THE CHANGI RETREAT : CENTRE FOR CHINESE HEALING ARTS

Abstract

This thesis aims to investigate the relationship between Architecture and the Healing Process. It deals with the notion of creating a favourable environment for the Chinese Healing Arts through an architecture aimed at exploring the way architecture is able to affect the mind and the body. The healing process is a progressional sequence of sieving out distractions and eliminating tension through directing the path of energy (the 气'Qi') to remove the blockages in it. With the proper alignment of physical body and mental mind state, one can begin to seek relief from physical discomfort and mental stress. The vehicle chosen to test the hypothesis is a retreat - a Centre for Chinese Healing Arts serving the practitioners of this alternative healing art form as well as the general public. It also provides a number of Chinese medical services and houses a Healing Art School, library, archives, retreat cells and herbal tea house. The proposed site is a coastal western slope on Fairy Point Hill in Changi Point, on the eastern end of the Singapore. The design of the retreat is based on alignment and response to the site through superimposition, stretching and layering of spaces. Movement through the retreat is envisioned as a processional sequencing of transitions from public to private, communal to retreat physical to spiritual. It starts from the physical land (Taiji Quan practice court) down the slope to the water (Qigong Meditation room) by controlling the circulation and the spaces to re-connect the dis-jointed self. It seeks to explore the notions of repetitions, focus and continuity, derived from the practice of Taiji Quan and Qigong Meditation. By employing the concept of duality (the Yin-Yang manifestation in Chinese cultural belief}, the retreat makes aware the unique relation between Chinese Healing Arts and the natural environment in an attempt to create a favourable architectural environment for this healing art form.