H E T E R O T O P I A PORTFOLIO
MARC HUANG
Author: Marcus Huang Jieliang 黄捷量 “ Marc Huang “ Singapore
First Published through ISSUU, 2020 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without permission. All images are the property of the author unless credited otherwise. Photo credits: as attributed in the pages. Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders of material reproduced in this publication. The author would be pleased to rectify any omissions in subsequent editions of this publication should they be drawn to his attention. The author may be reached via email: marc_wong_leaf@hotmail.com
The author is thankful for all things bitter and sweet that came into his
life: family, friends, people, ups and downs, without whom/which this book would not have been possible. He wishes you the utmost joy in reading this publication, which was crafted for the beautification of the world.
MARC HUANG
H E T E R O
O T O P I A
M AR C H UANG EDUCATION
2011 - 2016 FALL 2014
Architecture, National University of Singapore Zhejiang University ZJU
2006 - 2008
Nanyang Junior College
2002 - 2005
Catholic High School Secondary
1996 - 2001
Catholic High School Primary
AWARDS
2006
Art Elective Programme Scholarship
2006
Singapore Youth Festival Arts and Crafts SILVER
2007
INK AWARDS 2007 GOLD
2010
Company Best Light Transport Company
EXHIBITIONS/ PUBLICATIONS
N
2009
Transfinity Art and Music Elective combined showcase
2012
East Coast Park Public Facilities Redesign
2012
SIM 120th Anniversary Painting launch
2013
Actualities and Potentialities summer studio exhibition
2018
Conversations in Eden @Zarch painting exhibition
ROLES 2005
ROLES
Head of Young Artists’ Society CHS
2007 - 2008
President of Art Club NYJC
2009 - 2010
VIP Transport Operator LTC MINDEF 2009 - 2010
RELATED SKILLS
RELATED SKILLS Autocad
Sketchup, Vray, Rhino, Grasshopper Adobe Suite
INTERESTS ARTS & MUSIC SPORTS
INTERESTS
Painting, Sculpture, Illustration, Piano Soccer, Swimming 10
ARCHITECTURE 2016 | THESIS 2015 | FLOW CITY 2014 | WETLAND INN 2013 | THE METROPOLITAN RANGE 2012 | PLUMERIA HOUSE 2011 | WIND LODGE 2010 | HESPERIDES HOUSE
PAINTINGS 2005 | REAL LIFE DRAMA 2008 | ALLEGORY OF URBAN CHILDREN 2012 | HIGH KING OF HEAVEN 2017 | THE BERTH OF LIFE 2018 | IMMENSITIES 2019 | PATROCLUS
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“I produce my architecture by asking myself how
I can create things that remain forever imprinted on people’s souls.”
- TADAO ANDO
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H E T E R O T O P I A
“OTHER PLACE”
Greek ετερος (héteros, "other, another, different") combining Greek morpheme τόπος (topos, "place")
Memory, community, a consciousness of nature and their collectively inspiring
meanings are key aspects in life that enrich human existence well beyond the trappings of material accumulations. Yet in many cities today, places and spaces containing these are often hastily replaced with developments skewed towards money-centred paragons, reducing the humanising attribute to no more than a game of real estate. There are little to no coping mechanisms that have adequately matched this pace of change, precariously leaving many to adapt and fend for themselves.
In Singapore, municipal plans aspire towards a city of ten million by 2030, but can it
also upkeep the spiritual aspects of the urban populace chiefly through a sense of belonging and purpose? The rapid erasure of Singapore’s time-honored past in favour of real estate profits has sparked growing public outcries, shedding light that something beyond dollars and cents is also required moving forward.
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As anthropology reveals, physical survival needs symbiosis with an other-centered
spiritual counterpart in order to flourish sustainably, exemplified by thriving communities that tend to be built on mutually nurturing shared values and ideals. The increasing lack of such qualities in expanding metropolises like Singapore poses a threat not just to the spiritual health of its citizens but possibly to the survival of the city in the long run: what will be the moral imperative to keep citizens committed to the habitability of cities should money become king?
Singapore’s spatial dilemmas continue to leave many unanswered questions,
creating a perpetually growing heterotopia of cognitive dissonance amongst its inhabitants. My work follows some of these inquiries into semiotics within the built environment, manifesting them through deviant material space amidst concurrent deterministic models, where I hope to uncover ways to cope with the impending changes ahead.
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ARCHITECTURE
HOME
WIND
TIME
FOOD
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22
48
72
102
MARSH
FLOW
MIND
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168
200
224
ART
TREE
LION
LOVE
SPIRIT
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266
270
278
282
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HOME
“Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one;
stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration.�
- Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit (Penguin, 1999)
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Hesperides House
Pre-university | 2009 - 2010
Hesperides House is an inter-terrace property in Singapore. Named for its sunset views from the backyard, it was redesigned to weave daylight and breeze into living space for a family of four and their pet animals.
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01
|
Hesperides House
HESPERIDES HOUSE LIGHT & WIND
01
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Hesperides House
01
|
Hesperides House
SUNKISSED
Longitudinally aligned with the equatorial sun
path for most of the year, the site receives an abundance of light and heat on the front and back almost daily. In a spirit of embracing the native clime, this home renovation adapted passive lighting and cooling spatial responses from black and white houses of Singapore, featuring sunshine and breeze as main elements.
01
|
Hesperides House
The drama of the rising sun is framed with
broad lofty openings on the front elevation. Eaves above gradually shade the interior as the golden hour progresses into a noonday blaze.
Hesperides House | 01
OPENING UP
Replanning the existing structure prioritized opening up the space towards the outdoors,
freeing the clutter of many years. This also allows cooling winds to sweep through more readily, taking away excess heat. From front to back, daylight and ventilation keeps the space naturally illuminated and airy.
ORIGINAL
RENEWAL
An interior of light and air
Hesperides House | 01
LEARNING
Collaborating directly with interior designers, contractors
and the building team provided valuable first-hand experiences in the renovation process from drafting to construction. Ideas were frequently subjected to feasibilty assessments through veterans before being materialised through professional workmanship. The collective imput of everyone from their respective stations is instrumental in completing the project.
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35
Hesperides House | 01
The dry and wet kitchen are aligned along the
same axis leading towards the backyard, allowing smoother airflow. Planned in a sequence conducive to homecooking, it places the stove by the washing area behind and the pantry and refrigeration nearer the dining and living room. An island doubles as an alternate dining area while further delineating the kitchen.
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Hesperides House | 01
Every possible channel of ventilaton and illumination is utilized,
creating avenues of vitality and depth within the spaces. Beams, columns and existing structure are intentionally expressed to frame the entering light, creating alcoves and luminous murals.
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Hesperides House | 01
As the day draws to an end, heat recedes and
sunlight turns golden once more. Half height windows on the rear elevation frame a gilded landscape beneath chromatic skies. Echoing mythic aspects of the Hesperides, Nymphs of the West, the architectural symphony of light and wind reaches its climax.
Hesperides House | 01
Oh God, bring me to the sea’s end To the Hesperides, sisters of evening, Who sing alone in their islands Where the golden apples grow, And the Lord of Oceans guards the way From all who would sail Into their night-blue harbors — Let me escape to the rim of the world Where the tremendous firmament meets The earth, and Atlas holds the universe In his palms. For there, in the palace of Zeus, Wells of ambrosia pour through the chambers, While the sacred earth lavishes life And Time adds his years Only to heaven’s happiness
- Euripdes, Hippolytus (PBS, The Question of God)
01
|
Hesperides House
WIND
“There is no kingdom like the forests. It is time I
went there, went in silence, went alone.�
- Ursula K. Le Guin, The Farthest Shore (Penguin, 1993)
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Wind Lodge
Year 1, Semester 2 | 2012
Wind Lodge is a 30 m2 retreat built in the woods of MacRitchie Reservoir, Singapore’s earliest water catchment reserve. It imagines a stayover in the native woodland clime of the Southeast Asian archipelago, exploring architecture’s ability to convey inspiring aspects of the natural world to human inhabitants.
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02
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Retreat
WIND LODGE ZEPHYR
Retreat | 02
MACRITCHIE RESERVOIR
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MACRITCHIE RESERVOIR 1898
SINGAPORE ISLAND LATE 19TH CENTURY FOREST RESERVES, 1898
SYLVAN RESCUE
MacRitchie Reservoir was first conceived to address
Singapore’s growing water shortage in the 19th century as the local 1898
populace was increasing rapidly with trade.
MACRITCHIE RESERVOIR AND SURROUNDING FOREST RESERVES
Constructed and later expanded upon by British colonial
governors and local donors between 1857 and 1891, it eventually 3
reached its current capacity of 2,110,000 m . This, however, was still insufficient to meet the evergrowing public demand for years, prompting more reservoir projects and a water treaty with SELETAR
neighbouring Johor in the decades to come.
1900 1910 -1975
Work on the reservoirs did bring an end to another
pressing issue - rapid deforestation, which had by 1886 reduced the
PIERCE
ADDITION OF UPPER AND LOWER PIERCE RESERVOIRS 1939 -1986 ADDITION OF UPPER AND LOWER SELETAR RESERVOIRS
island-wide forest cover to a mere tenth of the original.
The surrounding woods of MacRitchie Reservoir were
established as a water catchment forest reserve and combined with similar reservoir models nearby, allowed Singapore’s woodland biodiversity to thrive alongside a burgeoning freshwater habitat to this day.
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2000 REGROWTH OF NATIVE RAINFORESTS COMBINE
TO FORM CENTRAL CATCHMENT NATURE RESERVE AND BUKIT TIMAH NATURE RESERVE, BECOMING SINGAPORE’S GREEN LUNGS
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ISLAND CLUB ROAD
Retreat
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| 02
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7
6
2
4 3
5
6
7
MACRITCHIE TREETOP WALK TRAILHEAD
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5
1
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4
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5 3
SITE
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5
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3
7 2
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1
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2 1
2 1
MACRITCHIE RESERVOIR
GOLF LINK
1 2 3
1 4
3
1
2 2
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4
2
2
3
START OF LORNIE TRAIL
4
END OF LORNIE TRAIL
TERRAIN
FOREST
0
PRIMARY FOREST
RESERVOIR
1 KM
2 KM
GOLF COURSE
FACILITIES 1. MACRITCHIE RESERVOIR PARK
4. SYONAN JINJA RUINS
7. BUKIT KALANG SERVICE RESERVOIR
2. LIM BO SENG MEMORIAL
5. JELUTONG TOWER
8. MACRITCHIE TREETOP WALK
3. THE SINGAPORE ISLAND COUNTRY CLUB
6. RANGER STATION
9. SINGAPORE ISLAND COUNTRY CLUB
SYNCHRONICITIES 1
2
MacRitchie Reservoir’s role as a stronghold of nature persisted
even as Singapore fell to the Japanese Empire in 1942. The western portion of the reservoir woods was deemed ideal for the construction of Syonan Jinja, a Shinto shrine dedicated to Japan’s highest deity - the sun. The sacred edifice fell to ritual destruction shortly before the Japanese surrendered in 1945, leaving its ruins untended amidst regrowing trees till today.
HI
ITC
CR MA
AIL
R ET
1
Preservation of biodiversity resumed in peacetime with aims to
bridge man and wood when recreational features from the British colonial era were enhanced in greater intimacy with the natural world. Boardwalks, forest trails, a view tower, a canopy bridge and routes for canoeing and kayaking appeared over the years, turning MacRitchie Reservoir into a much loved treasury of wildlife today.
1. Divine Bridge, Syonan Jinja, 1942 Credit Asahi Shimbun 2. Syonan Jinja Torii Gate, 1942 Credit Mainichi Newspapers Company 3
3. MacRitchie Treetop Walk, 2004 Credit National Parks Board, Singapore
Retreat
PRIMARY RAINFOREST
3
SECONDARY RAINFOREST
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DIVINE BRIDGE RUINS
SYONAN JINJA RUINS
PA N
O
RA
M
A
2
02
1
RETREAT
1
AIL
K TR
F LIN
GOL
GOLF COURSE
PANORAMA 01
GOLF LINK TRAIL
GOLF COURSE
1 2 4
3
SITE 0
100 M
200 M
PANORAMA 01
1
2
LIMINALITY
The site lies between two woods
along the banks of the reservoir, forming a border and threshold to each side. Groves adorning the golf course face native rainforests across the waters where ruins of Syonan Jinja’s divine bridge sometimes emerge.
1. View towards golf course Credit flickr.com, Ken YEW 2. View towards forest
PANORAMA 02
Retreat | 02
INSPIRATION
Nature inspires the mind
across cultures and times, adding positive
dimensions
to
human
psychology and emotion. Framing these qualities in space to trigger intellectual
responses
forms
the
overarching purpose for the retreat. Â
SPACE
The
simplicity
of
the
boardwalk structure expresses man’s unique ability to interact with nature in a way that lets it thrive while also getting to enjoy its benign and delightful attributes.
ECOLOGY
Falling
forest
leaves
enter the waters, breaking down into the reservoir bed as nourishment for aquatic life. The waters rise again as clouds and descend once more as rain, irrigating the woods and replenishing the reservoir.
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SYLVAN CHORUS
The song of tailorbirds
at dawn to the cries of cicadas till evening form the ongoing music in the
LIVING JEWELS
woods. These patterns of sound are vital performances for many species in
Scintillating
hues
the journey of procreation.
flash
across the bodies of many insects,
WILD MAJESTY
WIND
scarabs and grasshoppers.
A pleasurable entity that
sometimes borders on ecstasy, wind quickens the poetic perceptions of nature, rippling waters and rustling woods.
NATURE
Nature remains complex
beyond description, yet appealing to many as a poetic entity. The panoply of plants and creatures found in the woods and waters are indicators of ecological health and artistry, living embodiments of vitality in perpetual pageantry.
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herons
are
an
important presence here, choosing only
pollution-free
ecological
conditions to nest. Relying on shallow waterbodies to hunt and woods to roost,
namely the dragonflies, butterflies,
Purple
their
appearance
indicates
health in the overall environment.
Retreat | 02
BETWIXT AND BETWEEN
The layout takes its cue from the dual
conditions of nature on site, angled to prevalent wind directions and characteristic views.
CATCHING THE WIND
Shaped after a funnel, the form creates
a venturi effect where wind speeds increase internally for greater passive ventilation and atmospheric effect. Tapered ends further extend sun shading, reducing interior temperatures and evoking the mythic west wind.
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0
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3M
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Retreat
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2
3M
Retreat | 02
SOCIAL SPACE
Upon
climbing
into
the space, the floor takes a descent towards the common table, becoming seating spots around it. Formality quickly gives way to huddled ease and restfulness, engendering a social climate of warmth and togetherness.
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WIND PATH
With the windows closed,
wind continues to flow from the open end at the sink towards the common table and out the louvres at the end. Directing wind under the table concentrates it towards occupants, making passive cooling more effective. It also adds to the overall atmosphere of mythic exhileration.
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Retreat | 02
SANCTUM
Beyond the social space
is a bedroom for stayovers and personal reflection. The path ascends towards a spatial climax at the desk, which is a suspended plane between loadbearing walls facing a horizon of woods.
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WIND PATH
With the windows closed,
wind continues to flow from the perforations at the bed towards the suspended desk. The wind takes a dramatic turn when it passes over the desk, stirring the poetic imagination towards natural splendour.
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02
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Retreat
TIME
"But the old life is gone, all its times, all its hours
and days, gone. Can even Omnipotence bring back? Where do years go, and why?" - C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength (Scribner, 2003)
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Plumeria House
Year 1, Semester 2 | 2012
Plumeria House is a two-storey garden studio in Kampong Glam, a heritage and conservation area in Singapore. It proposes an alternate approach to rebuild fallen shophouses of Singapore in a spirit of openess towards the past, present and future holistically, beyond conventions of forms.
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replicating original
03
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Plumeria House
PLUMERIA HOUSE
CONSCIOUS ABSENCE
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03
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Plumeria House
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Plumeria House | 03
THE SINGAPORE SHOPHOUSE Before turning into objects of nostalgic reminiscence under 21st century conservation guidelines, the shophouses of Singapore had in fact been the first rendition of a 19th century Southeast Asian Central Business District following the island’s establishment as a modern port city by British colonizers in 1819. Louis Vuitton period juxtaposition Arab Street, Hari Raya Puasa 1960 Credit thepeakmagazine.com.sg
Integrating working and living spaces, along with passive climate modulating strategies such as five foot ways and airwells, these shophouses served as state of the art architecture for a burgeoning port city before evolving into air-conditioned skyscrapers near the mid-20th century.
Today, shophouse districts have acquired an exotic and liminal urban presence, affording an increasingly rare spatial experience of life at street level while also allowing the mind to wonder about the past. These aspects are to constitute their currency today as a tourist attraction, particulary those of their unique facades, which are highly ornamented architectural forms from largely European, Chinese and Malay origins.
POSTMODERN (1989 -
)
Key Elements of Singapore Shophouse Credit URA
Shophouse Evolution Credit URA
1836 The Town and Environs of Singapore (detail) Kampong Glam in red Credit G.D. Coleman anc J.B. Tassin
1964 aerial photograph of Kampong Glam Erased portions of Kampong Glam in red Credit Jane Perkins and ST Library with changes by Imran bin Tajudeen
SITE Today, Kampong Glam still bears an extensive cluster of surviving shophouses in Singapore, shaped by a history of displacement, exploitation and development from the British colonial era.
Originally slated as an ethnic enclave for Islamic communities from around the Malay archipelago, it has since undergone extensive erasure, repurposing and preservation following
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2
Singapore’s independence.
Key Buildings: 1. Sultan Mosque,
built 1824, rebuilt 1924
2. Malay Heritage Centre,
built 1836, formerly Istana Kampong Gelam, royal residence of puppet sultanate of Singapore
Aerial Perspective of Kampong Glam Credit Bob Tan
Plumeria House | 03
RECONSTRUCTIONS
The empty site contains almost no trace of the former shophouse, leaving its past completely to the imagination. Conventional practice tends to rebuild fallen shophouses to their original state, but with neighbouring designs evolving over time before heritage boundaries were established, which rendition can be posited as the original?
CLUSTER
FIVE FOOT WAY
VOLUME
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Kampong Glam aerial view, 1977 Credit https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg Syam Ariffin
Plumeria House | 03
TRANSCENDENCE
The collapse of the former shophouse seems to herald an end to the commercial and
historical paradigm on site, closing its urban life cycle. The remaining void is overshadowed by the mosque, accentuating spiritual connotations amidst the desolation.
Introspectively, the site has transcended all boundaries of meaning and purpose, passing
on into a state of unfettered possiblities. Already evoking the life and death of the former building, opportunities emerge from the emptiness to encourage new perspectives on the meaning of heritage, identity and the passage of time in Singapore through tactile responses to the former’s absence.
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Plumeria House | 03
CLIMATIC ELEMENTS
NATIVE TRIGGER
RECEPTACLE
HISTORIC TRIGGER
RESPONSE
GARDEN
STUDIO
PERCEPTION OF TIME
SITE RESPONSE
Transforming the void into a garden
studio that systematically collects the native clime and ruins creates a receptacle in which passersby can interact with inherent qualities on site.
ISLAM
SUFISM The inward, spiritual dimension of Islam, which seeks to contemplate the nature of God though meditation, introspection, and renunciation of the world.
The studio in its midst generates
creative responses that go on to be exhibited in SUFISM
the garden, furthering collective reflections. Like
Tolerant and pluralist, Sufism transcends Islamic sects, finding expression chiefly through art, literature and music.
Sufism, the inward dimension of Islam, the site becomes an ongoing revelation of its layered history as people build up its meaning.
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The mosque, the sky and the waters, The sun and winds as they are and always have been, The earth and all its growing things, Enfolded to behold
Plumeria House | 03
Complex Palace Scene, 1539–1543 Persian Miniature Mir Sayyid Ali
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RESPONSE
RECEPTACLE
VOID
CONSCIOUS ABSENCE
The conspicuous absence of the
Likewise, Picasso’s portraits dissolve
This results in an implied volume that
former shophouse establishes the backdrop in
all physical mimicry of their sitters, reconstructing
plays out freely within the boundaries of the
the articulation of space. Within the silhouette
them with primal pictorial devices broadly
site, expressing a notion of the space as it had
of the party wall, a canvas emerges with which
categorised into lines, planes and colours. From
once been inhabited - an existential whole of
the programmes unfold evocatively, liberating
the sliding surfaces and their overlaps, one
walls, floors, entrances and exits, occupancy and
itself from all popular notions of the Singapore
deciphers and rediscovers the person shown,
vacation, mingled with the native clime.
shophouse. Reference was made to Persian
through the subconscious.
miniatures and Picasso’s portraits during this shaping process.
Mir’s palatial complex scene draws
many players and roles from the commercial to the purely artistic, forming a space of meetings and departures. Its compositional rhythm is redolent of life in the urban centre, recreating its dynamic totality within an architectural setting that successively appears and disengages.
1
1. Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, 1960 Photographed with portrait by Picasso Credit patrons.org.es 2. Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, 1910 Oil on canvas, 100.4 x 72.4 cm Pablo Picasso
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2
Plumeria House | 03
MUSING CROSSROADS
The party wall is minimally touched, leaving
the silhouette of the fomer edifice intact. An envelope of layered and cantilevering walls delineates an ethereal presence, transforming the former void into a looming ghost amidst its present incarnation. Transfixed between the past and unfolding future, one is beckoned to find new meaning within its walls.
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0
5
10 m
90
03
|
Plumeria House
ENFOLDED NATURE
Meandering the characteristic five foot way
through the building, a succession of spaces unfold like a persian miniature, where the boundaries between interior and exterior, man made and natural have been blurred and lyrically layered as one passes through. A public courtyard? A paradisal five foot way? Enjoy the walk, linger if you like.
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03
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Plumeria House
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Plumeria House
GF
|
01 ENTRANCE
03
02 COURTYARD 03 STORE/KIOSK
03
02
01
02
LONGITUDINAL SECTION
1F 01 STUDIO 01
02 BATHROOM
0
5m
94
10 m
95
Plumeria House | 03
SYMBIOSIS
A studio lingers above the courtyard, suspended in the
midst of the enclosure. From entry to exit, the poetry of a disappearing past is crystalised in the edifice, presented like song awaiting response. Resident artists and even passersby are envisaged to interact with the space to draw out their individual forms of thought and expression, bearing in mind the specific history and geography of the site. The grounds in turn become the exhibition space of these reactions.
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LONGITUDINAL SECTION
0
5
97
10 m
0
5m
98
10 m
03
|
Plumeria House
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FOOD
"The animals die that we may live, they are substitute
people...And we eat them, out of cans or otherwise; we are eaters of death, dead Christ-flesh resurrecting inside us, granting us life."
- Margaret Atwood, Surfacing (McClelland & Stewart, 1972)
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The Metropolitan Range Year 3, Semester 1 | 2013
The Metropolitan Range is a scheme where Singaporeans are invited to raise their own food, namely poultry, eventually slaughtering for a meal. It revives a way of life lost to most metropolitans, seeking
out
the
inherent value of food through its production processes.
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04
|
The Metropolitan Range
04
|
The Metropolitan Range
THE METROPOLITAN
RANGE
A
LITURGY
OF
LIFE
The Metropolitan Range | 04
1
METROPOLITAN DISCONNECT
FOOD in the 21st century has come to be a kind of
mass culture in most thriving metropolises around the world today, celebrating taste creations and traditions through sensational
media.
Multi-billion-dollar
industries
have
sprung from this food phenomenon globally, oftentimes with questionable profit margins and environmental impact.
PRODUCER
2
The studio began with an exploration of such
issues gripping the food industry in the 21st century global economy within this milieu. “Black Gold”, a documentary on the exploitation and unfair international trade deals plaguing coffee production in Ethiopia, was our starting point, with which
DISTRIBUTOR
we launched into further reflection on issues closer to home.
Like most first-world economies around the world
today, Singapore’s consumers are part of this food capitalism MARKETING
chain, positioned at its end, participating in its practices and also its ills. Many food producers supplying the Singaporean market face threats to their livelihoods similar to Ethiopian coffee growers in “Black Gold”, being grossly underpaid by
CONSUMER
distributors who aim to stay price competitive. The extent of such detriments remains largely obscure under shrouds of mass marketing campaigns till today and little change has effected inspite of the growing awareness. Those in the First World
WASTE
persist in consuming to the destruction of others, without considering the consequences. 1. Film logo Credit blackgoldmovie.com
POVERTY
2. Coffee sorting, Black Gold film still Credit Speak-it/Fulcrum Productions 3. Coffee Plantation in Singapore, 1890s Credit Gretchen Liu Collection
3
4
SINGAPORE SURPLUS
The current condition has little hope for change
unless global economic policies are first re-written to protect
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farmers. That, however, does not absolve Singapore completely
FOOD WASTE MANAGEMENT
from any efforts at inducing enhancements to its own food flow as it has also been plagued otherwise: a census by the National Environment Agency (NEA) measured staggering amounts of food waste in Singapore over consecutive years, the sum of
TOTAL FOOD WASTE GENERATED
which may have fed numerous third world settlements. Food, it
FOOD WASTE DISPOSED OF
appears, has now come to be taken for granted on this island.
While many initiatives have sprung up to salvage food
waste in Singapore, the root of the problem still has not been dealt with, namely the prevalent apathy towards the value of food amongst Singaporeans. Current cultural valuations of food in
FOOD WASTE RECYCLED
Singaporeans contrast sharply with those before modernisation in the 60s, when food wastage was a major taboo. Besides
6
greater financial difficulties, key motivations behind preventing wastage also differed at a spiritual level, where the life in food was widely revered as a gift and substitutionary sacrifice.
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4. Singaporean students mugging at Starbucks Bishan Community Club Credit The Straits Times ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
5. Attitude towards food waste in Singapore Credit NEA & VA Singapore 6. Food waste management statistics Credit NEA
1939
GROWN IN
SINGAPORE
04
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The Metropolitan Range
AS OF
FISHERIES 1938 -
PRAWN FARMS 1980s
HAY DAIRIES 1988 -
CHICKEN FARMS 1938 -
PIG FARMS 1938 - 1974
SINGAPORE DAIRY FARM
1929 - 1970s
Meat and vegetables were largely supplied in Singapore through commercial farms and homegrown produce in kampongs
LONG KUAN HUNG
1964 -
C
CHIAM JOO SENG
1969 -
FISHERIES
PIG FARMS 1974 - 1989
FUN FACT Poultry supply once reached selfsufficient quantities in Singapore for a total population of 1.6 million in the late 1950s in spite of poor soil conditions and traditional farming methods.
Singapore Island map F.M.S. Surveys 1939 Credit War Office, 1941, The Straits Settlements
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Refer to appendix for image credits
The Metropolitan Range | 04
UNTOUCHED LANDSCAPE AGRARIAN SPRAWL
1
1819
RADIANT REVOLUTION
The majority of Singapore’s 19th - mid 20th century
settlers lived in villages (kampongs) under conditions bordering on poverty, where food and livelihood were usually derived from home-raised crops and livestock. Family life centred around agriculture, actively and intimately involved in the production of one’s own food. Whenever meals came, everyone was usually
FOREST RESERVES
grateful for getting to eat; wastage even in the slightest was
AGRARIAN SPRAWL
unthinkable.
1939
However, when the modernisation of Singapore kicked
URBAN SPRAWL
LARGEST CONCENTRATION OF FARMS
off in the 1960s, this attitude towards food began to change as kampongs were rapidly replaced with high rise public housing estates. A predominantly agrarian society was overhauled, converted to a more economically advantageous clerical workforce to fit in with American capitalism. The new radiant city no longer required agricultural spaces with food incrementally supplied at monetised distances from foreign imports through
FOREST RESERVES
wet markets and later, supermarkets. Purchasing power per
PARKS / AGRO-TECHNOLOGIES
capita also began to increase coupled with longer working hours
2009
and less personal time to prepare home-cooked meals, giving rise to the proliferation of commercial eateries such as hawker centres, fast food restaurants and food courts.
As a result, agricultural labour became increasingly
obscure to the public, and so did its valuation, reducing food to no more than a commodity, its inherent life and the lives of those involved in its production of little to no concern. The last farms of Singapore evolved to adopt modern methods of mass farming to stay competitive, currently limited to recreational zones in Singapore with its largest concentration in the northwestern area today.
1. Vegetable farm, Singapore, 1911 Credit www.estherkofod.com
2. Vegetable farm, Potong Pasir, 1960s Credit Lim Kwong Ling
112 2
URBAN SPRAWL
Development of Bishan East, 1985 Credit Kwong Wai Siew Pek San Theng Heritage Gallery
A CLEAN STATE
1 km
2 km
BISHAN NEW TOWN 2019 Credit Apple Maps
OLD BISHAN 1976
Chinese cemetery, Singapore, 1951 Credit Singapore Press Holdings
OLD BISHAN 1930s
1976 map of Bishan cemetery & surroudings
Motorist map of Bishan cemetery
Credit sgbluesky.files.wordpress.com
Credit newspaperclippings.blogspot.com
SITE Bishan New Town epitomises the extent of change Singapore underwent
during
its
modernisation,
replacing
one
of
Singapore’s largest Chinese cemeteries in 1983 - Kwong Wai Siew Pek San Theng 广惠肇碧山亭) founded in 1870. A 170,000 graves made way for 24,600 residential units ranging between 1300 sf to 1700 sf, housing around 63,200 residents to date.
Bishan East forms the central nervous system of the town, where a shopping mall, public library, sports facilities, subway interchange and bus terminal are located. The site for this project is surrounded on its perimeters by this urban fabric.
CHEW’S JURONGAGRICULTURE FROG FARM
HAY DAIRIES
AH HUA KELONG
1950s -
1970s -
1988 -
1990s -
CONSCIOUS RECONNECTION
04
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The Metropolitan Range
SENG CHOON FARM
Unless food begins to be understood and appreciated as a
The reality of raising animal life and slaughtering it for food
substitutionary sacrifice, as it once was in most pre-industrial societies,
needs to overlap with daily life like in the kampong days if there is to be
then excessive consumption can only persist.
any hope for permanent change in the way food is valued today. The site at Bishan’s urban centre forms the ideal launchpad for such a scheme,
Unfortunately, farms in Singapore today can offer little
being a food consumption hotspot for various people groups, where a
insights into the spiritual dimensions of food, operating in remote
distinct contrast between conscious and unconscious eating can
locations with largely mechanized mass production methods. Besides,
arise, placing food consumption into perspective. N GE HA BIS CHAN ER RK INT & RPA A C REY TO S IULT
while food movements such as Edible Garden City may have arisen
BUS
lately to rekindle interest in the food production process, its scope is still
M
within vegetable and fruit farming in little-used urban spaces, leaving gaps with regards to the understanding of livestock.
EDIBLE GARDEN CITY
2012 -
ITADAKIMASU
1 N8 CTIO WER JUN E TO FIC OF
N HA BIS ATION T ST MR
M
LF
O
O
D
W
IN
2
G
2
SITE
Meals amongst the Japanese usually begin with the traditional phrase
SH RA
“itadakimasu” (いただきます, literally, “I humbly receive”). Bearing similarities to
ILW AY
saying grace, it expresses gratitude for all who have played roles in providing the
EL TE
RE
D
W AL
KW AY
3
perpetuate human life.
3
Through philosophical films such as School Days With A Pig ブタがいた
教室 (2008) and Departures おくりびと (2008), such spiritual insights into food and its meaning in human existence are exhaustively questioned and brought to life, repositioning human eaters as beneficiaries in the web of biodiversity.
114
P
SHO
FEE
F CO
food and acknowledges the substitutionary sacrifice living organisms have made to
BL BIS IC HA LI N BR AR Y
N8 L CTIO AL JUN PING M P SHO
1
AL
PU
SINMING COURT
BISHAN EAST
FREE-RANGE CHICKENS
0
SINMING COURT, 2019
300m
A LITURGY OF LIFE Poultry emerges as a highly relatable subject, being a historical staple in Singapore. Studies have also revealed poultry to be some of the most intelligent fauna, having behavioral patterns parallel to human social structures.
Raising these fascinating but overlooked creatures for food
Peck San Theng, 1979 Credit Singapore Press Holdings
with public involvement through an emphatic urban form can begin viscerally addressing the general absent-mindedness of eaters on site and beyond, paving the way for more edifying attitudes towards food. ENCOUNTER
RAISE
SLAUGHTER
REFLECT
NOTIONS OF MORTALITY
CIVIC MINDEDNESS
PECKING ORDER
Watchful chickens crow for flock to take
Hierarchy established within flock where
The deaths of the animals raised for food forms a key experience
cover when predators are sighted
alpha roosters and hens keep order
that could be transformative when reflected upon, questioning the way human life is perpetuated in Singapore and the world.
MATERNAL INSTINCT
PATTERN RECOGNITION
Building on Bishan’s past as a cemetery, the living are again faced
Hens defend their chicks fiercely, often
Ability to adapt quickly to situations and
with mortality that arises from their norms of delaying death.
times to death
also instuct their young in like manner
Refer to appendix for image credits
The Metropolitan Range | 04
POTENTIALITY BIS D OA NR HA
Peck San Theng, Qing Ming, 1970 Credit Singapore Press Holdings
BI
SH
AN
RO AD
The site lies within a 1 km vicinity to secular schools, religious institutions, government bodies and residential estates, having a diverse demographic reach. It is also highly accessible, situated by crossroads with many transport routes.
MALL
CONSUMERS
BUS
COFFEESHOP
TRANSPORT
LIBRARY
CHILDREN
SUBWAY PLAYGROUND
CPF BISHAN CIVIL SERVICE
RESIDENTIAL
HDB HOMES
116
0
300m
CENTRAL NERVOUS RECONFIGURATION The site is located at the urban heart of the estate, flanked by eateries born of massmarketing. It engages directly with the epicentre of the food consumption milieu, serving as the most conspicuous launch pad for change.
urban centre sprawl
EDUCATIONAL ENRICHMENT Various educational institutes both secular and religious are within 1 km of the site, presenting opportunities for enrichment and mutual learning.
educational and spiritual institutions
RESIDENTIAL / CORPORATE BONDS Families, colleagues from the industrial estate and workplaces have an alternative recreational activity, albeit a sobering one, to participate in, helping to widen their respective communities.
residential industrial estate
117
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Brion Cemetery propylaeum Credit ArcDog
The Metropolitan Range | 04 Holocaust Memorial Peter Eisenman Credit fillingmymap.com
Holocaust Memorial Peter Eisenman Credit fillingmymap.com
Brion Cemetery Carlo Scarpa Credit lindmanphotography.com
Brion Cemetery Carlo Scarpa Credit archipelvzw.be
REMEMBRANCE CASE STUDY: HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL, BERLIN, GERMANY
Paul-Löbe-Haus legislative building
Reichstag parliament
MATERIALISED REGRET The proximity of the memorial to historically significant buildings such as the Reichstag and Paul-Löbe-Haus recalls the darker side of politics, urging the city to aspire for a fairer future. SEMIOTIC FIELD The waves of coffin-like monoliths rising from the direction of the parliamentary buildings provide an emotional build up towards the Holocaust Memorial
Holocaust Memorial
Peter Eisenman
Peter Eisenman
Credit Jorge Royan
Credit Sean Gallup
information center at the eastern edge, interchangeably functioning as a place of reflection upon the visitor’s exit.
THRESHOLDS CASE STUDY: BRION TOMB AND SANCTUARY, TREVISO, ITALY
1
2
3
4
5
ASPHODEL MEADOWS The cloister of concrete textures and forms in Scarpa’s garden tomb dramatically ushers one into a space which reads with all the emotive force of passing into another realm. Uncanny, serene and solemn as death, existential reflection inundates the mind beyond the burial grounds.
6
Holocaust Memorial memorial
1. Water gate pulley
2. Chapel pool
3. Chapel moon door
Carlo Scarpa
Carlo Scarpa
Carlo Scarpa
Credit flickr.com, seier+seir
Credit flickr.com, seier+seir
Credit flickr.com, seier+seir
4. Path from propylaeum
5. Front wall opening
6. Chapel
Carlo Scarpa
Carlo Scarpa
Carlo Scarpa
Credit Jacopo Fumularo
Credit Nuno Cera
Credit Åke E:son Lindman
REVERENCE Peter Eisenman’s Holocaust Memorial and Carlo Scarpa’s Brion Cemetery are instrumental examples of how space conjures meaning and stirs reverence for the deceased. REFLECT
SLAUGHTER
RAISE
ENCOUNTER
Through sequenced thresholds between reality and contemplation, the Bishan site can become a converging mirror to all around to ponder about the death of animals in the process of providing food.
The Metropolitan Range | 04
GF
Playground
Children’s Library
B1
PASSAGE
ENCOUNTER
INCE
A route is established between the playground and shopping mall, bridging the world of innocent youths with adult consumers.
Entry into the range is situated along this path and goes underground, down a rabbit hole. The young are further reached by linking the children’s library at B1 with open access to the range.
The ch visitors display free-ran forms cycle o
122
SITE RESPONSE
Existing in the periphery for decades, the site has
Building on the pre-existing dynamics of play and worship,
remained an empty field since the development of the estate
transformation of the site into a communal poultry range
in 1983, providing passive relief from the claustrophobia of
aims to establish an interactive and philosophical public
the surrounding built environment. Occasionally hosting
space where Singaporeans today can immerse once again
religious and festive events, it is also at times a makeshift
in the forgotten times of raising live sustenance.
soccer pitch for students who stop by to play.
Pen
EPTION
hicken pen and range greets s beyond the rabbit hole, ying an uncommon sight of nge poultry life. The range a loop around, hosting the of poultry life.
LIMINALITY
REFLECTION
Participants linger in a heterotopian orientation of subterranean space, detached from the consumerist world. Brought into scale with poultry life, they watch their birds hatch, grow and reproduce, anticipating to feed on them someday.
The path to end the chicken’s life runs along the quotidian sheltered walkway at subterranean level, evoking departure. Water bodies and landscaping frame the range to engage the public in observation and contemplation.
The Metropolitan Range | 04
GF
B1
HETEROTOPIAN PRESENCE
Settled amidst the everyday, the range
Food and its relationship to human life
becomes part of all in its vicinity, seen from high rise
unfolds as participants begin to contemplate the
windows and public walkways around.
consumeristic centres of food with their exposure to the society of poultry.
Two distinct levels house the range, namely
the ground floor and basement. The quotidian flows
via the ground floor into the inner workings of the
passersby, inviting their curiosity and participation.
range at the basement, which gradually reascends
It also remains in sight and mind of those who have
towards ground level, creating contrasts. The familiar
chosen to overlap their lives with those soon to be
is slowly unlearnt, lost and understood anew in this
consumed.
participatory space. 124
The range lingers along the paths of
Library CPF Building
Un/Loading Bay Rabbit Hole
Mall
Playground
Coffeeshop Residential
PUBLIC ACCESS
LITURGICAL
PATH
DIVERGENT ARRIVALS
SERVICE ACCESS
The paths of access into the heart of the
range emerge from the surrounding edifices, pulled via perimeter walkways towards a crossroad into the Passageway, culminating at the sole entry point at the middle.
Entry into the range goes underground, via
stair or elevator, depending on need. Ascents and descents for the public are mainly via ramps, with a priority on universal accessibility.
125
126
04
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GF
B1
0 1
5 10
20
30
03 04
|
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LITURGY
04
|
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ENCOUNTER
The Metropolitan Range | 04
MALL
FOOD WING
Passageway
from
consumerist spaces flanked by walls that dissolve the surroundings
PASSAGEWAY
up to the Rabbit Hole. MAINTENANCE / STORAGE ROOM
The spaces of consumption and spaces of play
are linked, bridging mall shoppers and neighbourhood children together. Youthful innocence and the adult world meet, rethinking their own notions of the world.
FEMALE TOILET
RABBIT HOLE
PEN
A spiral staircase awaits in the middle of
the passageway, beckoning entry. The path leads underground, in a bid to detach one from the familiarity of the everyday.
Beyond, a pen greets visitors, introducing the
world of poultry, before leading on to the reception and courtyard.
RESIDENTIAL WALKWAY
PLAYGROUND
THRESHOLD
The triangular couryard opens to a view of the
range on one side, with the reception on the adjacent RECEPTION OFFICE
EQUIPMENT ROOM
STAFF SHOWER MALE TOILET
side.
Visitors who wish to participate in raising
poultry may approach the reception to register, before receiving their personal animal, after which they will be allowed to enter the range via a glass passageway.
04
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The Metropolitan Range
INVOLVEMENT
The Metropolitan Range | 04
ENTRANCE PEN
RANGE BRIDGE
EXIT PATH The final exit from the liturgy runs underground and besides the range bridge, letting in glimpses of poultry life as one leaves.
ARRIVAL HALL The lower floor of the hatchery forms the introductory sight at the arrival hall before leading on towards the reception.
136
AGE ZONES
Mirroring the growth stages of chickens, the
range terrain is shaped into three main zones: Nursery, Adolescent and Adult. This caters to the spatial needs of the animal’s maturity where developing chicks get a smoother terrain while maturing chickens seeking their place in their societies occupy a more hierarchical stepped landscape.
SPILLOVER RANGE
NURSERY
ADOLESCENT
ADULT
Buffer range provides space for birds with more introverted personalities and also offers a final glimpse of the range as participants
LOOPED PATH
exit from the liturgy.
Birds may roam the range from all zones in a
continuous loop that runs from outdoors to indoors, staying active rain or shine.
CHILDREN’S LIBRARY RANGE Range grounds meets the Children’s Library at B1 where interactive learning about food and animal life can happen. Glass railings facilitate learning while keeping the birds and children safe.
137
OUTDOOR
INDOOR
The Metropolitan Range | 04
GROWTH PATH
Following the natural growth cycle of
the chickens, participants embark on a journey of
18 weeks
discovery throughout the Range.
The momentous hatching of the egg
WHICH CAME FIRST
can be observed at the Hatchery. After chicks
CHICKEN
have stabilised for about a week, participants may handle them upon their initiation into the
1 week
OR
Range.
EGG
?
When participants are first given their
own birds, they hold them while walking through
12 weeks
the Threshold and into the Range as a sign of commencement of their life journey together.
3 weeks
Following the growth of their personal
creatures, participants get involved in feeding, cleaning the pen and observing changes in the bird’s growth. A live reel not unlike that of human life unfolds, inviting reflection.
9 weeks
138
TOTAL RANGE AREA 1280m2
FREE RANGE
PEN CAPACITY
The proposed free range dimensions
128 birds
far surpasses conventions of today, placing emphasis on the quality of life of the animals.
SEATING CAPACITY
With less crowding also comes the privilege of
64 people
being able to concentrate better on one’s own adopted animal, making the purposes of the Range more apparent.
CONVENTIONAL FREE RANGE
PROPOSED FREE RANGE
PROPOSED SEATING CAPACITY
≤13 birds/m
1 bird/10m
1 person/20m2
2
2
PEN COMMUNITY
Facilities within the pen comprise of a
perch and roost. The roost has two compartments where the top forms the rooster’s territorial turf and the bottom is the hatchery.
PERCH
ROOST 139
04
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The Metropolitan Range
THE EUCHARIST
The Metropolitan Range | 04
EXEUNT
A life is ended. Another continues. Perhaps
it has been reborn anew, making its way out from the depths of hades, ignorance and apathy. The Range Bridge runs past the exit passageway and, round the corner, the spillover Range lingers as a final farewell while the eaters emerge into the world of the living again.
EUCHARIST
The bird is slaughtered, cooked and eaten.
Like a Eucharist, the life in the bird is now transfered to a human eater, perpetuating another life. Along a table rimming the Range, the terminus of the birds’ life is expressed as the grass continues on from the same plane as the dining surface. The eaters consume and then observe what was just before an anthropomorphic lifeform.
DOORS
The day of slaughter arrives. The birds, now
fully grown, are ready for consumption. The Doors lead to the slaughterhouse, exiting permanently from the Range. Heavy, monolithic and firm, the impact of what is about to take place beyond the threshold weighs in at the division between life and death.
FINAL WALK
The path towards the slaughterhouse departs
from the realm of the living, going into the earth, into Hades. The subterranean route deepens the sense of separation from the living as the eaters begin to empathize with the birds. Slaughterhouse
04
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04
|
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04
|
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04
|
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03 04
|
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LESSONS
04
|
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PHILOSOPHER’S GROVE
The Metropolitan Range
I’M THIN
04
|
THIS PIG
WE WORKED HARD T
EATING P-CHAN IS CRUEL AND HEARTLESS
NKING OF RAISING
G TOGETHER ...
KILLING AND EATING AREN’T THE SAME
... AND THEN EATING IT IN THE END
SO IT’S OK TO KILL HER? HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?
BUT THEY ALL HAVE LIVES; LIFE IS EQUAL, ISN’T IT?
TO RAISE P-CHAN, SO SHE IS NOT LIKE OTHER PIGS AT ALL
EATING OTHER PIGS BUT NOT P-CHAN IS DISCRIMINATION
Author’s collage of film stills from School Days With a Pig Credit Tetsu Maeda
WHO DECIDES THE LENGTH OF LIFE?
04
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The Metropolitan Range
Author’s collage of film stills from School Days With a Pig Credit Tetsu Maeda
04
|
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APPENDIX
The Metropolitan Range |
Native Bangalore, Singapore Credit Farish Noor Collection
04
Kampong Boys, 1970s Credit Lim Kwong Ling
Vegetable farming at Potong Pasir, 1962 Credit Nostalgic Singapore
Malay House In Pasir Panjang Credit Singapore Early 20th Century Postcard
Dairy Farm, Singapore Credit https://fanssea.searca.o
org/
Kelong repairs, Giant fish traps, 1985 Credit Singapore Waters - Unveiling Our Seas
Chinese workmen at Tiffin, Singapore 1908 Credit New York Public Library
Pig farm, Potong Pasir, 1960s Credit Lim http://www.etsyexplores.com/ oh-potong-pasir/
Fishermen Back From a Catch, West Coast, 1960s Credit Lim Kwong Ling
Ho Seng Choon Credit The Straits Times
Traditional poultry farm, 1950s Credit Poultry Farmer, Roots Sg Introducing caged poultry farms, 1950s Credit Poultry Farmer, Roots Sg
111
The Metropolitan Range
SENG CHOON FARM
CHEW’S JURONGAGRICULTURE FROG FARM
HAY DAIRIES
AH HUA KELONG
1950s -
1970s -
1988 -
1990s -
1
2
3
4
04
|
1. Ho Seng Choon Credit The Straits Times
5
6
2. Jurong Frog Farm Credit Timeout.com
5. Traditional poultry farm, 1950s Credit Poultry Farmer, Roots Sg
3. Hay Daries Credit https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/
6. Singapore Chicken Rice Credit Lim Mark Wiens
4. Ah Hua Kelong Credit Lim vulcanpost.com
7. Edible Garden City logo Credit Edible Garden City 8. Bjorn Low, co-founder Edible Garden City Credit dbs.com
EDIBLE GARDEN CITY
2012 -
7
8
10
9. Rooftop farm at Raffles City Credit temasek.com.sg
9
10. School Days With a Pig Credit Tetsu Maeda
11
11. School Days With a Pig “special project” Credit Tetsu Maeda 12. Departures “stone letter” Credit Yojiro Takita 13. Departures “this is a corpse too” Credit Yojiro Takita
12
13
114
FREE-RANGE CHICKENS SINMING COURT, 2019
14
14. Free-range chickens at Sinming Court Credit The Straits Times 15. Nineteen days old chick Credit World Animal Protection 16. Departures “we can even eat it raw” Credit Yojiro Takita
17. Keeping together Credit thechickenrenters.com
15
18. Pecking Order Credit Shutterstock via Hobby Farms 19. Hen and chicks Credit MintPress News Desk 20. Chicken intelligence demonstration Credit Juniors Bildarchiv GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo
17
18
19
20
16
MARSH
"To stand at the edge of the sea, to sense the ebb and
flow of the tides, to feel the breath of a mist moving over a great salt marsh, to watch the flight of shore birds that have swept up and down the surf lines of the continents for untold thousands of years, to see the running of the old eels and the young shad to the sea, is to have knowledge of things that are as nearly eternal as any earthly life can be."
- Rachel Carson, Under the Sea-Wind (Simon & Schuster, 1941)
168
Wetland Inn
Year 3, Semester 2 | 2014
We often hear of the infringement of nature as a major taboo, but just for once, could our presence become a co-existence that mutually grows man and wood?
169
170
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172
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|
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0 175
5
10
176
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0
5
10
0
5
10
178
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|
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0
0
1
5
2
10
4
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5
183
10
184
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HABITAT
老 子 ， 道 德
"What’s softest in the world
经
rushes and runs over what’s hardest in the world. The immaterial enters the impenetrable. So I know the good in not doing. The wordless teaching, the profit in not doing not many people understand it.”
- Lǎo Zǐ, Dào Dé Jīng (translated by Ursula K. Le Guin)
200
不
无
天
言
有
下
之
入
之
教
无
至
，
间
柔
无
，
，
为
吾
驰
之
是
骋
益
以
天
，
知
下
天
无
之
下
为
至
希
之
坚
Examining
及
有
。
of empty cities, it outlines a design
之
益
。
。
Flow City
Year 4, Semester 1 | 2014
Flow City is a proposal for a new city in Zhouxiang, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China. China’s
phenomenon
approach for genuinely stimulating urban forms.
Flow City | 06
Urban Planning
FLOW CITY
2014 ZJU EXCHANGE PROGRAMME
06
|
Flow City
江 南 JIANGNAN
杭 州 HANGZHOU
西 湖 WEST LAKE
Flow City | 06
EmptyCities
Strategy
The government-led drive to urbanise in recent years has seen
China using more concrete between 2011 - 2013 than USA has in the 20th century. Seemingly prosperous, this has in reality resulted in vast empty cities across the country and increased national debt, rendering most developments an arguably miscalculated move.
The chief causes of unoccupancy in these new cities stem from
their inability to generate any prolonged economic activity due to grossly out of context infrastructure, arising from an overwhelming lack of prior planning policies.
Still, others are of the opinion that such planning is geared
towards future economic growth, which China is experiencing currently. The uncertainties are ever-present nonetheless and it remains to be seen if China’s demand for habitation can finally catch up with its oversupply.
Potential Ghost Towns by 2020 Analysis Credit Chen Qin and South China Morning Post
Potential Ghost Towns by 2020 Analysis Credit Chen Qin and South China Morning Post China’s Shrinking Population Credit Steven Lee Myers Jin Wu Claire Fu, The New York Times UPDATED Jan 17, 2020
MAINLAND CHINA EMPTY CITIES
Zhouxiang Town
YINGKOU KANGBASHI NEW AREA
Cixi City
YUJIAPU FINANCIAL DISTRICT
Hangzhou
LANZHOU NEW AREA
Ningbo City
Ningbo City
PUDONG NEW AREA
Zhejiang
TIANDUCHENG
Hangzhou Bay New Area CHENGGONG DISTRICT
Site
The studio centres on Zhouxiang Town, Cixi City,
Ningbo as a site that is part of the upcoming Hangzhou Bay New Area development. Historically a major Yue celadon production site from around AD 200-1200, it is today an important manufacturing city for Zhejiang Province.
207
Flow City | 06
Manufacturing Cixi’s manufacturing centres largely on electronics with many in the automotive industry setting up assembly lines there.
Development Ningbo City Centre exemplifies a move towards development that encourages the flourishing of both environment and city, bringing the discourse of urban
planning
towards
rewilding
cities.
Ningbo
Statements Ningbo Museum by Wang Shu stands as
a
statement
to
the
relentless
developmental moves in the region which has carelessly disregarded the time-honored beauties of old villages.
Cultural Relics Ningbo’s surviving old villages offer
History
a rare insight into the architecture
Cixi City was first established as a county in the Qin empire and eventually grew into a celadon making settlement.
Beginning
production
from the late Eastern Han Dynasty to the Southern Song Dynasty (AD ~200-
and folk customs of its bygone days. Zoumatang village, which has produced 76 scholars since the Northern Song Dynasty (AD 960-1127), escaped the early onslaughts of development but still remains vulnerable.
1200), it has left behind 179 kiln sites today, which are pending UNESCO World Heritage status.
208
Cultural Eternity Hangzhou Bay Ring Expressway
Hangzhou Bay Bridge Hangzhou
The close proximity of Zhouxiang City
to historic Hangzhou potentially places it within
Zhouxiang City
the loci of becoming an extended cultural centre, besides a renewed manufacturing
Ningbo
hub.
In an age of developmental uncertainty,
it is difficult to establish a lasting social fabric that is conducive to enduring communities. The West Lake at Hangzhou sheds some light on the durability of its particular form of design thought, which has held fast until today and likely, the forseeable future.
209
Flow City | 06
1
Man in Nature
The collapse of the Song Dynasty was to culminate in the
establishment of one of China’s and perhaps even the world’s most enduring work of landscaping, the West Lake. Shaped and evolved over centuries of refinement, the lake had accompanied China through dynastic upheavals and cultural flowerings, centering a national spirit on the ideal of harmony between nature and man.
Crafted from a pre-existing geographical feature, the rudimentary lake
first emerged when a lagoon began to form from the Qiantang River. It became a tourist landmark during the Sui Dynasty (AD 581-618) when the region was increasingly connected via canal infrastructure. Later, it would house the short-lived political centre and cultural hub for the Han Chinese diaspora of the Southern Song (AD 1127-1134), which firmly cemeted and sustained its role as poetic inspiration till 1.Summer Mountains AD 1050 Ink and color on silk, 45.4 × 115.3 cm Attributed to Qu Ding
today.
Flow
In exploring the longstanding motif of mountains and rivers in China’s
history and culture, an architectural metaphor emerged based on the poetic landscapes of Chinese rock gardens. This metaphor is likened to a Taihu rock, which is a key component of such gardens found in Suzhou near Lake Tai. Exposed over time to water surges, such rocks typically acquire curvaceous perforations, gaining value as aesthetic objects imbued with Taoist philosophical thought.
The process of water carving rocks formed a conceptual basis of Flow,
where spaces could become entities interchangeably moulded by the people who pass through. Like Taihu rocks being shaped, spaces can be designed to reach for a state of harmony and equilibrium with its inhabitants, the flowing waters, such that each accomodates the other increasingly overtime.
211
Flow City | 06
Fostering Life against all odds
Flow City | 06
The Great Wall Ink and color on paper, 95 x 177.5 cm Wu Guan Zhong
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Commercial District 商业中心 Total site area: 40000 ㎡ Total building area: 48000 ㎡ Plot ratio: 1.2
Flow City 06
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商业中心 COMMERCIAL DISTRICT
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MIND “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.�
- Victor E. Frankl (psychiatrist and holocaust survivor)
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Living Void Thesis | 2016
Living Void is an inversion of first principles in Singapore’s state-driven approach to architecture, where design often bends the knee to profit. Situated in a public park at the heart of the financial centre, the proposal is a counterbalancing act to unmitigated progress that has compromised much needed humanity.
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LIVING VOID
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1. Matt Swinging between Trees, Lost Coast, California 2015 Credit Lucas Foglia | National Geographic Jan 2016 2. Rain Dance Credit Navid Baraty
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“It is the fate of modern life that we repeatedly lose touch
with nature, the environment, the planet. But we try to regain it again and again. It’s like a circle. In children’s hearts and souls when they’re born into the world, nature already exists deep inside them. So what I want to do in my work is tap into their souls” Hayao Miyazaki
Nature does not hurry, yet
everything is accomplished. Lao Tzu
“The more I researched each animal, and the
more I learned about how we treat them, the more depressing it got. Our relationship with nature is completely dysfunctional” Shaun Tan
We don’t inherit the earth from our
ancestors, we borrow it from our children. Native American proverb
“It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest
source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.”
David Attenborough
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THE OTHER ESSENTIAL
In what measure do green spaces today speak with the inspiration of
nature in Singapore? The contestation between natural conservation and urban development has unfolded for well over a century here, removing man further away from the natural world and inducing newfound longings for the wilds. In a bid to alleviate such pangs of city living, landscaping has been repeatedly deployed, alluding to natural splendour to rekindle hearts. However, as Singapore’s nature preservation policies shift continually with an expanding city, are green space conventions keeping up? 2008
The profound appeals of the wild found in nearly all poetical expressions
of nature across cultures and time attest to nature’s universal and unflinching reach. Great expanses of unmarred wilderness across the globe have inspired minds in
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countless different ways, leaving us a worldwide heritage of odes to nature. From landscape principles to nature-oriented philosophy and an ongoing intrigue in the natural world chiefly through film, travel and horticulture today, the longing to be uplifted by nature persists, resonating through new forms.
This attraction to nature is no mere fancy; neurological studies have shown
that overstressed brains relax automatically when immersed in the wilds, echoing something essential about our deeper connections with the earth. It begins to explain why one of our leading methods of coping with life in the city even today is still through plants. Singapore’s planners and citizens realise this acutely as its woods continually make way for new developments. With swathes of native forests cleared for economic development since its founding in 1819, the longing for avenues of escape and rejuvenation in Singapore has only grown stronger, triggering ongoing park enhancements and horticultural interests till today.
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2011
“...a blighted urban landscape, a
concrete jungle destroys the human spirit. We need the greenery of nature to lift our spirits.� Lee Kuan Yew
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By 1883, the colonial governors in Singapore then were finally awakened to the
drastic deforestation of the island, where around 90 percent of island-wide native woods were lost. This realization set off the first in a series of official (and public) alarms for remedial action when administrators of the Straits Settlements began to recognise considerable ecological losses and a marked diminishment of environmental salubrity for the islanders. Responsive measures soon followed, with genuine government attempts to replant lost forests. However, these eventually became diluted with commercial opportunity, where lucrative timber species were selected in place of native biodiversity, abandoning initial reparative aspirations in time.
Nonetheless, the need for green spaces to offset spatial congestions of a growing
urban sprawl continued to be recognised by the authorities, leading on to the establisment of executive bodies such as the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT est. 1927) and Parks and Trees Division (est. 1968). Evolving into today’s National Parks Board (NParks est. 1990), these planning authorities have persisted in the controversial balancing act of preserving and administering nature while the city expanded, duly revising public landscaping and nature reserve boundaries as land use intensified vertically over the decades.
The position of protected indigenous nature in Singapore however, still remains
uncertain today. An upcoming subway line (Cross Island Line) scheduled to operate in 2029 has been slated to pass through the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, breaching boundaries meant to protect wildlife. While planning authorities claim the tunnel merely penetrates the bedrock beneath and not the forests above, one cannot help but sense the gradual encroachment of the city on remnant wildlife habitats. It is uncertain what else could follow in the near future, but it is clear the urban responsibility of keeping nature vital and within reach sits more heavily on green spaces than ever before. 1. Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park formerly in 2008 and later in 2011 with the renaturalised Kallang River. Credit Pagodashophouse 2. Then prime minister Lee planting a mempat tree at the now-defunct Farrer Circus on June 16, 1963 Credit The Straits Times
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3. Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park panorama Credit Chensiyuan
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MANAGING NATURE SINGAPORE 1883 ONWARDS
FOREST RESERVES, 1898
1898
1910 -1975
MACRITCHIE RESERVOIR
ADDITION OF UPPER AND
AND SURROUNDING
LOWER PIERCE RESERVOIRS
SELETAR
PIERCE
FOREST RESERVES
1939 -1986 ADDITION OF UPPER AND LOWER
PRESERVING
SELETAR RESERVOIRS
THE NATURAL WORLD
GREEN MISSION
The preservation of nature also encompasses the need to admin nature to spaces in Singapore where its absence is most sharply
Lee Kuan Yew further saw the importance of managing nature ef for the city’s benefit to give its economy a competitive edge.
ADMINISTERING THE NATURAL WORLD
1883
1960s
THE WAKE-UP CALL 1927
BREATHING LUNGS 1963
TREE PLANTING
SINGAPORE IMPROVEMENT TRUST
1967
GARDEN C
The first nature reserves are mapped in 1898, measuring a mere ten percent of the island-wide original forest cover.
Singapore Improvement Trust SIT was established in 1927 to manage congestion
in
urban
spaces
by
providing open spaces with greenery.
1968
PARKS AND PUBLIC WORKS DE
2015
URBAN SPRAWL
2014
PARKS / VULNERABLE FORESTS FOREST RESERVES
2015 2017
2000s
2014
REGROWTH OF NATIVE RAINFORESTS COMBINE TO FORM CENTRAL CATCHMENT NATURE RESERVE AND BUKIT TIMAH
2013
NATURE RESERVE, BECOMING SINGAPORE’S GREEN LUNGS
Bukit Brown Cemetery and forest slated for partial exhumation to accomodate new flyover
Lentor-Tagore Forest to make way for new housing estate
Proposal to breach Nature Reserve for upcoming Cross Island Line subway
BREACHING THE NATURAL WORLD
LEGISLATION
nister felt.
ffectively
National Parks was founded in 1990, consolidating all management of greenery on the island. Its 2005 Parks and Trees Act gave Nature Reserves impregnable boundaries against abuse and destruction, or so it seems.
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G DAY
2012
REWILDING BISHAN-ANG MO KIO PARK
CITY
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2013
SUPERTREES
WILDLIFE LINK
GARDENS BY THE BAY
ECO-LINK @BKE
POLEMIC The approach to nature in Singapore swings between the polarities of restoration and
TREES
EPARTMENT
exploitation. The classic power garden, today in the form of spectacular lights and sights, portray an economically competitive Singapore with nature at its disposal while efforts at rewilding counterbalance all that through more genuine attempts towards man and nature’s coexistence.
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LIVING GREEN
“Singapore is a city nestled amid lush greenery found
along our roadside and parks. Adding to the verdant landscape are the many parks, park connectors, nature reserves, heritage roads and
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heritage trees found across Singapore which provide for a unique
1. Oasia Hotel Downtown
experience of the island’s natural beauty.”
Credit More Sports. More Architecture.
Rewilding as building facade
2. Documentary screenshot of Gardens by the Bay with
- Ministry of National Development
Singapore skyline in the background Credit Netflix, A Life on Our Planet, David Attenborough 3. Among the Sierra Nevada, California Oil on canvas, 1.82 x 3.05 m Credit Albert Bierstadt 4. Krishna and the Gopis Bundi School, Rajasthan Credit Watson Collection of Indian Miniatures
The unspeakable sublimity of nature in its highest splendour is often the basis of bucolic
evocations within the limits of green spaces in Singapore. Depending on site conditions such as scale, topography and land use limits, local parks have had varying degrees of success capturing
Singapore skyline in the background Credit Shutterstock 6. Pollution Edited
stirring complexities and sights in the natural world for its visitors.
5. Kite flyers at Marina Barrage rooftop field with
Credit http://pbl5industrialpollution.blogspot.com
Starting out as clipped hedges and manicured lawns of tended nature, public landscaping coventions here have in time
progressed towards rewilding efforts, where specific plant species condusive to the flourishing of vital regional fauna, such as birds and insects, are incorporated to replicate ecological systems and life cycles within a given space. The success of rewilding means that parks need to be of substantial sizes in order to display varied and stirring glimpses of the wilds. In 2016, WOHA’s Oasia Hotel Downtown broke new heights with rewilding becoming the building facade itself, taking green spaces vertical and even nearer zones of everyday human activity.
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BEYOND WORDS
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Raffles Place Credit Ramir Borja
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INANE GREEN
Not all green spaces in Singapore however have adopted
successful spatial methodologies. In some instances, it is particulary obvious how green is no more than a token gesture. Raffles Place Park is a major case in point, still remaining largely a manicured lawn, which frankly has about as much life as the buildings around it. No detectable attempt seems to arise to bridge man with the pleasures of nature, much less its inspiration.
The Raffles Place community has one of the greatest needs
for spaces of relief and respite, being the downtown core of economic activity. However, current park spaces there purported to relief urban pressures do little in this regard. Perhaps the limited land area and corporate context meant scale-determined natural complexity is an approach with little prospects of effectiveness, yet can the inspiration of nature still reach people here through other architectural means?
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TROUBLED
Belying the passive lawns of the corporate center are untold struggles for economic
survival. The spillover effects that go on to affect individuals and families here, the environment and numerous human communities around the world make for substantially invisible degrees of unrest on site. Under codes of respectability, these worries are usually borne quietly within people here who are deep down, craving desparately for that momentary release from cares. A mowed lawn needs to speak with greater empathy under the circumstances.
THE SUPER TREE 2016 | MIXED MEDIA | 1.6 X 0.8 M THESIS PAINTING
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LIFTING A HEAVY HEART
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DISCERNED VALUES
A glimpse, as is often offered in Japanese tea
ceremony settings, presents deeper insights into the depths of the human condition. Like a little flower bud that peeks out amidst furnishings, suddenly seeming so full of life and energy as we anticipate the blossom, or the swirls of glaze and earthen hues on raku wares, a duet of earth and the potter fired unto irreplaceable uniqueness, these small suggestions echo our own place within the wider world, consoling us with the vitality of nature amidst the throes of personal imperfections.
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1. Chabana “tea flowers” Japanese Tea Ceremony space implements Credit http://www.dogo-sado.jpn.org/saijiki.html
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ROCK MOSS GRAVEL
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IMMENSITIES IN MINIATURE
Karesansui 枯山水, or “dry landscape”, are Japanese rock gardens that express the vastness of the natural world in typically confined spaces. Often incorporating no more than three main materials: rock, moss and gravel, mountainous and riverine landscapes are minimally suggested in their splendour and complexity, encouraging personal respite and reflection.
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Water is distinctively absent from such gardens, being replaced
by evocatively raked gravel. This seemingly reductive approach to landscaping avoids using actual natural elements to depict its subjects in a bid to refocus the mind on discerning the essential nature of the physical world.
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REMIND
Reframing the aspects of nature with the approach
of reductivity at Raffles Place Park is key to bridging its occupants with the inspiring side of nature as opposed to conventions of planting abundant green, which loses potency due to the narrowness of the park site.
Amidst
the
densely
built
environment
VASTNESS
of
skyscrapers, elements of nature available such as the sky and terrestrial growth should be more consciously presented to people there, requiring isolated spaces shutting out the corporate landscape momentarily. When engaged with greater focus, the individual effects from each partial glimpse stirs reminders of the whole.
PEOPLE
UNTOLD STORIES 1. Silver Pavilion Zen Garden Raked gravel representing water Credit eddyandreuben.blogspot.com 2. RyĹ?an-ji temple garden in Kyoto, Japan Karesansui style Credit Tedmoseby a.k.a. Jake Teske 3. Huangshan (the Yellow Mountains) Anhui, China Personal archive
GROWTH
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AUTHOR: A0082831H
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AUTHOR: A0082831H
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GROWING
Green errupts beneath a canopy of sunlight. As the
body moves through space, structures disappear, dissolving into verdancy. Sun, air, earth, and wood, unfold into three dimensional space, a tropical overture.
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WAR OF
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TWO MINDS
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EXPANSE
Day pours from above, the pure naked light of the
sun. Clouds roll by, swelling, rising, dissipating. Reaching through louvered wells, it descends, like an angel of the Lord.
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EMPTYING
Circles emanate from the heart, drawing, beckoning,
enfolding. A lone tree rises amongst the growth, putting out branches towards the light. Here is health, vigour, clean and pure. Here is vitality, innocence and strength.
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“Indifferent to pleasure and pain, to gain or loss, to conquest
or defeat, thus make ready for the fight… as do the foolish, attached to works, so should the wise do, but without attachment, seeking to establish order in the world.”
- MACIEJ’ NOWICKI translation of the Bhagavad Gita (2:38) in a letter to Albert Mayer, 1950
PAINTINGS
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AN ALLEGORY OF URBAN CHILDREN 2008 | Oil on canvas | 1.8 X 2 M A Level Final Work
This painting explores the human capacity to hold their innocence while trying
to survive a morally antagonistic world. Following changes from childhood to adulthood in people, the toys and tree mark points in the soul’s development and the perpetual struggle to retain one’s humanity. Honoured to be part of the Ministry of Education’s Art Elective Programme exhibition Transfinity in 2009 at the former City Hall building.
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High King of Heaven is commissioned for Serving In Mission’s 120 anniversary in
2013. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis inspired this painting, celebrating the hope and promise of an unending life in Christ. SIM began its missions in 1893 in Sudan and has since extended its outreach globally, becoming a multi-ethnic network of gospel-centred lives and humanitarian workers today. This painting captures the spirit and glory of the new heavens and earth, a world finally at peace, redeemed through the blood and love of Christ.
Deepest thanks to Dr. Joseph Lee & In loving memory of Dr. Andrew Ng who both made this painting possible
1. Aslan Illustration for The Magician’s Nephew Credit Pauline Baynes
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HIGH KING OF HEAVEN 2013 | Acrylic on canvas | 1.2 X 0.9 M Commission
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Hope for all the world 277
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VALLEY OF LIFE 2014 | Acrylic on canvas | 1.2 X 0.9 M Commission
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This painting is a gift to two very precious friends who
married each other eventually. Blooming with the divinity of Christ’s love for the church, it depicts verse from the Song of Songs and my well wishes for their new life together.
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THE BERTH OF LIFE 2017 | Acrylic on canvas | 0.68 X 0.44 M Commission
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The Berth of Life is commissioned by lawyer Mr Leo Cheng Suan and his family
to fill an antique frame in their home. Richly carved with heraldic animals, the Leos decided on the theme of Noah’s Ark. Within the unconventional vertical format for the story of the Flood, this painting presented the opportunity to celebrate the heights of joy and depths of peace when God led mankind and His creatures back to earth again.
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