A PLACE FOR THE CITY : SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL FORUM

Abstract

The underlying motivation in this project is to address the public realm, prompted by the fact that this city is losing its public spaces, abandoned to the cars. This translates into a simple architectural brief which say roughly 'do somet' about the central business district in Singapore ... exploit its proximity to the waterfront ... create new activities ... come up with a few ideas·. In the course of the thesis my attention will be drawn to a number of urban and architectural issues which I will be implicitly concerned with - form per se, people's sensory experience and memory of the city, an appropriate urban tropical architecture, urban connections, city/ waterfront interface. But I would like to develop the thesis through particular attention to the following contentions; Issues - That every act of construction bas a basic obligation to create a continuity of the urban structure. - Architecture in the city should be one that sustains human interaction. These are being elaborated in the thesis on two levels: On the urban scale. this area is not unlike the central area of many cities, as Colin Davies points out, they have become an incoherent collage of selfish, adolescent dreams ... essentially private (rather than public) spaces, and the buildings monofuntional'. Hence on a macro level the project will seek to make sense of the spaces left over by commerce, road engineers and make its location, in this case the waterfront, an asset of the city. This means anticipating traffic and pedestrian requirements, seting major circulation paths and positioning vital public uses to create new nodes. In short to develop a plan to reintegrate the waterfront along Collyer Quay back with the city, to halt further the decline of the pedestrian's realm, to revitalize this edge and break its isolation. “The city is the stage where man meets man, the place of dialogue; where architecture is an instrument and witness of human encounters" ... Robert van Pelt. The second part of the thesis, the design of a building for information, recreation and entertainment has its starting point from the statement by van Pelt. It is based on the belief that the location is ideal for a major urban information base, designed to provide scope for a wide range of human transactions, contributing to the cultural, and recreational life of people working in this area. All this is aimed at enhancing the area as a multi-transactional, cultural, informative and stimulating climate to work and be in: where human interaction has advantage over electronic ones in that it is unpredictable and unplanned whose importance lies in the stimulation of ideas and initiatives. One just have to look at the areas like Silicone Valley and MIT's 'intelligent triangle', the restaurants, watering holes and playhouses are important places where people meet to exchange thoughts and ideas. The intention of the program is to create a building that lives, entertains and informs, for those working here, the specialists and the visitors; a centre where all can participate; not just an elitist monument made up of monofunctional and watertight departments, but a people's centre. A place to enjoy the spectacle of the city. A place for the city. In conclusion, this thesis touches on the issues of urbanism and architecture as well as the - environment in the central area, it is about reinventing urban spaces and making connection - the rediscovery of the public realm. It is also intended to be a search for a Singapore Identity in architecture.