TIE : A FAMILY LEISURE CENTRE

Abstract

Positioning architecture as a medium for human interactions, ‘Tie’ explores the potential for architecture to stretch time for a typical family outing, in a society that has little time for leisure and had forgotten its rejuvenating effects. After consulting general statistics on activities of the Singaporean family and conducting field observations, the scope of effective activities have been narrowed down to play, having meals, shopping, and learning. Within that scope, the thesis proposes an alternative cast against the background of stressfully fast paced shopping centres and excruciatingly slow paced parklands. Recognising that a family leisure centre should provide choices for both intense interaction between parents and their children, as observed in a parkland situation, i.e. ‘interaction zones' and individual time out for parents from their children, as observed in a shopping centre situation, i.e. ‘time out zones', in lieu of the immobility associated with a family outing, the architectural issue is hence to 'tie' the seemingly disparate objectives into a time-stretching experience, in the contemporary context of limited leisure time. The thesis is finally materialised into a ‘tie-space’ or the ‘interaction zone’ between the 'time out zones ’, the 'parents' wing’ and 'children's wing’ with the conceptual imagery of a parent holding his child's hand, 'tie' expressing through different aspects and levels of design. The process of this thesis concludes in a review of insights gained. It further reveals that the thesis was embarked upon, less to find an exclusive answer to the question of appropriate family leisure, more to awaken one's understanding of what leisure could be. This topic and the eventual vehicle of a family leisure centre provided a framework where the scenarios of programme spillage and social space could be constructed which eventual ly leads one to wonder if the in-between 'tie space’ is more important than what it is between, the buildings and programmes that form it.