SMALL AND BEYOND : SUPPLENESS + PROTOTYPE FOR A WAY OF LIVING SMALL

Abstract

This dissertation examines the livelihood of small architecture in Singapore in the context of urban changes driven by globalisation and rapid economic development. With the rising demands of globalisation, architects are often confronted with economic and environmental issues that are to be carefully dealt with, noting the importance of aesthetics and sustainability.With an increase in affluence and consumerism, new demands for way of life have stoked an munprecedented competition for resources. With new technology and materials surfacing in the global arena, there is a notable fashion of an extravagant use of material and space – intensive ground plans, expansive room dimensions, overwhelming material palate; huge architecture has since become established as a normative taste. In several space-squeezed cities, architects or occupants placed in tight conditions are forced to build small. This dissertation will be zooming into various case studies; of space saving strategies to alleviate the problem these space-squeezed cities face. To begin, there would be observations and studies of empirical relationships between these small spaces and the living environment within a specific urban context. “Pet Architecture” is a term defined by Atelier Bow Wow, describing architecture that exists in most unexpected places within the Tokyo limits. Today, more than ever, the small living environment serves as an arena for architectural innovation. Studying in close detail the city and the possibilities in this urban environment of Singapore, noting the level of control the government has over these spaces, this dissertation would like to investigate, through a process of mapping out, the possibilities of filling leftover spaces in the urban context; to visualize the invisible, and essentially be a hypothetical study of, Singapore’s very own Pet Architecture.