THE SCRIPTED STRIP

Abstract

This paper sprung off with the assumption that a good and well utilized space is directly related to the efficient use of spaces in a land-scarce nation such as Singapore. As designers, we are the eliminators of “voids” or “residual spaces”, and the manifestation of architecture is always an act of addition, never subtraction; an obsession to create useful, productive, functional and efficient spaces.

“Architects are out of the habit of looking non-judgmentally at the environment, because orthodox modern architecture is progressive, if not revolutionary, utopian and puristic; it is dissatisfied with the existing conditions. Modern architecture has been anything but permissive: Architects have always preferred to change the existing environment rather than to enhance what is already there. “ – Learning from Las Vegas

To meet the ambition of manifesting efficient city planning, Singapore developed along temporal and technological alignments; as a result, land is reclaimed for more space, and roadways, expressways, flyovers and bridges emerged as solution to satisfy our indulgence in speed and mobility. However, alongside the creation of these essentials, unclaimed and under-utilized spaces such as traffic islands, empty land in the middle of interchanges, blighted spaces underneath flyovers, road dividers, they are the consequences of our contemporary infrastructural landscape planning.

In the context of East Coast Parkway, the only parkway in the landscape of Singapore; is the most beautifully decorated expressway. This strip serves as a portal and entry to the heart of the nation; the new Marina Bay downtown. This strip houses countless of “voids” and “residual spaces”, manicured and decorated with a touch of lush greenery. Though seemingly ordinary and mundane; this strip depicts a “choreographed” landscaping strategy that is ubiquitous, reclaimed symbolically as green spaces. Thus, inciting a new method of reading city planning where “voids”, “residual spaces” and expressways, are read differently in the context of Singapore through the dimension of speed on East Coast Parkway.