B.A. (ARCH) LEVEL 5: DENSITY, URBANISM, PUBLICNESS. SELECTED WORKS.

YEAR 3 LEVEL 5 COMPILATION OF SELECTED WORKS

2019/2020 B.A. (ARCH) LEVEL 5

DENSITY URBANISM PUBLICNESS

IMAGE CREDIT: ONG KAI YI MELISSA

LEVEL 5: Density, Urbanism, Publicness A city is a systematic entity that allows people to produce, exchange, transport, consume, work, live, play and sleep. A variety of infrastructures and architecture interconnect each other to sustain the life of the city, while producing and reproducing new economy and symbolic meanings. The complexity of the city often supersedes its systematic thoughts and generates alternative phenomena as well.

Such phenomena however energize and sustain the vitality of the city.

Focusing on these natures of the city, the studios investigate three issues: density, urbanism and publicness in a particular urban site.

The density, measured and indicated by plot ratio characterizes the city’s population as well as atmosphere, while the urbanism defines its systematic function and economy. The publicness expresses people’s lives, activities and communal sensibilities that derive from them.

The publicness concerns not only people but also other animals and plants that relate to our lives directly and indirectly.

The studio rigorously explores these three issues by investigating a particular urban area in Singapore. Using big data, and scrutinizing an actual site, the studio attempts to uncover its intrinsic significances and problematic issues.

Students are required to engage with these, and generate urban scenario and masterplan based on their critical focus. (Group Project).

Subsequently, the proposed urban scenario and masterplan are tested by architectural design works (individual projects). Maintaining a close relationship with the surroundings, the architectural design explores various possibilities of the new urban settings. Therefore, the challenge of the studios lies in the relationship between urban and architectural conditions that reciprocally contribute to the production of an innovative environment.

Tsuto Sakamoto Level 6 Studio Leader

2019/2020 B.A. (ARCH) LEVEL 5

Unit 1: Mr Tsuto Sakamoto

(Year 3 Leader, Unit 1 Leader)

Dr Zdravko Trivic Mr Lee Tat Haur Mr Paul Yeo Wei Da

Unit 2: Mr Bobby Wong Chong Thai (Unit 2 Leader)

A/P Thomas Kong Adj A/P Neo Sei Hwa Ms Yeo Yih Hsiu

Unit 3: Mr Razvan Ghilic-Micu (Unit 3 Leader)

Ms Fiona Nixon (teaching with Mr Razvan Ghilic-Micu) Mr Roy Pang Mr Ronald Lim Ms Charmain Wong Dr Jessica Diehl (co-teach Landscape Specialization students)

URBAN STUDIO REJUVENATING PASIR PANJANG POWER STATION 1. PREAMBLE A city is a systematic entity that allows people to produce, exchange, transport, consume, work, live, play and sleep. A variety of infrastructures and architecture interconnect each other to sustain the life of the city, while producing and reproducing new economy and symbolic meanings.

The complexity of the city often supersedes its systematic thoughts and generates alternative phenomena as well. Such phenomena however energize and sustain the vitality of the city.

Focusing on these natures of the city, the studios investigate three issues: density, urbanism and publicness in a particular urban site. The density, measured and indicated by plot ratio characterizes the city’s population as well as atmosphere, while the urbanism defines its systematic function and economy. The publicness expresses people’s lives, activities and communal sensibilities that derive from them. The publicness concerns not only people but also other animals and plants that relate to our lives directly and indirectly.

The studio rigorously explores these three issues by investigating a particular urban area in Singapore. Using big data, and scrutinizing an actual site, the studio attempts to uncover its intrinsic significances and problematic issues. Students are required to engage with these, and generate urban scenario and masterplan based on their critical focus. (Group Project).

Subsequently, the proposed urban scenario and masterplan are tested by architectural design works (individual projects). Maintaining a close relationship with the surroundings, the architectural design explores various possibilities of the new urban settings. Therefore, the challenge of the studios lies in the relationship between urban and architectural conditions that reciprocally contribute to the production of an innovative environment.

A particular challenge of the studio in AY2019/2020 is to find a close relationship between urban and architecture through an “intervention” into the Pasir Panjang Power Station, an industrial heritage vacated in the 1980s. _______________________________________________________________________________________

2. SITE The Pasir Panjang Power Station District (south part of the highlighted area) is comprises of Power Stations (A and B) and ancillary buildings (pumphouse, oil tanks, gas turbine, staff’s apartment blocks and others). The Power Station A was built in 1953 to meet post-war demand of electricity, while the B was commissioned in 1965 mainly to support Singapore’s industrial development.

After the development of Senoko and Pulau Seraya stations, the two stations were decommissioned in the mid- 1980s and the late-1990s respectively.

Placed at the west end of the future development: Great Southern Waterfront (GSW - 2000 hectares re-development of existing PSA site in 40 years), the site is considered as a strategic hub.

Other north-south connections will also link up the waterfront to the Southern Ridges, for visitors to enjoy a distinctive waterfront to hilltop recreational experience.

The north of the district is a major business district consisted of : Mapletree Business City (offices), older warehouses and light industrial buildings. Also, the Gillman Barrack has recently been converted to art and cultural districts. The Power Station District is currently cut-off from these populated areas by the AYE (viaduct) and Pasir Panjang Road (a major arterial road). _______________________________________________________________________________________

3. URBAN FOCUS, SCENARIO AND MASTERPLAN In an initial stage (Week 1-4), collaborating with AR3223 Introduction to Urbanism, the studio will conduct a macro and micro-scale research. Starting with a desktop research using QGIS and other sources, students will study population data, urban morphology (building and open space typology) and density, circulation/street network system, land use and catchment areas, legibility and mental mapping (place identity), and pedestrian activity and socio-cultural aspect. The specific data collection and analysis should be guided by the individual units and studio.

Concurrently, the students will visit the site and conduct on-site observation to probe into micro-scale urban fabrics. Legibility, physical aspect, pedestrian activity and other aspects of the cities are studied, while understanding the culture, life and atmosphere of the site. The studies should conclude with graphical materials/physical models.

A group site-visit for the Pasir Panjang Power Station District is planned on 21 Aug 2019 (Wed).

(It is prohibited to enter the site except for this opportunity). Therefore, students are required to carefully plan for the site observation and investigation. The surroundings of the site allows public an access in anytime.

The row data and facts collected in the macro and micro-scale research are colours on your palette. You still have to paint a picture of your scenario for your intervention. Based on the exploration of particular focuses, students will generate a future scenario for the site. The focus, scenario and a strategic masterplan should be produced and presented in the Interim Review 1 scheduled in Week4. (The format and kinds of drawings should be decided by the units and studios respectively). _______________________________________________________________________________________

4. ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN Based on the urban focus, scenario and masterplan, individual student will work on architectural design. The architectural design should satisfy not only its own functional and structural demands, but also must contribute to the urban strategy and environment. Establishing a creative relationship with surrounding environment, the architecture should demonstrate its relevance within the city.

It is recommended that the building has a GFA in the range of 2000-3000sqm, but the size can be deviated based on the ideas of the individual students. _______________________________________________________________________________________

5. LEARNING OBJECTIVES The module aims to: - Provide an opportunity to learn on-site analysis – visiting the site, observing various physical conditions, street culture, atmospheric characteristics and others.

- Provide an opportunity to learn on-site analysis – visiting the site, observing various physical conditions, street culture, atmospheric characteristics and others.

- Provide an opportunity to understand and work on urban analysis in macro scale – data collections from QGIS, rational analysis and graphical representation.

-Equip students with skills to find a focus and develop ideas, scenario and architectural concepts.

- Equipt students with skills to design a mid-size building considering surrounding environ ments and urban conditions.

- Provide an opportunity to learn a relationship between architectural design and its im pact to the city. _______________________________________________________________________________________

PLEASURABLE ARCHIPELAGOS GOH KAR HUI STUDIO THOMAS KONG

Pleasurable Archipelagos

The Post-Oil Future of the Power District

by Goh Kar Hui The project reimagines the power station and the surroundings as an integrated marina encompassing a high-end hotel and recreational activities. It will act as a gateway/ portal to access the southern island, which will become leisure and recreation destinations in a post-oil refinery era.

The oil industry was the main mode of revenue which was only possible due to the relationship and terms established between southern islands. The onset of global warming has made certain the eventual irrelevance of the oil industry that Singapore depends on as alternative forms of energy are being introduced. As a result, new way of revenue has to be innovated which are in the form of the southern islands.

The project exemplifies the post-industrial culture phenomenon - a transition from manufacturing to a service-based economy where marketing, service and consumption are key driver for growth. Hence, the southern islands are redefined as hyper leisure infrastructures that will replace the oil refineries as another form of productive economy.

It aims to transform the hinterlands into places of leisure and recreation as a way to replace the trinational economic trade agreement that is soon to be rendered obsolete from the irrelevance of oil trade in the future. Rethinking the role of the hinterlands from being a by-product economic prosperity - that stemmed from the trade afreement - to be a source of one.

ROOM 320 ROOM 301

ROOM 220

ROOM 201

ROOM 120

ROOM 101

ROOF GARDEN

GRAND DINING AREA VIEWING GALLERY

CONCEIRGE

BOAT CRAFTING WORKSHOP

DRY DOCKYARD SHIP RETROFIT

EXPERIENTIAL LANDFORMS ONG KAI YI MELISSA STUDIO THOMAS KONG

Experimental Landforms

by Ong Kai Yi Melissa

A self-sufficient architectural form that combines A ture and Landscape to provide for the Greater So Waterfront population. Redefining the future of thi nent harbour, it aims to impact the community by different intensities of landforms and blurring the b ies of a factory, a redistribution hub and a park. Th forms develop into steps, seats, rooms and valley to the people as well as to enhance the user expe By activating the public’s sensory and experiential these landforms include a series of community ga community aquaponics and manual chicken egg f raise awareness and educate the public that Sing able to be self-sufficient. Combining high-technol opments in land-scarce Singapore, this project wo as a prototype for future implementations of a new urban farming.

Architecouthern is promicreating boundarhe landys catering erience. l journey, ardens, farms to gapore is logy develould act w form of

BREATHING TIDEWAYS OW YEONG JUN JIE STUDIO THOMAS KONG

Breathing Tideways

by Ow Yeong Jun Jie

Water is an essential part of everyday life, a life-giving resource that every living being on Earth needs. Where in an abundance of water was once viewed as a Utopian ideal, the abundance of water today threatens our current society. Rising sea levels are harbingers of an uncertain future, capable of causing substantial changes to our way of life. While efforts are being placed to block out this growing threat, the future is uncertain and existing measures may be insufficient in protecting us.

Breathing Tideways explores the potential of welcoming the rising waters, creating spaces for people to enjoy and experience its change over time. By allowing the seawater to enter, new eco-systems are formed, creating activities that adapt and change according to the water conditions. As rainwater and seawater mixes, estuaries are formed, helping to bring in new life-forms, both flora, and fauna deeper into land. This returns parts of the land to nature, giving people new natural places to enjoy and carry out recreational activities such as swimming, fishing or kayaking. Designed with a recreation and boat transportation hub, Breathing Tideways attempts to integrate into the surrounding urban fabric, uniting man with water and water with architecture.

THE PASIR PANJANG GATEWAY GROUP MASTERPLAN STUDIO BOBBY WONG

The Pasir Panjang Gateway An urban narrative

by Studio Bobby Wong

The emphasis and the nature of our project is to make pathways and connections. In some ways, they are similar to the pathways and connectors as conceived under the Singapore City in the Park project. The connectors found or envisaged in the city in the park are built with a purpose, with an end in mind; that of having a network of pedestrian and Cycling paths linking north to the south, east to the west and vice versa within the main island. Where the national gird of pathways are more physical in nature, we use the term connectors, connections and pathways more as a trope; a metaphor to mean more than a mere physical link. Our connectors, besides fulfilling this national purpose, in varying degrees, wants to amass potentially. A potentially, when encountered, has the capacity to generate ripples across the landscape and within a social or subject; bifurcating and or producing ever more connections and or trajectories.Some of which are unexpected; some activating dormant ones, others initiating nascent emergents. All of which can be singularities in the making. In other word, they are all possible worlds in the making; some imaginary while others having the capacities to actualise themselves.

But one thing is for sure; the studios aim to be progressive and not reactionary especially in a world increasingly finding itself suffering from paranoia. We are not interested in “Red under the Bed” syndrome which obfuscates much of the social landscape. Rather, the studios are fascinated with how the present live, work and play even with globalisation / liberal democracies in “retreat” or placed under a parenthesis. Though much have changed, paradoxically, nothing has changed. Issues relating to certainties, hierarchies and structuring the world through binary pairs (authentic and inauthenticity or origin versus copies) are still present and still relevant to be engaged. Indeed, late capitalism (Fedric Jameson’s commodity fetish) and Post-humanism and their issues have, if anything intensified; not the reverse. The world has gotten so flat, on effect of digital economy and networks, that we could fall off the map, something that Pico Iyer said sometime in the late nineties. But is it really true? Contradictions abound and are constantly shifting. The rise of the commons and banality, suggestion of a new flat egalitarianism, is contradicted every step of the way by the growing divergence in wealth between the poor and the elites, a form of hierarchy. Yet, the dominant mode of mechanical production and reproduction (and now the digital) has morphed every human being into a near automaton being; an inescapable sameness with a common denominator. But will this new constant last? Already, Artificial Intelligence and automatons are displacing middle management work. This new development has placed the affluent society that you and I are aware of into question. Yet affluence and wanton consumption is so perversive.

These issues give the studios ample opportunities to examine contradictions, parodies, blurring of boundaries between categories, the testing of limits before sense collapses into nonsense / chaos; all specificities relating to the post-humanist, post capital economies that could drive design. Therefore our project is an infrastructural one. It will attempt to link or have the potential to link to the existing Park Connectors at the Southern Ridge / Gillman Barracks. Though the planning and the individual project should work towards this end, the language and the spaces deployed should speak and embody the social cultural problematics architecturally, though not limited to them.

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THE SITE!

LABRADOR PARK

Aerial view of the site (google maps); pasir panjang power district & the surrounding context

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Second tier Commercial Hubs/ Areas

First tier Commercial Hubs/ Areas (CBD/ Orchard Rd)

Regional Centres (Existing) Regional Centres (Upcoming) Sub - Regional / Fringe Centres

The Macro Approach - Mapping of the Decentralisation Initiative -- Sub - Regional Centres

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PASIR PANJANG PORT TERMINAL

TANJONG PAGAR PORT TERMINAL

PULAU BRANI

SENTOSA

The Macro Approach - The Greater Southern Waterfront Initiative

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The Macro Approach - Precedent Studi

// the pasir panjang gateway; an urba

tion of the ‘lost’ mount

ban narrative | bw studio //

LOOK, IT’S THE COMPASSIONATE MUSIC BUBBLE OF THE 21ST CENTURY WONG JINN YI, JOANNE STUDIO BOBBY WONG

“Look Ma, it’s the Compassionate Music Bubble of the 21st Century,”

by Wong Jinn Yi, Joanne

The post-industrial age saw a drastic shift in economic development and consumeristic behaviors; no longer was man invested in the processes of manufacturing, but it gave rise to concepts such as commodity fetishism and overwritten preferences for intellectual knowledge and technological advancements, rather than practical innovation. The once ‘faceted’, human-centric orientated communities, have since then transitioned into a rather ‘flat’, singular, automated and ‘monotonous’ societal organization that marks the contemporary era. However, as ‘flat’, ‘equal’, singular and ‘monotonous’ our current societal structures have thought to become and perceived, in reality, such progressive notions are seen as fuel to the growth of an existing perverse gap between the social classes, & the disparity between those deemed as the enfranchised & the disenfranchised have since only become more ‘explicitly’ articualted.

As such, in the choreographed urban notion of the projected masterplan, the implied notions and gestures displaced dwells on the ideology of manifesting the concepts of ‘flatness’ & egalitarian behaviors as mankind progress with the advancements of technology and are progressively subjected to the growth of discrepancies and hierarchies present with its societal structures. As a gesture of response, the idea was to find a medium, a programme that would not only serve as a response to the projected initiative of the GSWF, but identifying an existing element that had already possess the quality of heterogeneity in its manifestations.

Conceived as a fundamental construct of humanity, music has always been a creative expression/manifestation that has evidently transcended the elements of time & language. The placement of an architectural attachment of a philharmonic infrastructure above the existing Pasir Panjang Power Station A, seeks to introduce an architectural typology that begets a creative medium that not only resonates with the notions of egalitarianism, but in its manifested programme, various opportunities & potentialities may be explored, encouraging and enhancing the cultural awareness and identity within our current societal construct simultaneously.

However, it is of acknowledgement that such music/ performance halls are often plagued with the association to the elites, a passive playground/ space & genre appreciated/ catered to the affluent. Standing as a critique, the proposed intervention shall thus to attempt to dispel the notion of the passive playground & to reimagine an environment that has been fashioned to cater to the co-habitation of a space shared between the elites and common. And in that process of establishing that dialogue, it further elicits the notion of propelling/ altering the current behaviors and societal structures present in a direction that not only speaks about providing a platform of equal opportunities for all, but how it aims to further inspire and hone the act of making and embracing this creative manifestation, which stands akin to a manner of internal progression & development of mankind; a gesture of progression that pays homage to the embedded significance of progression that the power station represents in our national history.

THE CURRENTS PASIR PANJANG LIBRARY TAN JIAN WEI JUSTIN STUDIO BOBBY WONG

The Currents - Pasir Panjang Library

by Tan Jian Wei Justin

The Pasir Panjang Power Station as a historic landmark in the Pasir Panjang district, symbolic of Singapore’s first industrial revolution as it powered the nation through its growing years. With the Greater Southern Waterfront project already planned for, the entire south-western coast ofwill be redeveloped into a vibrant commercial and residential focused smart city.

Not only will the power district be cleared to accomodate new developments, the Pasir Panjang ports which are just as if not more representative of the area are set to be relocated to Tuas, leaving no trace of this industrial landscape that is synonymous with Pasir Panjang.

In a bid to preserve the historic value of both the port and the power station, the power station will be repurposed to house two sectional cuts of the hull of a cargo ship which functions as a public library. Even though ships have long played an integral role in the area, first to supply oil to the power station followed by the maritime trade the drove Singapore’s economy, the forceful imposition of the hull confronts users with the question of whether the clumsy method of preservation by retention of mere facades is a genuine attempt at conserving a piece of history.

Monumentality is too often frivously awarded to old architecture purely for their physical appearance and aesthetic but true monuments retain value through their continual relevance in society (Rossi Aldo). The programmatic function of a library was thus adopted for two main reasons. As evidenced by the well received launch of a public library at Vivocity recently, a library will always be relevant in society even in the midst of a technological boom whre anything and everything can be found at our finger tips. A library accurately captures the value of preserving historical buildings; the commeration goes beyond the visible reminders of our past but should be focused on the lessons we can learn.

The evolving function of a library, from being a ordered and strict space for information gathering to a social space where interaction thrives, is captured by the two distinctly different sections of the hull. Programmatically, this ensures that library perfroms its primary function as an information resource while remaining relevant to the changing needs of society. Symbolically, this represents the progression of time and the growing obselescence of the “old” definition of what a library is. This once again gives rise to the question: Are we preserving and conserving “monuments” purely because they are old? Or is there a greater value that underlies that?

THE SIERRA HANSEL LIM YOU AN STUDIO BOBBY WONG

The Sierra

by Hansel Lim You An With the decommision of Pasir Panjang Power Station, the idea of recovering what was lost is seen as a poetic reunion, a merger between what was lost and what the revitalization could bring for the future.

The Sierra was conceived as an architectural expression that sought to recover the part of Labrador Hill that was removed in 1953 and subsequently in 1978 for the creation of Power station A and B. The removal of natural land is seen as a man made notion and the idea of replacing what was once lost can also be perceived as an artificial action, resulting in a paradoxical cycle. This paradox helped to conceive a massing that takes on a mountainous form, something that is rather different and contrasting against Labrador Hill although similar notions echo.

In conjunction with the future development of the Greater Southern Waterfront, the building seeks to host an array of events that are aimed at creating a better environment for the new population. Due to a heightened awareness in heathcare, a bulk of today’s young adults are actively participating in some form of exercise or sport. This rising trend spurred the creation of sports hub that caters to the various sporting needs that the southern district would need.

The architectural intervention houses retail outlets on the first 3 floors, boasting a wide variety of entertainment centres for the future population that inhabit the Greater Southern Waterfront district. The main programmes begins from the 4th floor onwards. Housed within are an assortment of courts for various sports like badmintion, tennis, basket ball and volley ball. Avid runners need not worry about the elements of nature from disrupting their runs as a 470m loop track circles the entire floor. The various courts are scattered around from the 4th to 9th floor and accompanying the sport arenas on each level are a multitude of small cafes and eateries that will aid in refuelling the users for a better game.

The original massing was a series of blocks that followed a similar width of the portion of Labrador hill that was cut. The massing was then massaged into planes, shaped like the peaks found in Guilin, China as the form was to convey the message that creating something man made to cover up an action by man is paradoxical. The planes were then rotated, with the planes inline with the mount, as if it were a representation of the pieces of the mount that were sliced away.

The planes were then extruded to form volumes to house the programmes inside. Lastly the whole massing is rotated 30 degrees in order to achieve a 3 dimensional look where ever people look from. The staggering peaks are staggered, forming a layered look that emulates the layering in the chinese paintings.

1945

1978

1953

2019

4th Floor Plan

THE TURNING TEST GABRIEL CHOON STUDIO TRIVIC ZDRAVKO

The Turning Test

by Gabriel Choon

Our digital age has anchored our reliance on data for just about every aspect of life. We use it to plan our travel, entertain ourselves and as a pool of knowledge that we can tap on. Data has been archived and catalogued so profoundly and meticulously on the bookshelves of the Internet.

As our thrist for knowledge and efficiency grows, we are finding unprecedented ways to integrate deep learning and neural network with Artificial intelligence. These virtual bots tap onto the open source of data readily avaliable, developing to be more flexible in problem solving, complex data analysis and quite possibly even creativity. Surely, with their capabilities, we humans can no longer compete at such levels of comptetency. How can the majority of individuals displaced by the age of automatio find their place in society?

PASIR PANJANG ARK RACHEL TOH STUDIO TSUTO SAKAMOTO

THE REPOSITORY JOSHUA WOON STUDIO TSUTO SAKAMOTO

The Repository @ Pasir Panjang

This project questions the idea of Machines and Technology being employed into our daily lives as it replaces individual taskings.

With many tasks being replaced overtime, a job is gone. Therefore, where does the division of labour between man and machine lie?

YEAR 3 LEVEL 5 COMPILATION OF SELECTED WORKS

2019/2020 B.A. (ARCH) LEVEL 5

IMAGE CREDIT: JOSHUA WOON