EXAMINING ALLEGORICAL IMAGERIES : A STUDENT PROJECT IN KUKUP

Abstract

This dissertation elevates the allegory beyond the trope of literary device, and utilizes instead, Walter Benjamin’s theory of allegory as a critical tool to extrapolate alternate narratives out of given imageries. Reading into Master of Architecture student Cheang Jinwei Stacy’s thesis project to rehabilitate a plot of derelict, toxic land in Kukup, the dissertation questions whether her images of a community based, sustainable development for middle class urbanites stand as they are. Instead, by examining allegorical fragments present in the scheme, it is postulated that traces of destruction and decay are in fact already present in the idealistic, perfect visions that have been presented for the scheme.