Tiong Bahru Wet Market, A Successful Case.
Tiong Bahru Wet Market, used to be a single-storey market called Seng Poh Market. In 2004 to 2006, the market underwent extensive upgrading works at the cost of S$16.8 million. Despite its modern design and the addition of better facilities, the re-opened market blended well with its surroundings comprising mainly of two to five storey...
The Case for Incrementality
A continuation from “Mobility and Community” from left: Rocinha Favela[1] in Brazil and 95 Old Airport Rd, Singapore in the previous chapter, we discover that multiple theorists and advocates of the social-communal space, all concede that while architecture is able to facilitate the creation of communal bonding, it is hard, if not impossible to replicate the...
Neighbourhood #9: Community Gardening in Membina Court
I was walking along a path in Membina Court when I happened to chance upon the notice shown above. This sign was placed on an empty plot of land just beside the path. Curious, my friend and I contacted Ms Tina to participate in this community project, and went down at 10am...
Neighbourhood #6: Maharashtra Housing by Charles Correa
Maharashtra Housing, 1999 designed by Charles Correa, was a high-density housing in the heart on Mumbai, India, acting as a transit camps for old buildings under repair. Since it’s a temporary home, the accommodation area per family is very small [20.9sqm]. Each apartment is eight storeys tall. The units were arranged in clusters of four,...
Neighbourhood #5 : Pangyo Housing by Yamamoto Riken
Pangyo housing is located on the pangyo where is one hour far from Seoul by car. This project is designed by japanese architect, Yamamoto Riken. The reason why I put this project as a ‘best case study’ is that the project has a lot of things to discuss about community between our neighbors and neighborhood....
Neighbourhood #4：Tulou Collective Housing
Hakka Tulou is a dwelling type unique to the Hakka people. It is a communal residence between the city and the countryside, integrating living, storage, shopping, spiritual, and public entertainment into one single building entity. Traditional units in tulou are evenly laid out along its perimeter, like modern slab-style dormitory buildings, but with greater opportunities...
The Social Memories of a Voiddeck
“downstair” Directed By Diya Tan Produced By Quek Hui Min, Helmi Ali Director of Photography PK Tan This film was produced as a final-year project in the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information (WKWSCI), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. All Rights Reserved 2008. downstair. A colloquial and affectionate term used by many when referring...
Insurgent Space in Singapore?
Every Sunday, the strip of land flanking a long canal way in Singapore becomes the site for ‘insurgent spatial practices’ – a concept popularized by Jeffrey Hou in his book, ”Insurgent Public Space: Guerilla Urbanism and the Remaking of Contemporary Cities”. Hou describes insurgent public space as a mode of city-making that is different from conventional...
Whose void deck is it anyway? Not here then where?
Recently, the communal beauty that the void deck represented has been tainted with a case of ‘NIMBY’ or ‘Not in my Backyard’, a concern recently raised my our own Prime Minister. A couple of months ago, residents in Woodlands and Toh Yi petitioned against the construction of elder case facilities in their own estates, claiming that it was not that...
Foreign Workers in Singapore: Spatial Practices of Resistance
The Western region of Singapore (Boon Lay, Pioneer, Jurong West, Jurong Island) houses some 30 000 foreign workers, the highest concentration of any other region. They are housed primarily within what the government states as “approved housing” – purpose-built dormitories, converted industrial premises and rented public housing flats. However, these are just official housing premises...
Queenstown – the cradle of Singapore’s housing development
Queenstown MRT Station signage and HDB flats flanking the MRT station in the background Picture adapted from : http://shutterventures.wordpress.com/ Queenstown was the first Satellite new town to be proposed in Singapore. It the proposed site for Queenstown was an amalgamation of acquired land from the Commissioner of Lands in 1926 and the villagers. The...
Community gardening – Community ungardening
Clementi Makeshift Farm getting the boot, literally. Copyright © Matthew Allen, WSJ A community garden is a single piece of land gardened collectively by a group of people. ...