DIVORCING AND MEDIATING BETWEEN THE INTERIOR AND THE EXTERIOR: AN IMMANENT ORDER OF CONSERVED SHOPHOUSE FACADES IN SINGAPORE
GAN RONG YAO DANIEL
GAN RONG YAO DANIEL
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Abstract
Facadism is often understood as a negotiation between development and conservation. It is
often disapproved of on the grounds of architectural honesty. In relation to general
accusations of architectural dishonesty towards facadism, this dissertation explores the
meaning of shophouse façade retention in Singapore as found in conservation approaches,
users’ demand and architects’ interventions.
Employing various conceptual lenses including semiotics theory and Leong Yew’s concept of
Singaporean self-Orientalism, an analysis of the architectural subject Lorong 24A Shophouse
Series reveals competing and complementing meanings imbued to shophouse facades. The
resultant immanent orders of the conserved facades are varied and dialectical; they require a
rethink of the Modernist notion of architectural honesty.
In the end, this paper shows that projects such as Lorong 24A Shophouse Series
simultaneously partakes in the rehabilitation of Modern architecture and the self-
Orientalizing of local vernacular architecture. Although necessarily divorcing the interior
from the exterior, the immanent order of shophouse facades also mediate with its various
demands which often do not take on physical form. This requires a different architectural
morality that recognises complex truths rather than physical styles.
Keywords
Architecture, Design Track, DT, Master (Architecture), Tsuto Sakamoto, 2013/2014 Aki DT, Facade retention, Facadism, Lorong 24A shophouse series, Shophouse conservation
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Date
2013-11-20
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Dissertation