Towards an Inclusive Architecture: A Toolkit for the Dilution, Divergence and Manipulation of Power by shaunsng

Towards an Inclusive Architecture: A Toolkit for the Dilution, Divergence and Manipulation of Power

Shaun Matthias Sng A0168603A National University of Singapore AR5807: Architectural Design Thesis Dr. Zdravko Trivic

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Abstract

1. The Divisions of the City

1.1. Research Objectives

1.2. Research Questions and Hypotheses

2. Research Approach and Methodology

3. The Neoliberal system

3.1. Architecture: A Tool for the Neoliberal System

3.1.1. Architecture as Product

3.1.2. Architecture as Control

4. Power in Architecture

4.1. Forms of ‘Power Over’

5. Towards a More Inclusive City

5.1. Structures of Society

5.2. Spaces of Places

6. The Approach

6.1. Empowerment: Spatial Provisions and Connections

6.2. Emancipation: Diluting, Diverging and Manipulating Structures

7. Dissecting the Library Model as Civic Space

7.1. Palaces for the People

7.2. Design Programmes and New Engagements

8. The New CBD

Table of Contents

9. The JLD Innovation Park

9.1. Existing Power Structures

9.2. Challenging Power Structures

9.3. Spatial Layout

9.4. Facilitating New Engagements

9.5. On Site Operations

105

10. Conclusion

109

Bibliography

111

Appendices

115

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my deepest appreciation to Professor Zdravko Trivic for his

guidance and wisdom throughout this project, and his unwavering patience and believe in me despite the bumps along the way. Thank you for pushing me further than I thought I could go.

I am grateful for my studio mates, especially Kamil, for the positive studio culture we

have had, and the advice and feedback we have shared along this journey.

I would also like to thank my friends for being there and understanding when I am not.

And to Rachel, thank you for your constant reassurance and endless support, and for

keeping me going during the hardest moments.

Finally, I could not have done this without my family who has been my pillar of support

throughout my academic years and for providing me with the opportunity to pursue my passions. I will be forever grateful. A special thanks to my brother, Samuel, for putting up with my late nights.

Abstract

The neoliberal system operates on a highly hierarchical and striated structure to facilitate

the accumulation of wealth and power at the very top through the exploitation of human capital. Architecture has become complicit in institutionalizing this hegemonic structure in Singapore that has given rise to social imbalances, spatial injustices and divisions across the city. This thesis project investigates how architecture has been utilised as a product and a medium to assert power and control to fully exploit the labourer. It delves deeper into the inequalities that have developed with regards to the work permit holder community, such as poor living conditions, degradation of identity and exclusion from society, to better unpack the principles of power and control that have been embedded in architecture.

In the same way that architecture has become a tool of power and control over, the

premise of this project is that architecture also has the capabilities to empower and emancipate. It explores this hypothesis through the re-examination of an intervention into the proposed masterplan for the Jurong Lake District that has been projected to be the second Central Business District in Singapore.

The initial design intervention has two facets. It will first take form as a reinterpretation

of the civic space, empowering the diverse groups of people operating in and around the site, through a curation of programmes, innovative technology and engagements between various stakeholders. The next aspect requires the development of a toolkit of design principles to dilute, diverge and manipulate the neoliberal structure and power. Through this, nuances across the intervention are crafted, creating a range of conditions that have the potential to facilitate new engagements, challenging the segregation and prescriptions embedded in the power structures of the city

Figure 1.1 | Divisions of the City

Chapter One The Divisions of the City – Spatial Injustice

A key financial and trade hub in South East Asia, Singapore has observed a rapid progression

of its city, spurred by its economic growth. It has also embarked on numerous high end projects to reinforce its image as a tourist destination. Yet, despite its attempts at curating a seamless and conflict-free environment, its increasingly densifying cityscape has begun to reveal growing tensions between the upper classes of Singapore, who have hugely benefitted from its growth, and the lower classes, who have been left behind, slowly evicted by the eventual gentrification of their neighbourhoods.

Public spaces have been hastily replaced with pseudo commons that refuse poorer

demographics and commodified experiences kept behind paywalls that only wealthier classes can afford (Yarina, 2017). The city is essentially turned into a playground of endless experiences for the wealthy, while further reiterating the working class’ role as a labourer and nothing more. These pervasive gestures of the city threaten Singapore’s identity as a society based on justice and equality as it increasingly provides privileged individuals with access to resources unavailable to others, leading to excessive accumulation of wealth at the top of the social strata, greatly hindering social mobility and opportunities (Puthcheary, 2018).

These observations hint at how Singapore has attempted to profit from human capital,

through the wealthy’s constant consumption of goods and experiences, and the exploitation of the working class who are unable to fit into the consumer role. This polarizing freedom to, or restriction of, the rights to the city (Harvey, 2003), between those who conform to the ideals of the state and the outliers, seems to be a rather common theme across the diverse dialectical identities of the city-state.

This contrasting treatment between the state’s idealised identities and the working class

roles can be observed when investigating the perspectives adopted towards the various work pass communities in Singapore. Foreigners’ access to rights and privilege are highly differentiated

by skills, academic background, and their alignment to Singapore’s goals. More skilled foreign professionals are accepted as international talent (Manpower 21, 1999), and are provided with boundless opportunities and optimal environments, while foreign workers face harsh inequalities and lack of provisions, in an attempt to keep them excluded from society (Ye, 2016).

While these acts of oppression have remained hidden successfully for years, the recent

pandemic outbreak, along with the increasingly gentrified and unequal city, has revealed and made more pronounced the many cracks in the system, especially in the case of the migrant worker community. It has revealed how this society of highly choreographed and restricted identities has proven to be dysfunctional and fragile, and the current solutions to coping with these increasing inequality are inadequate in restoring justice and equality.

1.1. Research Objectives The project seeks to: • critique the spatial injustices that have evolved in the city; and • question the capacities of architecture in intervening in the resulting social issues. Such capacities are also explored in the context of the information age and new technological developments. 1.2. Research Questions and Hypotheses In line with the research objectives, this project poses the following research questions: 1. How does the neoliberal system impact society? What is the role of architecture in such a system? How is architecture employed as a tool for power and control? - Through these questions, the research seeks to understand the hegemonic power relations of the existing city and identify points of power mediation. 2. What are the design and planning mechanisms that can reconfigure the power relations established by the neoliberal system over the work permit holder community? How can these mechanisms be translated and employed in the Jurong Lake District - the second Central Business District in Singapore? The first hypothesis is that the amplified social inequalities present in Singapore are a result of the strategies and principles of power the neoliberal system has employed through architecture. The project further hypothesises that architecture has the capacity to mediate these social inequalities through empowerment and emancipation, in the same way that the spatial injustices created by architecture have resulted in unjust social structures and relations.

Figure 1.2 | The Migrant Worker’s Welcomed Presence in the City is Limited to Labour

Figure 2.2 | Treated Like Pests?

Chapter Two Research Approach and Methodology

This project stems from rather personal observations of the increasing inequalities present

in the city and the belief that architecture has the potential to mediate them, leading to a deeper investigation of the sources of these imbalances. Through critical reviews of articles and academic writing on Singapore’s socio-political landscape, a better understanding of these divisions was formed, leading to the investigation of the neoliberal system.

Discourse analysis. Through employment of social theories and power discourses, this

project first investigates how the neoliberal system has utilised architecture as a means to realise its ideals, unpacking the various strategies and principles of power employed for the assertion of control over society and the orchestration of social structures and identities. A further study of the inequalities faced by the migrant worker community establishes a better understanding of how these strategies and principles of power in architecture have potentially led to spatial injustices in the city. This is reflected in the early chapters that seek to understand how concepts of power take form in architecture, along with more tangible studies of the oppression of the migrant worker in Singapore, to contextualise and understand how architecture has been complicit in creating these injustices. While the power relations with regards to the migrant workers are rather extreme and do not necessarily manifest similarly for other socioeconomic groups in Singapore, it presents these principles of power in the most intrusive and pronounced form, facilitating a better understanding of these concepts.

Contextualisation and design explorations. The project then attempts to mediate the spatial

injustices, segmentations and forms of oppression created by the neoliberal architecture through the development of a series of design strategies to not only craft a more inclusive architecture, but to also highlight and manipulate the dialectics of power between the neoliberal system and the work permit holder community. The development of strategies builds upon the concepts of territoriality and segmentarity (Dovey, 2010), the rhizome (Deleuze & Guattari, 2004), spatial

injustices (Soja, 2010; Marcuse, 1970) and spaces of flows and places (Castells, 2004) as guiding principles for the creation of an inclusive architecture of empowerment and emancipation.

These principles are applied to initial design reinterpretations of the “library” as the

potential platform and overarching programme for this inclusive architecture to materialize.

This critical design exploration process culminates in the speculation of the new Jurong

Lake District masterplan as a potential site, and an initial investigation of how the project can begin to materialize and respond to the potentially redesigned socio-political structures that may arise from the new dynamics proposed in the masterplan between work, life and technology.

Chapter Three The Neoliberal system

A political development of capitalism, neoliberalism attempts to establish social control for

maximum economic gain through the exploitation of the labourer. The neoliberal system thrives through the establishment of a strong hierarchical structure with a centralized linear progression of power, stratifying society into a series of classes of diminishing power and wealth, of which highly choreographed identities and engagements are assigned and enforced upon (Monbiot, 2016). This compartmentalisation of society can be paralleled to that of a machine, where each part has a specific role to play for it to operate efficiently (Martin, 2015, 6:07). Through the stipulation of these socioeconomic identities and choreography of everyday life, the neoliberal system attempts to create a city highly fertile for production and consumption, processes crucial for the translation of human capital into economic growth.

Figure 3.1 | The Functionings of the Neoliberal System

3.1. Architecture: A Tool for the Neoliberal System

Social inequalities have increasingly pervaded the city and are most evident when observed

through the built environment, as the city is rapidly segmented, gentrified and privatised. While these occurrences can be easily attributed to the neoliberal system’s ideals (Soja, 2010), it would be rather naive to assume that these imbalances manifested in the city are unintentional by-products of the neoliberal system.

Yarina (2017) propagates that current architecture, and the architects behind them, have

become tools for the neoliberal. Neoliberal architecture appropriates architectural spaces and strategies, once used for the public good, as new means of capital accumulation and control. These strategies now revolve around “the manufacture of desire and the production of new and attractive products which stimulate a consumer identity” (Yarina, 2017, p. 245). Moreover, it can be increasingly observed that architecture aids in enforcing and fortifying social behaviours and structures, as certain spaces seemingly celebrate specific identities and mannerisms while excluding others (Dovey, 1999). These strategies can be better understood through the identification of two key functions of neoliberal architecture - architecture as product and architecture as control.

Figure 3.2 | Architecture’s Role in Amplifying the Inequalities of the Neoliberal System

3.1.1. Architecture as Product

Architecture is used as a product in an attempt to extend the processes of consumption as

far into the city as possible through two strategies. The first strategy focuses on how architecture turns spaces and experiences into a consumable product, while the second approaches architecture, or more specifically, architectural development, as the actual product.

Through the commodification of spaces and experiences, the neoliberal system ensures that

every moment the labourer has outside his job is spent consuming, spending money on goods or experiences to fill his time, as experiences and spaces in the city have now become privatised, and in doing so, monetized (Yarina, 2017). The privatisation of these spaces have enabled corporations to heavily regulate the users within their premises. Where once the urban space was democratic, accessible and appropriable by all, these pseudo commons have now been embedded with forms of power to reject unwanted demographics while also restricting the functions of these spaces, increasing marketability and the demand for spaces of varying functions (Mitchell, 201). Through the continuous manufacturing of new spaces and experiences, the neoliberal is able to lure the consumer into an endless experience of increasing luxury and novelty. This constant renewal and creation of new goods and experiences creates consistently entertained consumers that upkeep the ever increasing levels of consumption within the city.

The next strategy focuses on the consumption of architecture itself. The surge in profitability

of the real estate market has resulted in a proliferation of high end private developments throughout the city (Graaf, 2020). It has become increasingly privatised, as developers attempt to maximize sellable space with a disregard for the greater impacts on the urban realm. Huge imbalances in spatial distribution and urban renewal have emerged, as reconstruction efforts within the city focus mainly on the wealthier districts in an attempt to maximise profit. What results is an unjust city, highly optimised to serve the needs and ideals of those in possession of power and wealth, while the lesser classes are silenced and hidden, obscured from resources and rights to the city (Harvey, 2003).

Figure 3.3 | The City Creates Endless Experiences and Options for the Consumer

Figure 3.4 | Architectural Strategies to Exploit and Manipulate the Consumer

3.1.2. Architecture as Control

Architecture is used as control for the choreography of socioeconomic engagements

throughout the city, crafting a highly efficient society for the exploitation of human capital. It seeks to segregate the various socioeconomic classes to mitigate clashes between them, while hiding the extreme imbalances of resource and spatial allocations among the various groups. Through architecture as control, the neoliberal system also attempts to enforce state-given identities over these socioeconomic groups.

The use of architecture as control can be observed through three various means, this being

the segregations of the city, the sterilisation of the urban fabric and the embedding of concepts of power in architecture.

The segregation of the city, into homogeneous territories of specific functions, allows the

neoliberal to highly control accessibility between spaces, functions and identities, as it restricts heavily the locality and movement of the various communities based on their worth to the economy (Dovey, 2010). Through this, maximal efficiency is achieved as each individual is located where they can be best exploited, be it as a consumer or labourer, while at the same time maximizing the value of each territory, as unwanted demographics are refused access.

This leans into the next means of control, the sterilisation of the urban fabric. This revolves

more specifically around the consumer’s engagement within consumption zones, and that of the labourer within production zones. The sterilization of the urban fabric frames a false perspective of the city as seamless and clean (Boer, 2018), creating an optimal environment for production or consumption, as minimal clashes and conflicts can be observed. This renders subjects passive and subservient to their stipulated roles. It facilitates the conformity of the subject as the urban realm further reiterates his state given identity and operates as a tool for capital accumulation. The third means of control, the embedding of concepts of power in architecture, operates to not only supplement the above two means in asserting control over society, but also focuses on the reinforcement of state given identities, while suppressing other identities that do not fall in line with the system. This concepts of power will be explored in greater detail in the following chapter.

Figure 3.5 | The City is Highly Controlled, Designed to Manipulate and Exploit the Labourer

Figure 3.6 | Architectural Strategies to Render Subjects Passive and Compliant

Chapter Four Power in Architecture

To identify and analyse the various concepts of power in architecture, it is necessary to first

clarify its polarizing definitions, this being the ‘power to’ and the ‘power over’. The primary idea of power is that power is the ability or capacity to enact ideas, influence things and control and define circumstances (Rorty, 1992). It is through this that the idea of empowerment arises as it increases one’s capacity. The secondary (yet predominant) conceptualisation of power, ‘power over’, forms a parasitic relationship with the ‘power to’ as it revolves around one party’s exploitation of another’s capacity, the former attempting to harness the latter’s power for his own empowerment (Isaac, 1992). Through this, the dialectics between ‘power to’ and ‘power over’ become rather evident, with ‘power to’ often being both the source and end of this relationship (Dovey, 1999).

To better understand how the neoliberal system establishes power over society through

architecture, the discourse of power is employed to identify various forms of ‘power over’ and unpack the principles complicit in embedding these into the built environment by investigating architecture’s role in the oppression of the migrant worker in Singapore.

4.1. Forms of ‘Power Over’

This investigation employs Kim Dovey’s (1999) consideration of several distinct forms of

‘power over’ that, while not extensive, are sufficient in establishing a preliminary understanding of it. He explores the concepts of force, coercion, manipulation, seduction and authority, establishing how these forms manifest differently and operating on varying levels of concealment. More overt forms of power, such as force, strip the subject of free will, while other forms, such as manipulation and seduction, are more covert and rely on an established relationship between the subject and its environment to manipulate his interests and desires. Careful framing of situations and perspectives manipulate subjects into believing they are operating on free will.

While these forms of power operate simultaneously and are equally crucial in the

neoliberal’s establishment of control over society, its effectiveness is often dependent on its level of concealment in architecture. The more embedded into society these powers are, the more successful these forms become in subtly manipulating its subject. Architecture becomes a key role for the materialization of these powers as it is through architecture that these symbols of power and authority are legitimized and institutionalized into daily life (Dovey, 1999).

A better understanding of how these forms of power are manipulated by the neoliberal state

can be established through the context of the migrant worker. This investigation is not limited to the forms of power listed above, and will delve further to unpack the other various forms of power available.

Viewed as cheap labour essential for Singapore’s development, the state attempts to

dehumanize the migrant worker, reducing them to that of a tool, while excluding them from society to prevent them for setting roots here (Ye, 2016). The following explorations investigate the forms of power embedded in the built environment to restrict the migrant worker to the identity set out for them by the state.

Figure 4.1 | Migrant Worker Dormitory

Figure 4.2 | Migrant Worker Recreation Centre

Figure 4.3 | Migrant Worker Dormitory

Figure 4.4 | Steps Leading to Wisma Atria

Chapter Five Towards a More Inclusive City

Developments in the recent years have revealed major cracks in the neoliberal system as

inequalities proliferate the city, heightened by the outbreak of the recent pandemic. Yet, social theorists have investigated and critiqued the shortcomings of the neoliberal city long before it proved itself to be dysfunctional.

This chapter engages the concepts of territoriality and segmentarity (Dovey, 2010), the

rhizome (Deleuze & Guattari, 2004), spatial injustices (Soja, 2010; Marcuse, 1970) and spaces of flows and places (Castells, 2004) in a socio spatial discourse to discover ways to venture from the neoliberal structure into a more inclusive and resilient city. 5.1. Structures of Society

The highly arboroscent structure of the neoliberal system is one that has been heavily

critiqued by many. Its heavy dependence on the operation of each and every one of its entitiy makes it rather fragile, as observed during the recent Covid pandemic, when cracks result in the failure of the entire neoliberal system.

In working towards a more inclusive and resilient city, a new structure opposing this highly

arborescent society is proposed. As suggested by Deleuze & Guattari (2004) in their concept of the rhizome, rhizomatic relations, referring to new relations and interactions across the highly stabilized identities of society, would allow for a multiplicty of subcultures to be formed an expressed. This is in line with the biological concept of mutualism where two inherently different species interact to form a multiplicity. Rhizomatic relations will allow for more lateral connectivity and maximizes exchange and encounter. It will also aid in decentralizing power structures and reduce dependency on the central core of the system as more parts of the system will remain functional despite the failure of another.

Figure 5.1 | Arborescent Structure of Society

Figure 5.2 | Rhizomatic Structure

The project does not posit that there has to be a complete rejection of arborescent structures however, as the two have to occur simultaneously for the functioning of society. Instead a balance has to be achieved between the arborescent, or the rigid segmentarties and the supple (Dovey, 2010). Sufficient negotiation and rhizomatic relationships have to be facilitated to allow for a constant reterritorializatin of assemblages to allow for society to keep up with the constantly shifting identities of the many individuals within it. 5.2. Spaces of Places The neoliberal system’s attempt to structure the city as a factory for the efficient accumulation of capital has resulted a proliferation of spaces of production and consumption across the city. However, these highly prescriptive spaces are not sufficient for the functionings of society. Castells (2004) asserts that it is through spaces of places, physical spaces of culture, that society can be crafted and communities can be formed. A lacking of it, as evident in the initial observations of this project, result in segregations and fragmentations of the city. Along with the information age comes the spaces of flows, a new space of the intangible networks of the internet along with its physical entities. The resulting transition of physical engagements online has resulted in a further fragmentation of the city as what little spaces of places that exist can no longer facilitate the rapidly diversifying identities and cultures that the internet has allowed for. As such, there is a need to reintroduce more spaces of places in the city that are highly adaptable and dynamic to facilitate for these rapidly changing identities that will only be futher amplified as technology gets increasingly integrated into daily life. There no longer is room in the city for prescriptive and highly efficient spaces of production and consumption.

Through these theoretical investigations, a series of characteristics and qualities have been extracted to be either translated into architectural strategies and spaces, or utilised to inform the development of design principles.

Figure 5.1 | Initial Design Exploration: Spatialising Affordances

Figure 5.2 | Initial Design Exploration: Spatialising Multiplicities

Figure 5.3 | Initial Design Exploration: Spatialising Assimilation

Figure 5.4 | Initial Design Exploration: Spatialising Spontaneity

Figure 5.5 | Initial Design Exploration: Translating Adaptability

Chapter Six Design Approach

While architecture may be limited in its capabilities to mediate inequalities and restore

social balance, there is an understanding through existing social theory that societal structures have reciprocal spatial geographies, and that in the same way space is often socially constructed, the social is spatially constructed as well, as spaces reinforce social structures and at times even alter it.

The initial investigations into architecture’s role in the establishment of neoliberal structures

have revealed the points at which the inequalities of the neoliberal system are materialized. These spatial translations can be seen as the moments at which architecture begins to be employed as a neoliberal tool and it is at these points in the neoliberal system’s establishment of power and control that architecture gains the potential to mitigate.

Figure 6.1 | Points of Possible Architectural Intervention

The approach then proposes strategies to diminish the structures created and counter the

inequalities resulting from neoliberal architecture. It looks more specifically into the utilization of architecture as control and product as the focus of its intervention while also exploring means to mediate the resulting spatial injustices.

A two prong approached is developed. The first phase focuses on empowerment through

the decommodification of spaces and experiences, restoration of spatial justice and facilitation of identity formation. The next revolves around the dilution, divergence and manipulation of structures for the emancipation of the neoliberal subject.

Figure 6.2 | The Design Approach

6.1. Empowerment: Spatial Provisions and Connections

The imbalances created by the neoliberal system has disempowered its subjects at varying

intensities. Power and control asserted through architecture has rendered the urban environment unjust and highly segregated through the restriction of access. This privileges some communities over others with better access to controlled and centralized resources such as wealth and knowledge that are essential to social mobility and thriving in today’s socioeconomic scape. Choreographed engagements within the city also restrict the formation of new identities as segmentarities are kept stabilised and cannot be negotiated with or reterritorialized by lesser demographics. The city becomes a constant reiteration of itself, as the spaces of the city further reinforce its social constructs, while these social structures are constantly amplified by the spatial injustices of the city (Dovey, 2010). Individuals are disempowered as they now have limited control over the development of their identities, restricted access to resources, new experiences and other communities (Marcuse,1970), hindering new lines of flight (Deleuze & Guattari, 2004).

Empowerment can occur only through the resolution of three major issues in the neoliberal

city, this being the commodification of space and experiences, spatial injustices, and control of identity formation. Spatial injustices in this context refer to the confinement of communities or individuals to a limited space involuntarily, and an unequal allocation of resources over space. An introduction of authentic public and civic spaces will rather quickly provide new uncommodified alternatives to these existing neoliberal spaces, and strategies focusing on decentralizing institutions, improving accessibility and reallocating privatised spaces will aid in restoring spatial justice. The third issue however, requires a more complex resolution.

Identity formation is not a linear process but a constant collection and negotiation of the

many socioeconomic and cultural identities adopted through the experiences of an individual. The neoliberal state invades this organic process as it attempts to manipulate, and at times even force these identities into conformity through the concepts of power embedded in architecture. This process of identity formation eventually requires an additional step, a negotiation between the state-driven identity and one’s self-identity, as the individual’s worth to the neoliberal society

becomes heavily dependent on his ability to align to the state’s ideals. As concepts of powers over the subject get increasingly oppressive down the social strata, these struggles between the two identities get more dialectical as these state-given identities become more invasive and restrictive, the most extreme being observed through the exclusion of the work permit holder community from society and their mistreatments, in an attempt to suppress their diverse backgrounds and cultures into their state given identity as cheap labour.

This inability to negotiate between identities is also a result of a lack of access to spaces of

places, as the city is pervaded with a series of homogeneous production and consumption spaces that only reiterate the social identities crafted by the state.

The accessiblity to a series of spaces is needed to facilitate process of identity formation:

1. A safe space for individuals to begin the process of self-conceptualization. 2. A space of place where similar individuals can come together and reinforce these ideas of the self, to create a likeminded community to participate in shared practices and expressions. 3. A space of place where they can express and practice these subcultures and micro actions publicly, and be affirmed and accepted among other communities.

These three elements have to be present before the fourth, a platform for the meeting and

engagement of other identities and subcultures, can properly function and facilitate meaningful exchanges and the formation of new relations.

The various spatial provisions and connections needed to work towards resolving these

three issues are established in Figure 6.2 and further explored through design exercises in the following images.

Figure 6.3 | Design Exploration: Customizable Dormitories for Self Expression

Figure 6.4 | Design Exploration: Customizable Dormitories for Self Expression

Figure 6.5 | Design Exploration: Creating Community Spaces Within Dormitories

Figure 6.6 | Design Exploration: Possible Insertion of Dormitories into Neighbourhoods

6.2. Emancipation: Diluting, Diverging and Manipulating Structures – The Design Toolkit

While the strategies previously outlined are crucial for the creation of an inclusive

and empowering architecture, they are insufficient as the social and power relations produced are essentially a reiteration of existing neoliberal structures, albeit slightly more diluted and decentralized. Therefore, it is crucial that the project goes further to tackle the actual structures of power and control embedded within the city. Contiguous to the initial approach is the development of a toolkit of principles to further the pursuits of the project to not only create inclusive spaces within the city, but to combat the dysfunctional structures of the neoliberal system that has proven to be disruptive to the dynamic functioning and growth of today’s cities of the information age.

The development of this toolkit requires the reemployment of the socio spatial discourse

of the neoliberal city, as explored in the earlier chapters, along with the strategies developed in the empowerment phase of the approach. Through a synthesis of these characteristics and strategies, a series of overarching principles will be crafted, forming a toolkit that will inform the project through a series of planning and architectural strategies to dilute, diverge and manipulate neoliberal structures in the development, emancipating the subject from the extensive control of the system.

Figure 6.7 | Developing the Design Toolkit

Figure 6.8 | The Design Toolkit: Adaptable

Figure 6.9 | The Design Toolkit: Restoration

Figure 6.10 | The Design Toolkit: Uselessness

Figure 6.11 | The Design Toolkit: Disorder

Figure 6.12 | The Design Toolkit: Incomplete

Figure 6.13 | The Design Toolkit: Encounter

Through this exercise, six strategies were identified, some operating on smaller architectural scales while the others operating through planning strategies and gestures. Yet this may not be sufficient, as these explorations are still rather generic and vague. Further explorations will be required to expand and delve deeper into these characteristics identified, while marrying these principles with the programmes and contexts of the site, to develop a syntax of spaces and architectural elements to better craft the design toolkit.

Chapter Seven Dissecting the Library Model as Civic Space

The public library model in Singapore has been approached as a function, as with any other

space in this neoliberal city, resulting in a highly prescriptive space designed to be functional and efficient. It serves its traditional purpose as a static catalogue of books and information, minimizing social engagements through stipulated social behaviours that supposedly make it a ‘prime space for learning’. Recent shifts towards heavier reliance on technology in everyday life have led many policy makers to question the relevance of the public library in today’s age of technology.

The project posits however, that the public library is not simply a physical catalogue of

books and information. It is instead one of the few genuinely public spaces remaining in the city. Aside from the slight stipulation of social behaviours that does little harm, the public library provides free access to all strata of society, its user groups being predominantly from the middle and lower classes who heavily depend on the library for access to information. The library becomes an even more crucial space in the age of technology where information has become increasingly restricted based on wealth, as its access is heavily dependent on the ownership of devices poorer demographics may not be able to afford.

This chapter will attempt to dissect the library model as a civic space to idenitify and

understand how inclusive social conditions are crafted through it. This will help identify the various conditions needed for the development of a civic space.

7.1. Palaces for the People

In Palaces for the People, Klinenberg (2018) reveals how the public library has formed the

core of resilient communities in poorer neighbourhoods in America and how this begins with a shift towards the design of the library as an inclusive and welcoming space for all. The adoption of this perspective of the library has transcended these neighbourhoods, as new library developments have emerged that begin to explore how they become new spaces of engagements and culture, propagating new forms of learning through sharing and interaction, no longer limited to the static browsing of catalogues. The library becomes a democratic space that can be appropriated by all. Whether or not users enter to directly engage with the catalogue of information, they will emerge nonetheless equipped with new experiences or knowledge due to the diverse cultures and engagements facilitated by the library. It provides access to resources that are otherwise inaccessible, offers refuge and safe spaces for those seeking solace and acts as a meeting point for communities. It becomes a place where new relationships and lines of flights are formed, that otherwise would have never occurred in the neoliberal city.

Figure 7.1 | Notion of the Library

The investigation into the library as a civic space, a model that has been adopted across numerous public libraries worldwide, has revealed the extensiveness of its potential as being more than a catalogue of books and information. It has become an even more crucial and relevant place in the city in today’s information age.

The library begins to act as a bridge across numerous dialectics. It decentralizes information

to the public and provides access to resources many may not have. It becomes a social space of exchange, acting as one of the few democractic spaces in the city that anyone can come to and be a part of. It becomes a space of new experiences and learning. And, most crucial to this day and age, it becomes a bridge between technology and the physical.

The internet, upon which many aspects of daily life have become increasingly reliant on,

was once seen as a new democratic space that grants all with access to information and cultural diversity. Yet it has become “an echo chamber where people see and hear what they already believe” (Klinenberg, 2018), amplifying the segregation and divisions of the city. However, the library has the potential to physicalize these virtual networks as it creates shared spaces for these diverse groups of users to come into encounters and create new engagements, whether direct or not, while accessing online networks.

Figure 7.2 | Characteristics of the Library as Civic Space

Embracing technology within library models provides the potential to create new typologies

of the libary. With technology, spaces within the library no longer have to be static or rigid as it provides the possibilities of having a multiplicity of activities and spatial qualities within the same space. Library spaces can also be more spread out and no longer have to be located in direct proximity, as warranted by the digital networks. Through a similar intergration of technology into the other civic spaces within the city, the project believes that more inclusive spaces that can be appropriable by all users can be created, facilitating new experiences and engagements while enhancing and crafting more inclusive civic spaces in the city.

7.2. Design Programmes and New Engagements

The project approaches the design programmes with the intention to bridge the gaps betweeen

innovation labs on site and the public. It seeks, through the development of a new civic space of similar characteristics, to decentralize these centres of knowledge, innovation and new technology, to equip the its users, whether marginalized group, member of the public, tourist or corporate elite, with new knowledge and experiences through a series of workshops and collaboration spaces.

The project explores this through a development of a spectrum of spaces ranging across

differing engagements. It first considers the traditional engagement between the public and centres of knowledge, where the public is often approached as a spectator with very limited and controlled access to these innovations as dictated by the centres. This can be observed in spaces such as exhibitions and gallery spaces. Collaborative spaces and workshops will begin to include public as participants while these innovation labs and corporations on site are tasked to be contributors and facilitate these lessons. Adaptable spaces equipped with technology from these labs are then introduced, awarding public users with free acces to them. They then become contributors as well, as they appropriate the spaces to accomodate for their practices and cultures. Social affordances (Gibson, 2015) allow for an exchange of skills, cultures and practices as the civic space now allows for a diverse range of practices and activities previously unaccomodated for in the city, creating multiplicities of subcultures and identities. It becomes a space where everyone is included.

Figure 7.3 | Exploring Potential Design Programmes

Chapter Eight The New CBD

The project investigates the new Jurong Lake District as a potential site for design

intervention. Stipulated as the upcoming second Central Business District (CBD) in Singapore, it is marketed around the novel integration of work, life and play. It proposes a series of high end hybrid podium developments that provide spaces for commercial, residential, business and leisure activities. The masterplan was designed with the intention of elevating the district to an iconic business, innovation and tourism hub.

New Dynamics in the City. The project speculates that the introduction of this novel

district of work, life and play, along with its high-end privatised developments, will result in the amplification of both production and consumption zones. Where once these were kept apart in the city, the unification of these zones would present a more extreme and complex institutionalization of the structures of power embedded in them. Labour will also further transcend the workplace as boundaries between work and living are increasingly blurred and the neoliberal system will be further enabled to exploit the labourer.

Economists have predicted that the introduction of the HSR will bring huge growth to the

service industry in Singapore. Attempts to fully tap into this projected rise in the industry can be observed through the introduction of high end developments and the segregation of the masterplan into specific zones to facilitate consumption. It has become rather evident that the district would potentially be turned into another playground of experiences for the upper classes of Singaporeans and tourists, while further exploiting service workers and work permit holders.

As such, the project asserts that the siting of its architecture within this masterplan is crucial

as there is a dire need to challenge these potentially amplified structures of power and control to prevent the further exploitation and oppression of the neoliberal subject, this being the service workers and work permit holders in the case of this master plan.

Figure 8.1 | Private Podium Developments in JLD

Figure 8.2 | City Walk in JLD

Figure 8.3 | Central Park in JLD

Figure 8.4 | Site Analysis: Zoning + Key Points

Figure 8.5 | Site Analysis: Planning Strategies of the Masterplan

Figure 8.6 | Site Analysis: Potential Clashes / Segregation + Site Location

Chapter Nine The JLD Innovation Park

The architecture takes form as an innovation park spanning the initial length of the city

walk, acting as a gateway into the proposed Jurong Lake District. This positioning as the first point of engagement within the district gives it the potential to heavily impact and craft the framing and identity of the site as perceived by its users along with the general public.

The overarching agenda of the architecture is to craft an inclusive and democratic space

within the heart of the JLD. A space that everyone can come to regardless of purpose and still find a moment within it to appropriate and be engaged with. This meant that the architecture has to accommodate for a range of activities and demographics beyond those depicted within the original masterplan.

Beyond this, the architecture is also approached as an exploration into how the research

driven design approach and toolkit can be implemented within spaces in the city to facilitate conditions and engagements that begin to challenge existing power structures and conditions.

Through these, the JLD Innovation Park attempts to recraft the identity of the district into

that of a more inclusive and democratic CBD as opposed to that of a high end tourist and business destination, a mere replica of the already existing and very discriminatory city.

9.1. Existing Power Structures

To begin challenging these existing power structures, it is first necessary to identify the

operations of the proposed JLD masterplan that bears many similarities to that of the existing city.

Segregation from Existing Community. This already begins to manifest from the initial

disembarkation from the Jurong East MRT Station where pedestrians are led onto an elevated city walk that seamlessly links the station to its surrounding commercial developments and to the JLD. This creates a segregation from the existing heartland community, allowing for a sterilisation of the environment that directs the pedestrian’s focus to the commercial spaces and frames the City Walk into JLD as a more elusive journey as opposed to its surrounding context.

Uninterrupted Line of Path. The City Walk is an efficient, uninterrupted line of path

that cuts right through the heart of the JLD. While on this path, pedestrians are bombarded with commercial programmes and heavily curated experiences. The City Walk allows for users of the district, this being mainly office workers, labourers and visitors, to efficiently travel through the site to their destination with minimal disruptions and distractions. Any alternatives proposed by the city walk are essentially those of commerce and paid experiences as observed in the consumption zones of the city.

Commodified Goods and Experiences. The City Walk is one of the few moments where

a congregation of the various classes and identities within this heavily striated district occurs, and it is not coincidental that it is where a majority of the commercial and recreational programmes have been allocated to. This results in almost every moment outside of work and labour in this district being spent on consuming, as elusive commodified goods and experiences dominate the pedestrian’s journey through the City Walk. Aside from the dedicated central park and exposed promenades, there are no alternative spaces that provide users with an escape from the prescriptive nature of the district. To be included, one must engage with the programmes prescribed by the city.

Centralized Knowledge and Information. Knowledge and information within the district,

if designed similarly to the theme of the existing city, can be foreseen as powers that will be heavily centralized within the confines of the production zones, these being the offices and innovation labs.

They will potentially be manipulated and protected for the amplification of capital accumulation for the respective corporations. The contrast between the centralized information and knowledge within the production zones and the lack of in the public sphere will be further amplified by the increased presence of innovation labs.

To challenge these powers, the previously developed toolkit of design principles has been

revisited and refined to be effectively implemented into the architecture. These have been defined in figures 9.x – 9.x

Figure 9.1 | Masterplan and Site Analysis

Figure 9.2 | The Design Toolkit: Affordance

Figure 9.3 | The Design Toolkit: Adaptable

Figure 9.4 | The Design Toolkit: Disruption

Figure 9.5 | The Design Toolkit: Restoration

9.2. Challenging Power Structures

As the power sources within the district have been allocated within office towers with

restricted accessibility to the public, it is necessary to first reintroduce these into the architecture in order to begin altering their resulting power structures.

The increased presence in technology within the district is seen as a rather new source

of power that has not yet fully been integrated within the existing city, and sees potential for an intervention focused around it. As such, three key programmes have been introduced into the architecture, taking form as a robotics innovation lab, a prefabrication lab and an art studio. These tackle three key aspects that could potentially be increasingly centralized when technology is fully integrated into the existing city: information and knowledge, equipment and culture.

The architecture attempts to challenge the power structures surrounding these sources

through the implementation of three key strategies.

Terrain. An undulating terrain surrounds each of these key programme that affords various

engagements and uses as defined by its user. It opposes the prescriptive nature of conventional spaces within the city. It blends into these key programmes and encourages its users to begin appropriating the terrain to facilitate their activities. This is not limiting however, and other demographics can begin to infiltrate and negotiate these spaces as well. Through these cross engagements, information and knowledge can be disseminated to others that they may not typically come across. Users also benefit from a more appropriable space that can cater to their changing needs.

Adaptable Track. With each programming providing a range of differing information and

experiences that are at times heavily dependent on dedicated equipment, adaptable tracks have been integrated into the architecture that meanders across the terrain. Users have the ability to call or bring out the equipment onto the terrain to provide for added functionality and pragmatic application. Through this, users can better engage the terrain for their needs while also crafting various experiences and installations for public perusal. This also provides accessibility to the general public who can access the equipment through a dedicated wireless network within the

innovation park. The track also allows for users to add their own builds onto it, crafting unique and constantly changing spaces and moments across the innovation park.

Supporting Spaces. Another source of power that plays a role within the architecture is

the commercial space. The project manipulates commerce through the introduction of scattered commercial spaces across the ground floor that support the users of these key programmes, be it artists, innovators or creators. These users can sell goods and experiences through an appropriation of these spaces for profit to fund projects and research, at the same time exposing the public to the latest art, information and experiences. Additional supporting spaces such as dedicated galleries and more private innovation labs and art studios are provided on the upper levels to provide more support for these independent users and start-ups. While occupying these spaces, they are placed in charge of curating and running installations, galleries and workshops within the innovation park.

Figure 9.6 | Render: Ground Floor Terrain

Figure 9.7 | Enlarged Plan: Robotics Innovation Lab

Figure 9.8 | Enlarged Plan: Fabrication Lab

Figure 9.9 | Enlarged Plan: Art Studio

Figure 9.10 | Exploded Axonometric

Figure 9.11 | First Storey Plan

9.3 Spatial Layout

The key programmes and their surrounding terrains are spread across the innovation park

around a meandering central spine on the ground floor. The central spine provides pedestrians with extended views and experiences into the multitude of diverse activities throughout the architecture while at various points blending into the terrain, promoting constant engagements between the various spaces. This disrupts the seamless efficient path within the city as it begins to provide pedestrians with all forms of alternative activities and spaces, while slowing down their journey to their destination, extending their time spent in the development, increasing the potential for more exposure to a wide range of engagements and information.

Neutral spaces are scattered across the terrain in between the key programmes and their

immediate terrains to provide breathing spaces and escapes should users choose to disengage from the activities and negotiations the site has to offer. This allows the innovation park to always include all demographics even if they choose not to engage in the programmes catered for by the development.

The upper floors consist of supporting spaces that help enhance the functioning of the

development along with various access points into the neighbouring podium blocks.

Figure 9.12 | Second Storey Plan

Figure 9.13 | Third Storey Plan

Figure 9.14 | Render: Foodcourt

9.4. Facilitating New Engagements

Inserting Communities. By providing a dedicated artists’ residence and a shared

accommodation for workers, innovators and camp programmes, more permanent demographics are introduced into the innovation park that also provide for a wider range of identities in contrasts to those catered for in the masterplan. These demographics can take more ownership over the crafting of the spaces and experiences across the terrain while also providing the architecture more constant engagements over time.

Cross Engagements through Circulation. More supporting spaces in the form of

commercial programmes, such as shopping, food and curated experiences, are scattered across the upper storeys of the development to encourage users to explore the various journeys available in the innovation park. Circulation to the upper floors are located at the points where the terrains meet the key programmes that could also be seen as the epicentre of engagements between users of the key programmes and the public. Journeying to these supporting spaces bring users deeper into the hearts of the innovation park, breeding more cross engagements between different identities that may rarely come into contact within the more striated existing city.

Figure 9.15 | Render: Side Entrance into Art Terrain

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Figure 9.16 | Overall Seciont A-A

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Figure 9.17 | Enlarged Plan: Material Recycling Lab

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9.5. On Site Operations.

The three key programmes, along with the material recycling centre, are the main

stakeholders of the functioning of the innovation park and work together to each tackle an aspect of its operations.

Robotics Innovation Lab. Focusing on the technological and informational aspects of

the innovation park, the Robotics Innovation lab aids in maintaining the various technological equipment across the architecture while also managing the servers and networks needed to support them. It is also in charge of bringing new innovative equipment to the development as the architecture acts as an active test bed for its innovators.

Fabrication Lab. Focuses on the fabrication of parts needed during the maintenance

of the architecture and provides the equipment needed by other operations. It not only provides accessibility to high tech industry standard fabrication equipment and the knowledge to use it to the public and its users, but also acts as a prototyping lab for the various innovation labs in the district and the neighbouring industrial parks, acting as a collaboration space for innovators across the region. Its innovators will focus on the development and updating of high tech fabrication equipment within the innovation park.

Art Studio. Focuses on cultural activities and event planning for the innovation park. It

also ensures the providence of traditional craft and fabrication tools for innovators, artists and the public.

Material Recycling Centre. Collects used plastics and concretes from across the district to

be recycled as fabrication and making material for the fabrication lab and art studio. The internal logistics centre also facilitates logistic sorting for the innovation park. It researches on new recycling techniques to create more sustainable fabrication and prototyping processes.

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Figure 9.18 | Section B-B

Figure 9.19 | Section C-C

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Figure 9.19 | Section D-D

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Chapter Ten Conclusion

While arguably, architectural interventions alone may never be sufficient in mediating the

power structures within the city, the resulting social injustices cannot be resolved without proper spatial remedies, as social structures are reinforced by space in the same way space is crafted by society (Soja, 2010). The thesis was an investigation into how the development of a new approach towards designing spaces within the city could facilitate the creation of more inclusive and democratic spaces while maintaining, or even enhancing, its functioning and outputs. It is undeniable that production and consumption zones are needed for the functioning of the city, but its transcendence into every aspect of the city is unnecessary, and at times, even counterproductive. A balance between these zones and civic spaces are needed, but its mere provision is insufficient still. The goal should be to strive for cohesion between the civic space and these zones, such that the civic space may act as a cushion or breathing space for the power structures that will inevitably develop around these zones. The thesis attempted to explore how this cohesion could be achieved through the implementation of the toolkit of design principles. It creates a range of conditions that have the potential to facilitate new engagements that challenge the segregation and prescriptions embedded in the power structures of the city, establishing new structures when activated, no matter how temporal. Its spaces allow users to engage with or disengage from the activities within the architecture when they choose to, a key trait of a truly inclusive and democratic civic space. While this alone is insufficient in resolving the inequalities of the city, I believe the development of this approach and toolkit could be a gateway towards an inclusive city as it begins to present new conditions and engagement otherwise restricted and removed by existing power structures and is key to the dilution, divergence and manipulation of power.

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Appendix A Initial Investigation of the Divisions of the City

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Appendix B Investigation of Migrant Worker Recreation Centre

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Appendix C Investigating New Progressivism as Alternative to Neoliberalism

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Appendix D Alternative Site And Design Implementation Study

Of Temporal Dwellings

Site: Sers relocation sites

Key actors: Migrant workers, Rental housing residents, Relocated residents

Proposal: Established communities are often opposed to the idea of introducing new

demographics and elements into their territories unless these prove to be beneficial. This scenarios sees the uprooting and relocation of communities by the SERS programme as a potential to create new engagements with other demographics not native to their estates. It plays on the temporalities of the migrant workers, rental housing residents and relocated residents, bringing them together through spontaneous engagements facilitated by a new temporal housing typology that elevates the resident from the role of an end user to that of a designer. The community can work together through shared knowledge and culture to alter and add on to the architecture, creating a housing estate that is uniquely does. This scenario sees an architecture that grows and adapts as its inhabitants change over time, reflecting the changing identities and temporalities within.

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Appendix E Alternative Site And Design Implementation Study Mediating Existing Neighbourhoods

Site: Toh guan estate

Key actors: Migrant workers, HDB estate residents, Industry workers

Proposal: Despite acknowledging the exclusion of the migrant worker dormitory as an

issue, many Singaporeans are still unwilling to have the dormitories moved into their estates. There is also the possibility that moving the migrant workers into close proximity of already densely populated estates could increase tensions between groups. Established communities are often opposed to the idea of introducting new demographics and elements into their territories unless these prove to be beneficial. Could including these migrant workers in the upgrading process of these communities help them prove useful not just to the economy but to society as well? This scenario seeks a new approach to the upgrading of estates, where the community actively participates and negotiates in designing and decision making, and are required, through engagements with the migrant workers within the estate, to realise these designs.

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Appendix F Initial Design Vision

Documentation of initial visualisation of what a an inclusive and democratic architecture

in the heart of the city could be. These images were produced during the first semester and were an attempt at translating the theoretical approaches into initial design explorations.

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Appendix G Design Iteration 1

The first design iteration attempted to speculate and identify the key power sources with-

in the proposed JLD masterplan and challenge them individually through a series of architectural injections scattered across the city walk. The intention of this was design exploration was to gain an understanding of the spatial demands and strategies needed to begin challenging the power structures surrounding these key sources.

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Appendix H Design Iteration 2

The second design iteration explored the congregation of the various architectural in-

jections in the previous iteration into a single site to explore how the collision of these various strategies and power sources could create new dynamics and engagements between the differing identities belonging to the various zones of the city.

It features an elevated citywalk that sees an accentuation of high end commerce, a satir-

ical gesture toward the proposed citywalk and contrasts it with a more democratic and inclusive space above only accessible through service spaces and back entrances, making it more accessible to the less wealthy and demographics seeking an escape from consumption.

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Appendix I Design Iteration 3

The third design iteration retains a similar spatial layout as that of the second but attempts

to better engage the city walk with more dynamic architectural elements that feature new engagements between the city walk and the inclusive space above. It attempts to reverse the power structures between the upper middle class and the labourers, giving power to the excluded to craft the experiences of the spaces while the upper middle class can merely watch from a distance. This seemed rather antithetical on hindside as it still retains similar tones of segregation and discrimination. There has to be a middle ground between a reversal of structures and the creation of an entirely neutral space.

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