A JOURNEY TO RECOVERY : MEDICAL HOTEL

Abstract

The project is an attempt to correspond with the planning proposal from URA for Jurong Regional Centre. According to the Master Plan 2008, the area around Jurong East MRT is to be developed as the future city centre or CBD of the West. Today, many places near the MRT stations in Singapore are becoming too generic with this conventional prescription of shopping malls, offices and residential as a result of the increasing trend of mindless consumerism. Despite the fact that MRT stations are part of an important space for most of our daily lives, it is becoming increasingly accidental and mundane; a non-social place. Hence in this thesis I would like to explore the above issue and challenge the interface between the MRT station and the city; to investigate the possibility of a new typology of space near the MRT stations other than of shopping malls. The analysis of the MRT station is used as a point of departure, but the study is especially concerned with the wellness of the beings. The thesis turns to another commodity: healthcare. Current trend of economic development, higher life expectancy, an ageing population and an ever-increasing awareness of the benefits of the quality of healthcare, medical tourism is now more popular than ever. And as the cost of international travel becomes much cheaper, this practice of travelling to improve one’s health combined with the powers of modern economics pushed healthcare tourism to another level. It is targeted that by 2012, Singapore will welcome 1 million foreign medical visitors annually, consequently contributing to 1% of Singapore’s GDP.