Anti-Heterotopia Heterotopian Club

People’s Park Complex as a multigenerational housing and commercial hub

The “Anti-Heterotopia Heterotopian Club” proposes a revitalization of a post-independence Singapore’s historic building and speculates on an architectural conservation methodology in which the local communities act as a catalyst for its conservancy. The project takes a cue from Micahel Focault’s notion of “heterotopia” as a means to experiment with ideas of contemporary urban-architectural typologies. Portraying the historic People’s Park Complex as a practice of architecture that hypothetically mirrors and hyperbolically romanticizes the surrounding cultural street occurrences, inverting the notion of “place-making” over “communitymaking” to form an interconnected bond amongst the people towards the activities and the building. The design leads to a novel realm where the juxtaposition of local cultural elements is fantasized, contested and subsequently materialized into the reality of the tectonics.

Having observed the potential of the site to cater for the concerning housing demands for ageing-population and working adults in the Chinatown area due to the cultural yet commercial nature of the region, the project proposes an alternative, community-centric building conservation strategy to recover and recalibrate the existing programs to become a multigenerational housing-commercial hub. By carefully taking the historical and social significance of the building, the structural integrity, and the economic and planning feasibility of the conservation of the historic building into consideration, the project responds to these contemplations by suggesting a scheme that cherishes cross-generational reciprocities and simultaneously elaborates activities through participatory events and architectural fragments that resemble locality or interpretations of local culture.

The project treats the existing podium as a confluence of two program masses (commercial and housing) in which activities are formulated through the proposed structures that initiate interactions between the stakeholders, the elderly and the adults. This initiative introduces a new ecosystem within the building that encounters situations of social and age segregation while honouring the character of “heritage” and the nature of the building to promote inclusivity and encourage the support of local communities in the conservation narrative. In this architectural proposition, the role of the elderly is challenged – they are seen as not only care receivers but also protagonists, caregivers and mentors for the younger generations. The objective of this approach is to provoke the existing architectural conservation typology by rejuvenating a radical tectonic that cultivates sociocultural interactions and triggers participatory sense so that the living communities can decide together or by themselves, the future of their social fabric and historic urban landscape.

Above: Sectional and Details of the Solar Cladding

Below: Housing Units and Estimated Property Value

Gevin Timotius