass graves or container freezers for preservation. Doctors and nurses are far more urgently needed at hospitals than managing death. We humans who once pride ourselves different from animals due to our ability to grieve and respect are suddenly behaving like savages as we hurriedly dispose of these unwanted bodies. Where has our compassion gone? Where is human dignity? Has the virus proven us to be just like any other animal? It is with this thought that my inspiration is born. Perhaps we aren’t that different after all. The virus has become the equalizer of mankind and animals. And perhaps it is time that we discard our flawed mentality of being above and beyond. Through this understanding, I realized that there is perhaps a much quicker way to manage and discard bodies, a method much more efficient than modern-day funerals and cremation. It is something that we have been practicing for centuries, and that would be the slaughterhouse. For we are no long deem above the animals, the moral standards that we have set in the slaughterhouse should be acceptable to humans too, with this, the concept of a crematorium function as a slaughterhouse became the basis of my program.

BESPOKE CONNECTION CHRISTOPHER CHUA STUDIO RICHARD HO

BESPOKE CONNECTION THE FRAGMENTATION OF EXCLUSIVITY

Bespoke Connection creatively reinterpreted the back alleyways of Singapore’s historical shophouses as spaces that support a wide variety of activities at the street and over multiple levels. The project brings an active, social life to a much-neglected space used primarily for services. The intervention introduces a new urban space and presents a novel back alley urbanism that re-defines publicness which has traditionally been focused on the five-foot way at the front of the shophouse. Bespoke connection was inspired by Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love, where the use of film frames hides and reveals fragments and hints of the protagonist’s lifestyles. The project entails the use of prefabricated pods managed by shophouse owners who then rent them out to various tenants. The arrangement of the pods presents a juxtoposition of exclusive and inclusive spaces within the compound of the backalley whereby pods arranged parallel to the backalley or east-west facing. The former pods are accessible via the ground level and host programmes such as thrift shops and food retailers, performing its role as a public community node in Whampoa; a hub for collecting once-loved products and an alternative street-dining experience. The latter can only be accessed via the entry to the back-door of the shophouses where exclusive pathways have been installed within the hidden spaces available in the courtyard spaces within the compounds of the shophouse itself. These exclusive pods host bespoke personal programmes such as tailors, hairdressers and tattoo artists who charge a premium on their services and are appointment-only service providers. The sense of exclusivity is hence heightened further with each bespoke pod requiring a specific circulation path.

THE REPOSITORY SYAFIQ AYOOB STUDIO RONALD LIM

Regenerating an Abandoned School Biophilic Regeneration seeks to regenerate an abandoned school as an extension of the Whampoa Park Connector by providing relevant spaces for the existing urban demographic, while engaging users with nature in order to cultivate their health and well-being. The maturity of the proposal envisions a new green node within Whampoa containing a set of spaces with different scales of publicness that is serene and induces relaxation in the users. Users are engaged with nature not only visually, but through the other senses. These sensory experience of nature are tested and implemented at different scales within the proposal. Public Space and nature then results in positive health benefits for the urban demographic, and value adds to the existing urban condition of Whampoa.

The site receives the Whampoa Park Connector that runs along the Whampoa River, overtime maturing into a green node that serves the Whampoa community. Facing page: Top left: Programmatic insertion Middle: Sensorial experience collage Bottom: Demographic activity timeline

Nature in space Circulating around the site, one would encounter flower courtyards, reflective pools, rest spaces fronting intimate gardens, fauna of different colors/textures, materials/ textures suggesting natural analogue, rain chains, aeolian elements, brass-gold skylights that bring in rain... celebrating and engaging user’s senses with nature.

Ceremonial Hall Trees elevated on textured columns help to break the space below into smaller intimate pockets of usable areas while adding natural analogue providing a sense that one is immersed in a natural space. Songbirds hung spontaneously by residents fill the spaces with melodic tunes. Brass-look skylights over trees and water bodies celebrate the audio-visual experience of rain.

Public Atrium Brise-soleil draped in greenery create fluctuating light and shadow as the sun moves throughout the day and the vines gently sway in the tropical breeze. The space engenders a dynamic visual experience akin to being under a canopy of trees.

YEAR 3 LEVEL 5 COMPILATION OF SELECTED WORKS

2020/2021 B.A. (ARCH) LEVEL 5

IMAGE CREDIT: ELDON NG