SEASCAPES

Abstract

The notion of this thesis is about landscapes in the sea, and how the sea exists as a dumping ground and repository for anything that exists in excess on land.

The project envisions a water treatment facility consisting of waste water reclamation and seawater desalination 5km off the coast of Changi. Floating and existing almost entirely below sea level up to depths of 50m, infrastructural facility remains hidden as an undesirable and unseen entity.

Converting an existing waste water discharge location to a potential cavern diving and coral reef site, workers and machines toil to create an experiential site, albeit silently.

Like a poche space of discontinuity, infrastructural facilities are often placed in land planning at whim to market forces. In Singapore, envisioned water hubs are located on the far western and eastern corners, shying away from civilization. Up close, such facilities are camouflaged with greenery and secured with chain link fences, an intentional subterfuge.

The project illicits how the continuing trends of national image obsession and idea of land as a scarce resource might evoke a solution, hereby termed as Seascapes, in uniquely water locked Singapore.