SAFRA CLUBHOUSE @ TOA PAYOH

Abstract

This thesis investigates a recurrent social issue of constant emphasis on continual learning. This societal mindset, reinforced by years of formal education and the subsequent urban rat race, has contributed to rising stress levels in successive generations. Particularly so for the young/working adults between the ages 20 – 49, who have left behind their formal education but need to constantly upgrade themselves. The intent is to address this social need by proposing a programmatic fusion between learning and recreation through the design synthesis of a club and a learning centre. The Singapore Armed Forces Reservist Association (SAFRA) club at Toa Payoh is chosen as the design vehicle because of its intention to develop as a recreation club providing informal educational programs for members and their families. The design methodology at the macro level is site-driven. Firstly, internalising the club environment, while responding to the adjacent recreation belt. Secondly, creating a dialectic relation between the new insertions and the existing components of the club. At the micro level, patterns of usage groups are examined as well as how different restorative qualities of nature (greenery, water, light & colour) can be incorporated into the built environment.