ADAPTABLE BRIDGE CITY : WATER SPORTS PARK AT BENJAMIN SHEARES BRIDGE

Abstract

In Singapore infrastructure take up 22 percent of the land area. With more flyover and railway being built in this land scarce island, one questions if the vast place taken up by these large infrastructure links are being used to their maximum potential. This issue is even more pertinent in the case of overhead flyovers, where vast spaces below the flyover are normally left unused and neglected.

Thus, the thesis aim to investigate on the adaption of existing infrastructure and intensify these “leftover” spaces by looking at the habitable space, site specific needs and programmatic possibilities to a public entity in the urban landscape.

In wanting to make use of the left over space of infrastructure, the massive structures below the 28m high Benjamin Sheares Bridge provide a good opportunity for the thesis to explore the possibility of habiting infrastructure. Spanning over the popular spot for water sports at Marina Channel and in-between the Marin City centre and Garden at Marina East, the site situates itself in convergence of various urban conditions.

The ideal of a Bridge City propose a mixed used development for the diverse crowds, which is intended not just a place incorporates variety of programs but a place like a living room in the city for collective individuals.

A proposed Water Sports Park seeks to develop a social platform by drawing city crowds, engaging site interface and revitalize existing water activities through different levels and connections of activities to the public and water level. The significance of adapting hence attempt to put existing infrastructure beyond a physical connector but making it as ‘place’.