Sketch of a Chinese antique chair found in an antique shop at Duxton Hill

Aesop | Unbreakable

Sketch, Aesop | Unbreakable, Donovan Soon (WOHA)

Aesop | Unbreakable. Design by Donovan Soon (WOHA).

I spent the day sketching my favorite bench at the “Bench” exhibition at URA. Architect Donovan Soon cleverly uses Aesop’s fable to emphasize that while the former local landmark no longer exists, the united strength of Singapore remains. The old passes to welcome the new so that we as one nation can grow together from glory to glory.

Aesop is inspired by the children’s classic fable of how single sticks are easily broken but when put together become strong and unbreakable. This parallels the Singapore story as a small but strong nation, garnering strength from unity. The National Stadium was an emblem of that unity as Singaporeans of all walks of life gathered in celebration and common purpose. The timber planks of the stadium are bundled together to create the bench. At each end of the bench the individuality of each plank is revealed, cantilevering out at different lengths to create a unique expression that celebrates multiplicity. The planks come together in the center to form a solid, strong core. They are cinched together by steel bands inscribed with the National Pledge, symbolically and physically forming the binding rings that hold the core together.

(Description by Bench Exhibition @ URA)

Playing With Fire | Frozen Fire

Playing With Fire | Frozen Fire (original design using timber)

This maquette model briefly summarizes what Marina Abramović represents to me after watching The Artist is Present (2012) and her dialogue with TimesTalks. It features an island of fire to portray a fiery torch of courage and expression in isolation and alienation from the world, mysterious but undying. Her art is her life, vice versa. A performer who constantly evolves in her artistic forms, she is bold, aggressive, unexpected, strong-willed but at the same time spiritual and embracing nature, passionate, fiercely impactful in her expression, dangerous, oftentimes violent (particularly in her earlier works), as though an explosion of light burning from within, eternal and inextinguishable. In her later works, she pays more attention to patience, tuning into tranquility and the present moment, pushing limits, and overcoming her weaknesses. In involving the public in her works and performances, she challenges both herself and us. She devotes herself to experimental art, inviting the audience to truly participate and experience life in all its essence. This woman-warrior lives absolutely free from conformity and rules, and thus appears as a controversial figure frequently misunderstood and mistaken. Undeniably, however, she is one who truly dares.

Benches | Old National Stadium

Bench/Stadium, Andrew Crombie (MKPL Architect)

Bench/Stadium, Andrew Crombie (MKPL Architect)

Bench/Stadium. Design by Andrew Crombie (MKPL Architect).

The stratification of the proposed, ziggurat-like, skin is evocative of the texture of the original stadium seating. The curved, planed external surface is new, however the natural, textured, weathered grain of the original planks will be revealed within the interior of the bench. The form, the inverted planks and the longevity of the material, suggests a solidity, a rock like permanence to pay homage to the absent stadium. The elliptical shape, symmetrical for efficiency, is a cultural memory, an echo, rising from the dust of the preceding civic icon. The pure form is reminiscent of sports facility typology. The bench will be a sculptural object in the landscape, immobile but changing, during the day the bench would be solid, stanch, but ethereal by night with the benefit of artificial illumination.

1973, Peter Chen

1973, Peter Chen

1973. Design by Peter Chen.

The National Stadium remains, even in erasure, as one of the more iconic buildings to come out from the era of post-independent Singapore architecture. Its architecture, like its place in time, was unique. The design approach is a simple one, choosing to draw direct reference to the architecture of the Stadium as design generator. Inspired directly from the architectural form, the bench seat seeks to create a form that is reminiscent of the roofline, through an undulating profile of its laminated timber sections, while the supporting cantilever structure of galvanized metal sections references the original structural design of the seating galleries.

Benchmark Sat, Larry Peh (&Larry)

Benchmark Sat, Larry Peh (&Larry)

Benchmark Sat. Design by Larry Peh (&Larry).

Taking inspiration from victory podiums, this bench is a fitting tribute to the National Stadium. The stadium was a key venue for the setting of numerous benchmarks. At the front and rear elevations, the deliberate omission of horizontal planks reveal the Chinese characters “一”, “二” and “三”, representing the podium’s first, second and third places respectively. Likewise, when viewed from the top, the design displays the Roman numerals, “I”, “II” and “III”. The bench, with three levels, opens up a variety of uses for adults and children alike. While it is inherently human to strive for the first place, Benchmark Sat allows the user to choose a preferred seat, thereby setting his or her comfortable benchmark.

Lumber, Hans Tan

Lumber, Hans Tan

Lumber. Design by Hans Tan.

Once logged from trees, the seating planks of the former national stadium are returned to the primordial state of a trunk as a tribute to the stadium for being a genesis of Singapore’s progress by supporting the people through many National events. With the worn out surface of the planks created by years of weathering and abrasion having an uncanny likeness to bark, they lay together like a fallen trunk where one would instinctively sit, offering the same support to the passerby it once rendered to crowds.

bench, Raymond Hon

bench, Raymond Hon

bench. Design by Raymond Hon (NUS).

bench is a bench that is constructed of out the wood salvaged from the benches of the Old National Stadium, bonded seamlessly with adhesive. The weathered texture of the wood on the top surface is retained to preserve a tangible part of history for future generations to feel, as well as an attempt to preserve 37 years of service to the occupants of the Old National Stadium, and now in the form of a public bench, enabling it to continue its service discretely.

Stadium Bench, Wong Mun Summ & Richard Hassell (WOHA)

Stadium Bench, Wong Mun Summ & Richard Hassell (WOHA)

Stadium Bench, Wong Mun Summ & Richard Hassell (WOHA)

Stadium Bench. Design by Wong Mun Summ & Richard Hassell (WOHA).

The timber planks that formed the seats for the National Stadium were witness to the years of nation building. The bench design seeks to keep this sense of time and history visible and tangible. The bench is expressed as a collection of objects which can be disassembled, each plank is visible as an individual relic from the stadium, treated with respect and veneration. The weathering of the planks is a type of record of a precise amount of time that has passed, from the freshly sawn planks when Singapore was born as a modern nation, to these silvered, matured, aged wood 47 years later.

(Descriptions by Bench Exhibition @ URA) 

Timber Abstraction

I designed a maquette model based on "What Should Trayvon Martin Have Done?" from The New Yorker.

The cubed cage symbolizes imprisonment — of Trayvon at the moment of his encounter with Zimmerman, of the law, and of mankind in man-made society at large.

The two planks that never intersect allude to the notion of people, specifically Trayvon and Zimmerman, in this case, “walking on the edge” in our present society. It also signifies the abyss between the “should’ve” and the “could’ve”; there is no middle-ground between theory and past-reality.

The pointed daggers on either side of the two planks represent the media and public opinion as well as racial discrimination.

The cross formed as a result of the two planks signify danger, risk and rejection. From the perspective of Trayvon, he was ultimately betrayed by society simply because of his race and skin color. Being only seventeen, he was shot down before he could even fly.

Funtasy Island Restaurant Interior

I incorporated my furniture design into this restaurant interior by changing its original function from a bench-cum-coffeetable to a bar counter.

Thanks, Khuang, for your mentorship.

Trust & Challenge

“You say to a Brick, ‘What do you want, Brick?’ And Brick says to you, ‘I like an arch.’ And you say to Brick, ‘Look, I want one, too, but arches are expensive and I can use a concrete lintel.’ And then you say: ‘What do you think of that, Brick?’ Brick says: ‘I like an arch.’”

— Louis Kahn

Vortex

Vortex. Bench-cum-coffeetable.

Challenging and stretching the inherent quality of 3 x 5 mm timber strips.

Later evolved into a bar counter for my restaurant interior design.

Tiong Bahru 中峇鲁

The Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) homes in Tiong Bahru are the precursors of ubiquitous modern-day Housing Development Board flats. Heavily inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier, the purely functional and machine-like design interestingly alludes to nautical elements, such as the circular windows in the stairwell. In fact, the concept of an open-air stairwell invites nature indoors, a key aim that was shared by Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright. In spite of Western influences, the five-foot way and a height of three-to-four storeys remain reminiscent of local shophouses in attempt to maintain a national architectural identity.

The Tiong Bahru Market & Food Center consists of a wet market, dry provision stores, floral shops, and numerous hawker stalls, most of which have been in the business for over three decades. This is the central point for surrounding residents to buy their daily essential and necessary materials.

The food booths beyond the Market & Food Center along Moh Guan Terrace, Tiong Poh Road, Yong Siak Street, Eng Hoon Street, to name a few, have also been around as early as the 1940s. As this estate has the highest concentration of the most authentic and historic hawker foods, locals and foreigners of all ages from all over Singapore would flock to Tiong Bahru for them.

The footpaths, five-foot ways, public courtyards and spacious back alleys welcome pedestrians to stroll under shelter and the shade of tropical trees as they enjoy the atmosphere of the neighborhood and the unique historical architecture. The quaint, residential charm of the area attracts local yuppies and expatriates to make Tiong Bahru their home and frequent destination. The recent introduction of western cafes, bakeries and restaurants also revive the austere kampong into a warm, picturesque, cosy village.

Open spaces, like Seng Poh Garden, provide surrounding residents and visitors with a safe, healthy and relaxing environment to delight in nature and fresh air. The relatively scarce road traffic contributes to an easy, comfortable and pleasurable walking experience around the estate.

Singapore Shophouses

Godown refurbished into Modern-style shophouse, Clarke Quay

Do not belittle the seemingly passé façade of a shophouse in Singapore. Grouped into four historical districts, the unique colonial structures attest to the long-standing cultures and beliefs of different ethnicities that live and work together on the island: the Chinese in Chinatown, the Malays in Kampong Glam, the Indians in Little India, and a mixture from each ethnic group in the trading ports along the Singapore River. Thanks to the laudable efforts of the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) of Singapore, the governmental organization responsible for the conservation of local architectural heritage with strict guidelines about additions and alterations, shophouses today can remain firm on their original site to tell stories of the past beyond what meets the eye.

Early shophouse, Haji Lane, Kampong Glam

Within one edifice, the shophouse cleverly accommodates commercial purposes on the first storey alongside residential spaces on the second or third storeys. Constructed between 1840 and 1960, the Singapore shophouse typically carries a height of two or three storeys with a pitched roof, and features timber beams and columns on the two sides of the frontage for infrastructure, timber floors, a timber staircase, one main door, at least one window on each storey, as well as a five-foot way. Multiple shophouses are erected side-by-side to form rows of contiguous blocks, separated by shared party walls that protrude above the roof by approximately thirty centimeters. Some houses possess an air-well, a forecourt and a rear-court while others contain only one or two of these three elements. On rainy days, rainwater accumulates in the gutter just beneath the ends of the roof then flows down the water pipes on one side of the house and into the drain on the road.

Transom windows and French windows on Transitional-style shophouses, Duxton Hill, periphery of Chinatown

French windows on Early shophouses, Haji Lane, Kampong Glam

Just as the key standard characteristics of the shophouse evolved through various styles (Early, Transitional, Late, Art Décor, and Modern), so too its windows developed and diversified based on different cultures among communities, and on the economic maturity of Singapore. The windows on shophouses demonstrate two dominant forms: the full-height French window and the half-height casement window. Both open outwards on the upper storey but the casement window on the first storey usually opens inwards to avoid obstructions along the five-foot way. The long and narrow French window, influenced by the Europeans via the British, occupies most of the height of the upper storeys whereas the shorter casement window takes up half the area to be opened at the height of the railing.

Early shophouse, Haji Lane, Kampong Glam

Early shophouse, Haji Lane, Kampong Glam

Two of the Early style shophouses (1840-1900) can be found in Haji Lane in Kampong Glam, having two short storeys and only one French window on the upper storey. Two small block-shaped vents above the window attempt to combat the issue of limited ventilation and entrance of natural light.

Transitional-style shophouses, Duxton Hill, periphery of Chinatown

Transitional style shophouses (1900) introduce a third window on the upper storeys to minimize the area of walls and maximize the capacity for natural ventilation while the Late shophouses (1900-1940) mark the beginning of embellished timber beams and paintings above windows. In the row of three windows, the one in the center tends to be a French window while the accompanying left and right windows would be casement windows. The effect results in a neatly symmetrical exterior with the door aligning with the middle window, and the position of the windows on the third storey mirroring that of those on the second storey.

157 Neil Road, The Baba House, Late residential shophouse, periphery of Chinatown

The Chinese pride themselves in the exposition of traditional auspicious symbols and propitious words around their surroundings. The intricate paintings on shutters and transom windows of The Baba House on 157 Neil Road exemplify the richness of the Chinese culture, which reveals a sophisticated level of economic wealth in this particular household. The characters「種盛」(zhòng shèng) above the entrance literally translates into ‘abundance of seeds’, meaning a bountiful harvest. For the Wee family who inhabited and designed this house, they chose the words out of the desire for fertility (of sons), as they suffered many tragedies of early deaths in the household. Likewise, the recurring motifs of the lotus and the phoenix on their transom windows allude to their hopes for unity, fruitfulness and peace.

French windows on Late shophouses, periphery of Chinatown 

Late shophouses, periphery of Chinatown

Unlike Kampong Glam and Clarke Quay along the Singapore River, Chinatown and Little India exhibit an abundant usage of fanlights and transom windows above the French and casement windows. On some shophouses in Chinatown, the colorful stained glass windows in the fanlights above the casement windows reminds of European Gothic cathedrals. The implementation of such a fanlight allows sunlight to shine on various colors on the glass and create interesting hues to be seen within the darker interior. Transom windows provide a scroll for artistic decorations and meaningful representations.

Late shophouses, Little India 

Early shophouses, Little India

In Little India, the religious shapes of the star and crescent ubiquitously adorn the header of the French windows, explicating the significance of Islam to the local Indian community. This district also displays window frames that project outwards to generate depth and shadows, and as a result, provide more shade upon opening the windows. These frames act as fancy miniature pillars that illustrate curved carvings akin to that of Indian architecture in commemoration of their cultural roots.

Modern-style shophouses, Clarke Quay

Shophouses in the Clarke Quay area best testify to the Art Décor-cum-Modern period (1930-1960) as they feature a third-storey balcony in addition to the Late style of center French windows and side casement windows. Unfortunately, this locale has been greatly commercialized for entertainment and tourism, misrepresenting its original state.

French windows, Haji Lane, Kampong Glam

Early shophouse, Haji Lane, Kampong Glam

Early shophouse, Haji Lane, Kampong Glam

Windows have several fundamental programs: firstly, windows permit the circulation of cool, fresh air into the shophouse in the times of backward technology; secondly, windows allow natural light to enter the dark structure during daytime and, along with the vents, promote access to moonlight at night; and lastly, closed shutters provide privacy from the external environment while opened shutters allow the residents on the upper storey to view and participate in outdoor activities on the streets below, achieving a win-win situation of semi-private and semi-public spaces. However, for the modern dweller, this very effect of incomplete privacy potentially leads to insufficient privacy, especially in Kampong Glam where only a thin street separates the short rows of shophouses. Under the conditions of opened windows during daytime, the resident can easily peer into the interior of the shophouse across the street. Furthermore, timber as an anti-sound-proof raw material poses the problem of noise between upper and lower storeys, and between neighboring shophouses. Yet perhaps the people in those days did not care for noise levels as much as we do today.

Art-Decor-cum-Modern-style shophouses, Clarke Quay

Just as the window connects the resident with the passerby, so too the entire shophouse bridges a relationship between the local and the foreigner: the tourist, with little knowledge about Singaporeans and the races, can study the houses in the four ethnic districts to grasp a brief understanding of the culture and beliefs of the neighborhoods. Aesthetically impressive on the surface, the colorful shophouses with its vibrant designs bear evidence to the growth and progress of Singapore as a nation of different races, cultures, languages, religions and cuisines. In spite of these rudimentary differences, the architectural unit of the Singaporean shophouse unites the Chinese, the Malays and the Indians under one national identity. The shophouse has become an open, public canvas for their own expression of their roots and values – whether in the form of decorative art, words, symbols, language, or food – to be shared with the Chinese, the Malay and the Indian to appreciate and enjoy together. No wonder Singapore celebrates racial harmony in her national pledge.

(Original photography by Sophie G.)