RECREATION IN THE CITY : ALTERNATIVE SPACES BEYOND MASTER PLANS

Abstract

In the modem societies of our present age, both architecture and our very own body are being traded as instruments of economic production as well as for cultivated consumption. Our bodies and minds are being overwhelmed and controlled by powerful, seductive images. In a way, this has led to us, turning into passive beings who begin to lose touch with our inner-most felt feelings. Indeed, this leads to increasingly prescribed, conformative and superficial contemporary lifestyles. In such case, we begin to divorce ourselves from the understanding of our very basic needs. Imposed patterns and norms are received without much questioning. Utopic visions of the master-planners are hence accepted readily and faithfully. However, these master plans are but the product of some egological, egocentric forces at work1 which very often offer a rather high-handed approach in solving some of the problems of the city. Many a times, they fail to visualise the problems, the needs of individuals at ground level. Hence, this has led to the monotonous master planning which segregates the various parts of the city into single uses which eventually lend to an inefficient and wasteful use of our land and resources. This thesis sets to counter these inefficiencies of the master-plans through the appropriate insertion of alternative functions which seem lacking within the existing context. The recreational facilities in the city, as a vehicle inquires into other possibilities of providing other aspects of spatial experience and activities to exist side by side within existing conditions. It is by no means an absolute solution applicable to all parts of the city but rather to illustrate the possibilities beyond mere masterplans. These recreational facilities evolve from the reading of the needs, the social, cultural lifestyle and everyday mode of operations that is defined within the geograhical boundary of buildings that act as a container of economic production. The site chosen for this exercise is in the Central Business District which accomodates the highest concentration of the working population in Singapore. Here, using the context of the site, through an understanding of its historical and social background, and the study of the present day social and cultural factor, the inefficiencies are then identified and the appropriate facilities are then introduced to cater to the needs of the working population.