THE AFTERLIFE OF SALES GALLERY: A STUDY OF ITS REUSE

Abstract

The sales gallery, or otherwise popularly known in Singapore as the “show flat”, is the most essential marketing tool for developers to attract prospective buyers to purchase a property. In Singapore, there are many temporary buildings being built for sales branding and supporting ephemeral events. Today, more temporary sales gallery are designed and constructed because the speed of marketing the development can be momentary within two years. They are also usually located either off-site or at the remote area of the construction site of the development in order for it to be publicised and promote while the actual project is being constructed. The sales galleries are constructed to showcase the mock-up of the development. They are built by using fabricated and light gauge steel structure with their internal and external walls made up of cement boards. However, the afterlife of the sales gallery is usually not considered. Currently, these buildings are demolished with little salvaged value at the end of its life. Occasionally, sales galleries reuse their landscape materials in the main development. This dissertation will study the possibility of reclaiming and reusing the sales gallery in a more substantial way than what it is now which is purely salvaging useful materials for recycling. The cost of building a sales gallery may be a small fraction of the total developmental cost but, not considering its reuse potential certainly contributes to the waste flow and adds up to the cost. The feasibility of its reuse even in its small scale represents the value of mindful use of resources in the industry and promoting the cradle to cradle notion to the consumer. Hence, this paper will examine the issues of the sales gallery being redeployed by analysing the challenges that hinders its reuse. It aims to discuss the alternative approaches so as to reduce demolition waste and optimise the investment of the materials for the sales gallery.

There are examples of sales gallery that adopts the idea and influences of reuse. As such, the design of the sales gallery becomes critical to their construction strategy. This research will study the various degrees of reuse in both local and overseas sales gallery. This will provide a better insight to the specific conditions that warrant a certain reuse strategy that will be relevant to local development. The study also draws lessons from other exemplary ephemeral buildings with noteworthy life cycle consideration. These critical case studies will recommend reuse strategies in the design thinking and construction of the sales gallery.