BUILDING WITH SCRAP : GETTING SINGAPORE TO COME TO TERMS WITH IT

Abstract

In recent years, the world is facing global environmental problems. Architects are challenged with economic and environment issues, to build an aesthetic piece of architecture but at the same time, bearing the responsibility to achieve a sustainable built environment. Globally, many designers have started to acknowledge the abundance of new products and that the time has arrived to experiment with the current resource, instead of churning more new products. Back at home, Singapore with its ‘Clean and Green’ campaigns has to look beyond the superficial meaning of ‘Green’. Green Mark initiated by Building Authority of Singapore (BCA) was introduced to tackle such issue in local built environment. However, the creditability of the assessment is limited to the energy saving aspect of sustainability and is not lucrative enough for developers to adopt similar view towards using sustainable materials. The lack of extensive architectural reuse of material can be also attributed to other factor such as lack of shared information on material availability. What infrastructure system can be in placed to facilitate this movement? How then can we promote an integrated design approach to facilitate a sustainable material culture between the various stakeholders in Singapore? To gather information, literature reviews will be read, interviews of various market players, surveys of feasibility of such concept were conducted.