BeeTogether

NYP DIPLOMA IN ARCHITECTURE DN3966 STUDIO SA6 BEE TOGETHER /TIME IN ODYSSEY ABDUL RAHMAN ATTAMIMI 184319C

Time when technology was used to not affect nature (Yemen a country that felt time stood still) No doubt the best-known artifact of Yemeni culture is its domestic architecture, which dates back more than 2,000 years. In the mountainous interior, buildings are constructed of stone blocks and bricks, both baked and sun-dried; these buildings, housing extended families, rise to four to six stories, with highly decorated windows a nd other features designed to beautify them and emphasize their height. On the edge of the desert and in other regions where stone for construction is not abundant, multistoried houses are usually made of mud brick, with the various layers emphasized and often tinted; these structures have curving, sensuous lines. The city of Sanaa and the towns of Zabīd and Shibām are noted for their architecture, and each has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Mocha (al-Mukha), on Yemen's Red Sea coast, was once the centre of the world's coffee trade.

Coffee was especially popular with Sufis who drank it to stay alert during their rituals. Today, coffee (along with qat) is still one of Yemen's most important crops. Haqq al-qahwa ("the right of coffee") is a Yemeni expression for a kickback or bribe.

Qat is the most popular drug in Yemen, with effects similar to amphetamine. Chewing starts after lunch, with men and women in separate rooms. Leaves are plucked and gently crushed between the teeth until a wad builds up in the cheek. It's a social activity and chewers' conversation often centres on politics.

Yemen is very rich in its cultural heritage of the folklore of the folk dances and songs. The popular song has become an artistic reference for many lyrical schools not only in Yemen but also in the entire Gulf region and Arabian Peninsula.

“Its nature that create culture for yemenis to connect.�

Mocha Cofee (A jouney from seed to cup)

Yemeni existence is so closely tied to the coffee tree that it is even celebrated in song.

The great Yemeni singer Ali Alansi immortalized Yemeni coffee in his famous song “Coffee and Love.” “O Yemeni Coffee,” Alansi sings, “You are like treasure above trees.”

The song’s comparison of coffee beans to treasure only serves to confirm the genuine love of coffee and the great economic, cultural, and historic value that it has brought to Yemen.

“lets have a cup of coffee” a means to connect and socialise with each other.

Qhat (Flower of paradise)

If there’s one word that I heard more than any other during my stay in Yemen, it is the word ‘qat’. And the reason that word is so important is because, at approximately 2pm every single day, the entire nation stops everything they are doing and focuses on qat and on qat only.

‘Well with regard to Qat, personally i chew to make me settle.

I chew with people, and everybody chew. It makes me forget the world’s worries, otherwise i could have gone crazy by now.’

Honey(Liquid gold)

Beekeeping has been a tradition in Yemen since the 10th century. Honey from Yemen’s bees is known to be some of the finest in the Arab world, and the quality of Yemeni honey is a point of pride for many.

Honey is made of sugars (glucose and fructose specifically), it also symbolizes prosperity and joy. Therefore, it makes sense that the primary use for honey in Arab cuisine is as a sweetener in desserts.

Bee-Keeping (process)

Yemeni honey is considered to be the best in the world, and is a highly prized commodity across the Middle East,” It gets its rich and unique flavour from the ancient Sidr trees, [also known as the Lote tree], which grow in the area where it is produced.”

The Beekeeper than closes the hives with a round stone with notch and forms it witha mixture of clay and ash since bees likes like dark and dry condition.

it is the combination of the climate in the Arabian Peninsula, as well as the mineralised soil of the Doan Valley, which is 900 kilometres from the Arabian Sea and high up in the mountains of the Hadramaut region of Yemen, which come together to create the unique flavour.

How the bees built the combs inside the trunk cavity in form of round tablets Honey combs, Pollen combs, Brood combs.

a bowl made of palm fronds is hanged and rounded from the swamped. Since bees like object made from different parts of the palm tree.

Branch of a palm tree which attracts the bees from leaving the ‘Hive’.

After making the bees feel calm with water, the bees will start crawling into the trunk

While using the Branch to attract the bees from leaving, Bee keepers use sharp utensil to cut sides of the honeycomb as it is the only way to retreive it.

Bee-Keeping (Layout)

Arabs in Singapore The majority of the Arabs in Singapore are Hadhramis tracing their ancestry from the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula called Hadhramaut, Yemen.

Some of the people living there are known as “Hadhramis”. The land there is mostly desert region. The fertile areas, suitable for cultivation, are small and concentrated in the wadi region. This harsh natural environment drove the Hadhramis to travel out of the area to trade and acquire the necessary items they needed.

Hadhrami Migration

Contribution in Singapore The position and contribution of the Arabs to Singapore can be seen when a member of the Aljuneid clan was appointed as a member of the mostly European-dominated Chamber of Commerce in 1837. Two Arabs, Syed Mohamed bin Ahmed Assegaf and Syed Mohammed bin Syed Omar Assegaf, served as Municipal Commissioners in 1872–1898 and 1928–1933 respectively.

Syed Ali Mohammed Al-Juneid, for instance, donated a large plot of land near Victoria and Arab Streets to Tan Tock Seng’s hospital. He also built public wells across town to provide free water, at a time when none was being supplied by the municipality. The Al-Juneid family – after whom Aljunied Road is named – made large donations to the construction of the Town Hall (now the Victoria Memorial and Concert Hall), while paying for the building of public bridges. The Al-Kaff footbridge on the Singapore River takes its name from another prominent Arab family, which built he first Japanese Gardens opened to the public before World War II (where the Sennett private housing estate is today). The Arabs were also well known for their contribution to wakaf lands ( Arab's land holdings charitable trust). The wakaf land of Syed Mohamed Assegaf was formed in 1904 to help support efforts for orphanages, mosques and Islamic schools. Today, the Aljuneid Islamic School and the Assegaf Islamic School stand as a legacy of the contribution of the Arab community towards Islamic education in Singapore. Currently, almost the entire area Singapore central business district were once the wakaf lands which the government acquired in the 1970s with only the minimal compensation paid to the owners.

Arab roles in trade The Arabs had played a dominant role in trade in South East Asia since the fifteenth century. When Sir Stamford Raffles founded Singapore in 1819, he attracted the Arab traders to his new city. By 1824, there were 15 Arabs out of a population of 10,683 and Raffles anticipated a rapid growth in Arab immigration. His blueprint for Singapore included plans for an Arab district. In his instructions to a Singapore housing committee in 1822, he stated: "The Arab population would require every consideration. No situation will be more appropriate for them than the vicinity of the Sultan’s residence..." (Buckley 1902:85) The first Arabs to arrive in Singapore in 1819 were two wealthy merchants from Palembang, Sumatra. Their numbers gradually increased and by 1846, there were five important Arab merchant houses. The al-Junied [al-junaid] ‫دينجلا‬ family in Singapore grew to be a rich and influential as did the al-Kaffs [al-kāf ] ‫ فاكلا‬and the al-Saggoffs [al-saqqāf ] ‫فاقسلا‬. There are streets and even a town council named after them.The al-Saggoffs were spice traders and became influential by marrying into a royal family from the Celebes. They acquired many properties, like the other Arab families, including the "Perseverance Estate" where they grew lemon grass. The estate is now considered to be the heart of the Muslim community in Singapore. As well as being successful merchants and land owners, the family became involved in civic affairs. The family members, at times, held civic office from the 1870s until 1965. The al-Kaff family arrived here in 1852. All these families lived in mansions of considerable opulence like the al-Kaff house. Today, the building is a restaurant called Alkaff Mansion as a gesture to preserve the name.[2] Other than that, it has no other Hadhrami connection, either in architectural style or ownership.

Arabs in Singapore (Al-Wehdah)

The Arabs formed their own association in 1946 which still exists today. The objectives then were to promote and enhance Islam as well as the use of Arabic language. By the time the Arab Association Singapore was founded, the Arab traders were the wealthiest community in Singapore.

Events

Religious events such as Haul, Iftar and mawlid are held in Al-Wehdah. 1st day of Eid mubarak has been special of Arabs in Singapore as this are opportunities where we bond with each other.

Activities

Al-Wehdah has open events for the young arabs to bond with each other untill today. Events such as Paintball, and even yearly “Arab Futsall Cup” which bond with the arabs of malaysia & indonsia. Al-wehdah proves tertiary assistance for the needy arabs too as mendaki do not fund “arabs” race beucase some arabs in Singapore are not muslims.

Arabs in Singapore (Where they are now?)

There are around about 8000 arabs in today thats includes the arabs who had inter-marriage with other races.

However from my observation since i was kid and also how it actually is, most of the arabs today live in the east region of Singapore.

There are a number of yemeni arab-owned shops still in Arab st such as the Jaafar Retas Bajrai, Bamadhaj Brothers & Basharahil Bros.

They are also yemeni arab-owned shops hovewever they are also part of the east region.

Knowing arabs of today living in east side. they are few mosque where we can find them easily such as Masjid Khalid, Masjid Hajjar Fatimah & the most famous where sometimes engagement event/religous event would take place, “Masjid Baalwie.”

Arabs in Singapore (Culture)

Despite how the new arab young & modern generation have intermarriage of chinese-malay to due to the mix culture they have adapted in Singapore, the arab in sticks with their strong culture they have.

Dance, Arts, Food has always been important to Arab culture. Recently, the arabs have been involve in events so that Singapore and also the Arabs today to appreciate what they have still. It is a way of re-living the Arab culture and knowing their “roots”.

It’s impossible to not see an arab wedding with no dance at all and honey as a souvenir is always a thing!

Human & Bee

Architecture has a great potential to change people’s perception of an urban space and set it in relation to the natural world.

“Instead of bees adapting to our lifestyle, we adapt to the bee lifestyle cos we cant live without them.”

Construction of Beehives/Honeycombs Hexagonal honeycombs rather than octagon or pentagon?

If you try to put pentagon together for example, they just dont fit together nicely. Or circles leaves alot of gaps.

If they want to produce a network of regular shapes which fit together neatly, then we only have 3 options which is the square equilateral triangle or the bee’s hexagon.

Hexagonal is the most appriopriate grometric form for the maximum use of a given area. None of the other shape fits together perfectly to provide more usable area and comsume less amount of wax for construction of comb.

The method used for the construction use in the honeycomb is also amazing. Bees start the construction of the hives from two or three different places and and weave the honeycomb simultaneously in two or three strings. they start from different places, the bees great in number construct identical hexagons and then weave the honeycomb by combining these together and meeting in the middle. The junction points of the hexagons are assembled softly that no defect can be found in the structure of the honeycomb.

“Bee connected and Bee together with nature, and will blossom like the flowers.”

Queen’s

Farm Beekeeping School Restaurant Business

House Queen

Site Opposite Punggol Waterway Point, Punggol

Site

Sun Path

Water

Figure Ground

Greenery

Cycling Area

Study Model

Jumble Model

Hive Model

House Model

Schedule of Accomodation

Farm

Hive

Farm

Beekeeping School Restaurant Business

Schedule of Accomodation

Restaurant

Shops Bedroom

Balcony

Toilet

Kitchen

Living Room

Shops

Shops

Stairs

Supermarket

Stairs

Supermarket

Bedroom Bedroom

Shops

Home

Stairs

Restaurant

Business

Activities (Mens)

Classroom

Restaurant

Beekeeping Process 2

Classroom

Beekeeping Process 1

Stairs

Beekeeping Process 3

Beekeeping Process 4

Flora & Fauna

Flora & Fauna Hive

Stairs

Flora & Hive Fauna

Flora & Fauna

Activities (Women)

School

Beekeeping

Farm

Schedule of Accomodation

Bee Tower

Farm Garden

Bee Tower Garden

Garden

Beekeeping

Residential

Residential

Farm Bee Tower Garden

Residential

Residential

School

Residential

Restaurant

Residential

Residential

Business

Residential

Schedule of Accomodation

Toilet

Free Space

Garden

Food Centre

Honey Stall Toilet 2

Kitchen

Living Room

Supermarket

Honey Stall

Food Centre

Supermarket

Honey Stall

Food Centre

Food Centre

Food Centre

Bedroom Bedroom 2

Workshop

Fruit Farm

Drinks Stall

Main Beetower

Green Eating Area

Residential

Nut Farm

Business

Food Centre Vegetable Farm

Toilet Garden

Seed Farm

Beekeeping Process 1

Activity Room

Classroom

Sta Corner

Classroom

Independant Beetower

Meeting Room

Understanding Farming

Beekeeping Process 6

Beekeeping Process 2

Beekeeping Process 5

Beekeeping Process 3

Garden

Beekeeping Process 4 Beekeeping Process 7

Independant Bee Tower

School

Beekeeping

Farm/Garden/Main Bee Tower

Form

Temperature & Humidity

Wind Direction & Rose

SunPath

Solar Analysis

18

Location Plan SCALE: 1:1500

19

Site Plan SCALE: 1:500

A

B

LS

13

1ST FLOOR PLAN SCALE: 1:100

1

2

FRONT ELEVATION SCALE: 1:200

BACK ELEVATION SCALE: 1:200

3

SIDE ELEVATION A SCALE: 1:150

4

SIDE ELEVATION B SCALE: 1:150

11

3RD FLOOR PLAN SCALE: 1:100

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4TH FLOOR PLAN SCALE: 1:100

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5TH FLOOR PLAN SCALE: 1:100

8

ROOF PLAN SCALE: 1:100

BEE TOWER DETAIL/SECTION

C

14

TOP PLAN SCALE: 1:40

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DETAIL CALL-OUT SECTION C SCALE: 1:10

DETAIL CALL-OUT

C

15

FRONT ELEVATION SCALE: 1:40

16

SIDE ELEVATION SCALE 1:40