BUKIT BROWN HERITAGE CENTRE : A HERITAGE PLACE, A NATURE'S PLACE

Abstract

Set amidst the central catchment area of Singapore, Bukit Brown cemetery is a site highly contested for as the government would like to build a 4-lane dual carriageway across the site to ease traffic conditions along Lornie Road as well as to turn Bukit Brown into a housing estate as an extension of a nearby neighborhood – Toa Payoh. Such undertaking of an imprudent action is common in Singapore as local heritage has always been secondary to modern developments in Singapore, depriving locals of their national identifiers. It has certainty also affected death-scapes in Singapore, which was previously regarded as sacred places, had to be shifted to the outskirts to accommodate housing and commercial buildings. Bukit Brown faces the threat of erasure not just as a Chinese burial ground, but also the rich heritage, its pre-independence histories, the coming together of local Chinese and its Nanyang connections. Taking into account the importance to preserve this part of our history and heritage, the thesis project is about building a heritage centre to educate the younger generation the importance of our Chinese cultures and our pioneers contribution to the nation. It is about reinforcing the present cemetery park abstracting information about the site and its various cultures and bring them to the heritage centre as part of the learning experience. The journey and experience is through the approach of following the red brick, representing the ‘red thread’ often seen in a Chinese funeral as a symbol of bringing one through death (mourning for the death) and subsequently losing the ‘red thread’ as a symbolism of warding off the bad luck. The journey through the heritage centre is to experience the ‘tomb-sweeping culture’, understand the spatial qualities of the elements of the tombs and the qualities of Bukit Brown as a heritage park. It is about going through these explorations and learning that allows the users to re-connect with the past histories and identities.