Studio CJLim | The Gift

Studio_CJ Lim | Tyler Lim AR5802 Design Studio,Year 4, 2019/20 Semester 2

The Gift : Humanity What If Water Cultivates Humanity ?

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“ The Gift : Humanity ”

by Lim Hock Siang Tyler

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The Gift : Humanity

What if Water Cultivates Humanity?

Humanity includes acts of “generosity” and “kindness”. Generosity is defined as the willingness or liberality in giving. Kindness is defined as the state or quality of being thoughtful and benevolence.

Critical Thinking : Can infrastructural projects cultivate generosity and kindness in society? The inhabitable landscape employs the metaphor of a reciprocal “gift” between my father, a Malaysian plumber who works in Singapore and the Singapore Government. Together, his generous expertise in water management and the government’s voluntary kindness to accommodate similar foreign workers initiate spaces for humanity. Water is the main space-making material – literally or indirectly engaging in the discourse of national water security and environmental well-being in the face of climate change.

Might the blue-collar workers be the eco-warriors of Singapore?

Location :

Old Singapore Railway Corridor

Protagonist :

Singapore government and Malaysians who travel daily to facilitate and service Singapore.

Synopsis :

The project “The Gift” is the antithesis of the Municipal Darwinism theory in “The Mortal Engines” (Philip Reeve, 2001) where the survival of the fittest leads to competition and aggression, and the aftermath only benefits the strong while the weaker city loses not just their resources but also humanity. The ivnspiration is also akin to “David and Goliath” where scale is irrelevant in winning.

“The Gift” aims to neither empower Malaysia or Singapore but to erase the deep socio-political and economic prejudices. This alternative urbanism of neighbourly love is a new micro-climate “cooling spine” for the city. The community of linear water reservoirs, rainwater catchers, anaerobic digestors converting sewage to energy, aerial solar gardens and housing units collectively offers security, public spaces as well as education on the environment to Singaporeans and foreign workers alike. The tectonic language of the inhabitable landscape vengages vwith socio-political criticism of existing and historical landmarks and architecture – the negative associations are re-appropriated to form social and environmental virtues.

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Studio_CJ Lim | Year 2020 Department of Architecture School of Design and Environment