URA & D-Cups

URA have said the design (Clarke Quay) had to be sensitive to the existing conservation buildings....

Mr Pimbley (Stephen Pimbley, a partner at Alsop Architects) says he has 'never felt obliged to design in context and would hope that no other Singaporean architect is thus obliged'.

According to him, context can mean many things. 'Unfortunately the easy route of pastiche is usually omnipresent,' he says. 'The original refurbishment of Clarke Quay was a rather unfortunate built-to-look-old attempt at recreating something that no longer held value. I believe this led to its eventual demise,'

From the article "Secrets of Clarke Quay's floating D-cups revealed"
Published May 21, 2005 in BT by ARTHUR SIM

Definition of Pastiche:
A work of art that intentionally imitates other works, often to ridicule or satire

We are back to colonial days where the West dominate our thinking. The irony is that I agree with him (Mr Pimbley). The funny issue with Singapore is we are never upfront about our intentions. We do not do conservation, we did re-construction, we did a themed agglomeration of buildings. The theme is "Old Singapore Warehouses". The purpose is to attract tourist. It is Disneyland Singapore style. Why must we hide under the label "consevation"? So that Singapore cannot be labeled a tabula rasa? So that we can be a world class conservation hub?

Definition of tabula rasa:
Latin for "a blank tablet." This phrase was used by John Locke (1632-1704) as he set forth his empirical theory of knowledge to indicate the state of the human mind at birth. Essentially, he contended that human beings are not born with any prior knowledge or disposition; thus, their minds could only be influenced by sense experience.

Can we just be honest with ourselves? Must we always hide our agenda? It is so much more productive if we make our intentions upfront and do not participate in actions that contradict with our intentions. If we want to do conservation, lets do conservation and not a billboard for Dulux paints. If we want to do a themed park to attract tourist. Lets not talk about conservation. If we are doing a themed park, I wish that the people of the land will rise and oppose it.

URA have said the design (Clarke Quay) had to be sensitive to the existing conservation buildings....
Isn't the above a funny statement? The existing conservation buildings are so vandalized that it does not resemble the old. The new design need to be sensitive to a themed version. A double movement backwards? Luckily Mr Pimbley has this response: 'I never felt obliged to design in context and would hope that no other Singaporean architect is thus obliged'



Secrets of Clarke Quay's floating D-cups revealed
Published May 21, 2005 in BT
Cabaret act is making waves at the $80m revamp of the riverside entertainment district
By ARTHUR SIM

(SINGAPORE) Those giant D-cups that line the Singapore River along Clarke Quay finally make some sense now. Crazy Horse Paris, the all-female cabaret show that 'celebrates the art of the nude', will play out there every night - twice a night - from December. And the floating bras couldn't be a better advertisement. Crazy Horse Paris, brought in by Eng Wah Organisation, will be just one of the new attractions coming to Clarke Quay when the $80 million redevelopment there is completed some time in mid-2006.

So far the other big tenant - lifestyle and entertainment development and management company LifeBrandz - has only said it has secured a deal to bring in Dashing Diva, a funky New York-based nail spa. And whatever else it's planning for the 80,000 sq ft or 30 per cent of the entire Clarke Quay development that it will take up remains a mystery.

Eng Wah's decision to take up 15,000 sq ft was a case of love at first sight. Managing director Goh Min Yen says she and Didier Bernardin, part-owner and director of Crazy Horse Paris, were immediately taken by the ambience of the building they checked out.
'With its traditional red shutters and the red pillars, we could instantly visualise the cabaret with the beautiful dancers on stage, the busy bar behind us and the classy restaurant complimenting the cabaret,' she says. 'We, especially Didier, felt an instant affinity with the red colours of the building as it matched the red used by Crazy Horse Paris, and took it as a sign that this should be the home for the new Crazy Horse cabaret in Singapore.'

Ms Goh also says Clarke Quay meets all the requirements that reflect the character of the Crazy Horse Paris, including the traditional buildings. She prefers not to comment on the D-cups, but likes the idea that Clarke Quay will be a 24-hour entertainment hub. The colourfully-lit D-Cups - sorry, canopies - that are part of Phase One of the redevelopment certainly help create a 24-hour atmosphere. But reaction to them has been mixed. For a start, everyone is stumped. Are they meant to be mushrooms? Tents? Brassieres?

CapitaLand, which owns Clarke Quay, calls them 'Blue Bells' - though they're not blue and don't look much like flowers. This aside, they offer shade. And at night they come alive with lights. Each 'Blue Bell' hovers over a 'Lilipad' suspended from a steel stem. The Lilipads - which look more like Venus Flytraps, in what could be a subliminal reference to Crazy Horse - are raised platforms for al fresco dining that cantilever 1.5m over the riverbank.
Clarke Quay was designed by renowned British architect Will Alsop and his firm Alsop Architects, whose controversial work in the UK has raised some eyebrows. He was once called architecture's 'Mr Blobby' by British media because his buildings are said by some to look like blobs.

Singapore architect Aamer Taher, who studied at the same school as Alsop - The Architectural Association in London - and has met the man says: 'Alsop is a nice guy but I hate the mushrooms (the D-cups)'.

Mr Aamer's main gripe is that they don't seem to be in character with the existing buildings. 'I understand the need for shelter, but did they have to be so big? You can't see the facades of the old buildings any more,' he says. Mr Aamer would have prefered something a little more subtle - but this was not to be. Stephen Pimbley, a partner at Alsop Architects, says the brief from CapitaLand was to transform Clarke Quay 'and provide a new language of installations that make Clarke Quay an enjoyable place to be'.

Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) approval was required for the cantilevered 'Lilipads' and 'Blue Bells'. And Mr Pimbley says URA was 'engaged positively throughout the design process'. So it's certain that URA would have said the design had to be sensitive to the existing conservation buildings, though where this discussion went, no one will know. Mr Pimbley says he has 'never felt obliged to design in context and would hope that no other Singaporean architect is thus obliged'.

According to him, context can mean many things. 'Unfortunately the easy route of pastiche is usually omnipresent,' he says. 'The original refurbishment of Clarke Quay was a rather unfortunate built-to-look-old attempt at recreating something that no longer held value. I believe this led to its eventual demise,' Mr Pimbley adds.

CapitaLand says Phase One of the redevelopment, which includes 30 F&B and entertainment outlets along the 200m river front, has been a success, with F&B outlets there reporting a 20 per cent rise in business compared with pre-renovation days.
Lachlan Gyde, vice-president of retail at CapitaLand, says the development is now aimed at PMEBs - professionals, managers, executives and businessmen. This was after about $300,000 spent on research revealed that there are about 1.5 million people in Singapore who fit this demographic and have 'nowhere to go'.

Some, like a 31-year-old media industry producer A S Syereen, like the new 'classier' Clarke Quay because 'it doesn't look so neglected any more'. And the Blue Bells? 'They grow on you'. This will be good news for Mr Gyde, who says comments so far have been mixed. But as the Australian national points out, when the Sydney Opera House was revealed 'everyone hated it, but Now everyone loves it. And that's half the fun of doing something cutting-edge'.

GP Sitrep

Graduation Project is back on track for now. 2 weeks ago, I decided to go back to square 1. Taking inspiration from the conference in Melbourne. The funny thing is that it was my tutor that point out a design principle that I can used.

I was at that lecture.
I did notice the similiarity in our design methodology.
I was busy thinking how I can modify my version to make it more workable.
I did not think about taking inspiration from his and model mine after his.
I am too egoistic to learn.
It was my tutor that hint on the possibility of learning from the master.
I am wrong.
The project is so much stronger now.
May this be the last time I allow my ego to overshadow the path to knowledge.
I am thankful for the second chance.

Is Modernism still relevant?

Modernism arises as a rebellion against classical methodology. Modernism died because it has no longer the “Cutting Edge” ability. Everything is deemed to be innovative and avante grade. The question asked is this still a rebellious movement? The movement has lost its cause. Hence the rise of post-modernism, post modernism is loosely termed. It does not have a set agenda other then to signify that it is after modernism.

But why are there people still designing modernism buildings? Is the struggle still valid? In Singapore, modernism is still relevant because we still have not resolved the inside-outside relation. Inside are inside and exterior remains exterior. The climate renders any attempt to bridge the difference a foregone conclusion. The culture of air conditioning has not help in the cause. Interior space = air conditioned. Exterior spaces = uncomfortable, places one avoid.

However, there are merits in the nature and we need to resolve the reluctance of the society to engage the outside. Can we return to modernism to unearth techniques of engaging the nature?

There seem to be two prong attack needed in Singapore scene. First is to rebel against the society’s preference for air conditioned spaces. We need to provide comfortable spaces, it need not to be air conditioned. If only we can lower the temperature without resorting to air conditioning, the task of overcoming the prevailing mode of operation becomes easier.

Secondly, the highly controlled environment gives rise to a need to rebel. Cause and effect, without the controls, rebellion seems pointless. Only in the presence of enormous control devices, there is opportunity to rebel against. A movement is needed to make better a space. Controlled spaces are sterile. A movement to unshackle the sterility and enable people to own the space and overcome the sterility is needed.

This is why I choose to come back to Singapore. It is exciting.

NUS Architecture Bash

The location is weird. Traditionally, night time Mount Faber is reserved for couples, the guitar under moonlight watching stars, city lights below our feet scenario, but the archi students are now throwing a bash there. My heart goes out to that poor guy who plans to take his girl up that day, he will need a contingency plan, Labrador Park seems like a good idea. Thanks to NUS archi students.

So much for respecting the land and its traditional program. The idea of injecting a new program into a currently perfectly working condition seems wrong, you do not hold a bash at location that do not normally accommodates bashs simply because you think it is a unique idea. It is a unique idea to hold a bash inside the law courts, but because the program traditionally associated with such a place will object and their voice is much stronger than dating couples, nobody dares to hold a bash inside the courts. It will be unique if the Archi Bash is held in the old power station at Labrador Park or some disused HDB flat's roof top or even Chinatown alleyways. Alleyways traditionally the "back of house" for shophouses has became the intimate spaces for a variety of programs in other countries when the sun sets.

The point is that you do not remove a place of its traditional program because you want to try something new. You try to change the program when the place has no useful traditional or current program and u inject new life into it or you think that the current program is not functioning well enough. Apparently the organizing committee decide that couples on Mount Faber at night is not fully utilizing the space well enough.

What would be better is hold the Bash at the cable car tower instead! Then as the night progresses, couples couples can take cable car to Mount Faber for some private space. Furthermore the committee can run a "hire a car" scheme on a hourly rate there. One do not make money from the ticket but from hiring out the cars. To minimized accidents due to drink driving, the committee can, in the afternoon parked the cars nicely spaced on the road side with a number. Couples arrived at Mount Faber are given "room keys". Although the guy bringing up his girl for some guitar under moonlight watching stars, city lights below our feet will be disappointed because he cannot find a parking spot but the disappointment is different, at one unluckiness rather then at a establishment. The traditional function of the space is not changed.

Space vs Object

A book is an object,
A book as an installation art displayed in a gallery define a space.
How does an object projects a spatial definition?
A busker define a space in an underpass,
A passer-by in an underpass is just another "object".
Thus to define space, the object must be "active", there is a force, attracting.
similar to a magnetic field.
A field is a space.
It define boundaries.
Objects on the other hand has no field, hence no boundaries and unable to be of any purpose by itself.

A sculpture or any symbolic element in an landscape does not serve any better than reading a book. It is a object scattered on the landscape.
A sculpture or statue that allows people to interact (allow people to sit on it or rollerblading on it is a form of interaction) defines a space.
The original Merlion defines a space because the scale and proportion is right. The Merlion at Sentosa is an object because the scale and proportion is wrong. It is a navigation beacon.
Maya Lin's Vietnam War Memorial is a space. It consist of primarily a wall, an object but in the correct setting becomes a powerful space.

Linkages & Fragments

Singapore is full of fragments.
Built a private housing, throw a high fence around it.
Built a country club with golf course, throw a high fence around it.
Built a casino, throw in some policies to deter Singapore entering it.
Built anything in Singapore, you need barriers to deter people from entering it.
Even churches are not spared.
Why do you need fence if the crime rate is low?
Why do you need fence when vandalism is punished with a cane?
Is it because we need to differentiate ourselves from others?
So much for unity and intergration.
The In-between space, mere inconvenience. Something we can do without.
The In-between space, uncared for, undesirable, under utilized.
We hate the In-between space because of the weather. We do not want to walk under the sun, nor the rain.
The In-between space is thus filled with roads, transportation elements. Teleportation devices. To make such devices bearable, we have television onboard. We have personal audio systems or communication devices to occupied our time in the teleportation devices.
Are we aware of the surroundings? The environment we are traveling through do not matter. They can be fighting a war outside, but we are isolated, inside the teleportation device, with our own programs. We do not care. We just want to reach our destination. We look forward to the destination. The process is a hindrance.
An element we do not appreciate and can do without it.

La Vegas Sands

my first post.... shall start with something regarding the new IR design....

It fills me with disgust and I am appalled at the decisions made by La Vegas Sands to include kitsch elements into their IR proposal for the Marina site.

Let’s not forget for a small country like Singapore, we do not have the spare land as in America where certain cities can be wholly dedicated to theme parks. We are a country on its own and there are Singaporeans who each have a stake in our land. The site chosen for building the IR is not exclusive to tourists only. It is sited on prime land in the heart of Singapore city. Locals should be able to enjoy the space equally if not more. From the remarks made by Las Vegas Sands president and chief operating officer, William Weidner, it seems that the paramount design consideration is to provide a shallow experience of Singapore easily digested by tourists. Singapore is much more than William Farquhar or Sir Stamford Raffles. We have evolved since then. We do have a culture that is unique and we are proud of it.

The design chosen for IR should include the sentiments of locals, how are we going to view and use the space. Architecture is not a temporal act. It has a permanence effect on the surroundings. Such design if implemented will send a strong signal to the international community that Singapore is just a collection of themed spaces with no culture of its own. Furthermore, it will send a signal that Singaporeans themselves are easily led by others by allowing her prime land to such acts of vandalism.

With the new botanical garden situated next to the site proposed for the IR and the East Coast Parkway (ECP) separating the two, one of the design considerations should be how to bridge the two and allowing the community to travel seamlessly from work to the waterfront areas, to the IR, to the botanical gardens. This journey offers an experience that cannot be found elsewhere in Singapore.

IR bidder offers S'pore redux
Published April 28, 2005 in BT
Las Vegas Sands plans colonial-era theme, fireworks and Guggenheim for US$2b-plus Marina resort
By DANIEL BUENAS

An iconic project that encapsulates Singapore's culture, heritage and history - that's what US-based Las Vegas Sands has in mind for the integrated resort (IR) site at Marina Bayfront.
Ending months of speculation, the company has given BT the first details of what Singaporeans can expect to see if it gets to build an IR. Singapore has opened up sites at Marina and Sentosa for the resorts.

Las Vegas Sands intends to recreate a colonial-era Singapore River theme at Marina, where characters from those days - such as William Farquhar, the right-hand man of modern Singapore's founder Sir Stamford Raffles before they fell out - will be brought to life by actors who will entertain visitors.

'Our early colonial Singapore River will have Malay-style kampungs, maybe an overlay of a Johor sultanate, Indian styles, ancient Chinese styles, showing the confluence of all the different cultures,' said Las Vegas Sands president and chief operating officer William Weidner. 'It's a way of being able to teach people what Singapore is.'

Las Vegas Sands is no stranger to such concepts. Its Venetian on the Las Vegas Strip - a dazzling project with more than 4,000 suites, restaurants and high-end shops - has its own version of Venice's Grand Canal, complete with gondolas rowed by singing boatmen who ferry guests.
In Singapore, the gondolas will give way to traditional Malay boats. And instead of gondoliers singing Italian opera, local boatmen from days gone by will croon best-loved Malay songs.
'The idea is to create a tourist attraction that has real content, that popularises history and culture and gets visitors interested enough to stay longer, plan another visit or talk about it,' Mr Weidner said.

Another feature will be a Farquhar Theatre - so named because William Farquhar, Singapore's first governor and colonial commandant, was also Singapore's first gaming magnate, according to Mr Weidner. After Raffles initially left Farquhar in charge of Singapore, Farquhar approved gambling to raise money for development, Mr Weidner explained. The theatre will detail the history an shape of a flower - meant to represent Singapore's garden city image - with a suggested 40-storey high Guggenheim Museum towering over the development.
Huge images of the Vanda Miss Joaquim orchid - Singapore's national flower - will be projected onto nearby skyscrapers and the building housing the resort's one million sq ft of exhibition space.

Renowned contemporary artist Cai Guo Qiang, acclaimed for his spectacular use of fireworks, has also been engaged to create a 'pyrotechnic bridge' using fireworks that explode in the shape of an orchid.

Las Vegas Sands has also proposed a cruise ship centre - to help capture the regional cruise market - and a monorail as part of its project.
'The idea is to present Singapore as a resort, and to figure out ways to make it exciting and interesting, with some artistic content,' Mr Weidner said. 'We've done all this before, we've had relationships with people like the Guggenheim for a decade, and we want to bring these things to bear.'

On working with a local partner, Mr Weidner said he is in discussions with property tycoon Ong Beng Seng, but there are no concrete plans to join forces yet.

'We're talking, but he's been a friend for 20 years,' Mr Weidner said of Mr Ong. 'We are open to figure out how to have participation. We don't need a partner, but we believe it's appropriate to have Singaporeans involved with what we are doing.'

He pointed out, however, that Las Vegas Sands plans a 'very aggressive' bid that local players may find too risky.

'If you put up a couple billion dollars, there is always risk in it,' he said. 'We don't want to be in a situation where we have, let's say, an equal partner who may not necessarily share our return analysis.'

Asked about the similarities and differences between the company's Singapore proposal and its existing Sands Macau casino, Mr Weidner said the latter will serve as a 'conduit' to channel those looking for more 'mature markets' to visit.'Macau is primarily a day-trip market. The average stay in Macau is 1.1 days,' he said. 'It's an immature destination with only 1,500 branded rooms and an export-driven primary economy. Singapore is a tertiary economy with higher added value that can draw more mature customers from the region.'

I am being polite. I am being nice. My command of language cannot express my displeasure. What are they doing to my country?