of Malacca

Malacca #5 cover photo for Triple-M (Malaysian Mensa Society Monthly Magazine) Sept 2007 issue

Excerpt from Malacca, Voices from the Street by Lim Huck Chin & Fernando Jorge
"We began by listening to the voices of ordinary Malaccans. We listened to the city's streets, as we searched out hidden corners and abandoned alleyways. Listened to houses and temples, ruins and cemetries. Even to the murmurs and whispers of empty spaces. We listened at every turn, at every step. To the living and the dead. The past and the present. In the hope the story of extraordinary place and its people would be told. And we heard them speak. "

Nope, I haven't read this book despite having bought it during my last trip to Malacca. Hopefully in this spirit of listening to what history, be it for the sake of aesthetic remembrance or the value that lies in the heritage of the city, or perhaps just the street or alley, one can appreciate the beauty of it in itself.

Of Tiong Bahru SIT Flats

"Home is the place where, when you have to go there, They have to take you in"
Robert Frost









These are some photos I presented last Wednesday evening at the National Museum . Its was after a public lecture by Prof Karin Kircsh on modern architecture in the 1920s, something all young architecture students are required to study for. Dr Erwin Viray and I selected photos of the SIT flats in Tiong Bahru as a way to end the lecture and to thank Prof Kirsh for bringing her wonderful exhibit to Singapore. I thought i would be nice to share some of them here on pronservation too.

It all happened in the midst of submission week, the slides were prepared from a 15 minute lunch break while making my model,

A rushed cab ride to the museum, change of a shirt (with a pair of jeans that was still attached to my legs for two days) and suddenly Dr Erwin requested to me talk about my photos instead of him just sharing it, somehow it ended up being "the second half of the lecture"....very unexpected for someone who hasn't had proper sleep for the last two weeks to deliver a mini presentation to a packed crowd. Thankfully no boo-boos where heard, nothing screwed up and the lecturer and audience enjoyed it. Though if i had more time i wished i could do a entire presentation of housing projects in Singapore, that would be way cooler.

Muse @ National Museum Singapore

Muse @ National Museum Singapore

Converted from what used to be the Raffles Libary, it's now a bar and night chill out spot at the National Musuem of Singapore.
What say you?

Of Emerald Hill In The Night

“I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.” ~Vincent Van Gogh

Emerald hill by moonlight, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Emerald Hill: Hidden, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Emerald Hill : a row of shophouses, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Emerald Hill by night,

Long exposure shots on a tripod,
it really was very dark tonight despite the full moon.
So the lighting here is really artificial and very dim. Thus long over exposed photos reveal the building in a different way as compared to the day, painting and peeling different layers at the same time.

Proconservation is currently busy with final submissions and other end of semester projects but will try as hard as they can to post more things worth conserving.
Do link us by adding the logo (see side bar for instructions) to your own blog!
Thanks for your support!

Conservation?

“An escalator can never break: it can only become stairs.
You would never see an Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order sign,
just Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience.”
Mitch Hedberg

Conservation?, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Of MICA (or the Old Hill Street Police Station)

MICA, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Conservation isn't just keeping things the way they were, like the Old Hill Street Police Station which has been converted to the Ministry of Communication and the Arts. Simple use of colours on the facade breathes new life to an old building.

Of Golden Mile Complex #2

Check out the air vent for the toilets that follow the staggering of the building form.

Of Golden Mile Complex

Pro Conservation visits Golden Mile Complex



Designed by architects; William Lim, Gan Eng Oon And Tay Kheng Soon of Design Partnership, Golden Mile Complex is a stepped slab building that housed apartments units on the upper floors and retail and office units below.

Linear City
Completed in 1973 on a strip of land between Nicoll Highway and Beach Road (that was once known as the Golden Mile, thus the name). In terms of public transport and accessibility, the building is serviced from the rear on Beach Road, instead of its frontage with Nicoll Highway, with a continuous pedestrian spine linking all buildings in the Golden Mile of Beach Road.

Vertical City



The lower floors contain offices and a retail mall, located within staggered atria to allow natural light into the heart of the building. Here's also where lots of people loiter around with the police often making rounds. A strong Thai community exist here with Thai eateries, dodgy Thai discos and a Thai supermarket. The smell of Thai food here is subjective, one half of proconservation loves the way it reminds him of Bangkok, the wonderous food and all, the other thinks otherwise. We all agree though that it makes one feel like a foreigner, much like Lucky Plaza on a Sunday.



The stepped design of the building gave each unit a balcony that offered panoramic views of the sea and enhanced natural ventilation. okay that's what the textbooks say, these days the views are sorta killed of by the expressway in front and natural ventilation lost out to air conditioning during the 80's. The way each homeowner has personalized their home does give the building a quirky look. Over the years it has become a unique entity, a sign of the individual's non-conformity to the status quo, or maybe in Singapore its all about telling your neighbor whose home is the coolest.



Apologies for the lack in pictures, the top floor (16th) views were amazing...and then we got caught by security, who were just plain stupid thinking that we at pro-conservation are terrorist. Hey man, your gonna lose your job when this baby goes en-bloc, were on your side here okay.



the Golden Mile Complex is an exemplary type of "megastructure" described by architectural historian, Reyner Banham

Of Pearl Bank Apartments

Pearl Bank Apartments By Tan Cheng Siong of Archurban Architects Planners.



Completed in 1976, Pearl Bank Apartments may have been the tallest residential building in Singapore and possibly Southeast Asia (113m). Located in Chinatown with its other prominent neighbor, the People's Park Complex. Sitting on Pearl's Hill, the elevated building just outside Outram MRT station bears a distinctive horseshoe shape which shields its internal stairwells and common corridors from the elements while its external face provides breath taking views of Singapore's urban landscape.





The 38 story high rise apartment has 272 units with three types of split level units. 48 two bedroom, 184 three bedroom and 40 four bedroom apartments with an additional 8 penthouses on the top floor. Its complex unit arrangement gives each occupant a unique experience. Some have different views of the city dependent on the floor and location on the 3/4 circle floor plan. Some have external stairwells that only run into their unit providing them with private "back entrances".



The mid level holds a large open corridor space. This 28th floor open floor once contained mid floor stores and even a common library. Currently its underused and the only time its open for the residents is for viewing fireworks during National Day. There were plans to convert them to more apartments given its generous double volume space but the idea didn't come through. The money raised from the sale of more units could have gone to maintaining the building, which it is in dire need of due to old age and wear and tear.



As of writing, Pearl Bank Apartments has been put on en-bloc and the results of the tender for this site will be out on 18 September 2007. Lets all hope this deal fails and residents will be able to see how much more its worth preserving and maintaining this jewel in Chinatown rather than tearing it down.



On a personal note if this building still stands in 30 years time I really would want to live in a unit (preferably a 38th floor penthouse like that of Mr Ed Poole's, whom i would like to extend my heartfelt thanks for showing me around the apartment and letting me in his beautiful home)
Do visit his practice's website at http://www.poole-associates.com/
(his 6 man firm is in his home, yes the penthouse is very big!)
and do support his efforts in stopping the en bloc sale of Pearl Bank Apartments at http://www.pearlbankapartments.com/

On spontaniety

“Creativity arises out of the tension between spontaneity and limitations, the latter (like the river banks) forcing the spontaneity into the various forms which are essential to the work of art or poem.” - Rolly May


spiral stairs of Tiong Bahru SIT flats

When you see little delights like this, the innovation and the spontaniety that personalizes corners as such, you'd almost imagine the personalities of those occupants. I wonder how it feels like standing at that little corner where dishes are placed to dry, and where your vision is somewhat concealed by the vegetation that sprouts from the sides of the walls. There's even a small roof extention to the wall!

On People's Park Complex

I remember my grandma and me taking a bus down from River Valley to shop here. She would buy jewelery and herbs while holding onto my hand tightly, fearing that she would lose me amongst the crowd that packed the stores during the day. I didn't really enjoy going there then, there were no toys, I had to sit in herbal stores all day, but I do remember the food, it was good and I grew up on the carrot cake there.




A Large mixed used development with offices and high rise apartments over a podium shopping space. Constructed in 1967, designed by Design Partnership (now DP Architects) that was just set up by William Lim with Tay Kheng Soon and Koh Seow Chuan. Located at the foot of Pearl's Hill (within viewing proximity of another architectural gem: the Pearl Bank Apartments), People's Park Complex sits in the very heart of Chinatown and was once the largest shopping complex on Eu Tong Sen Street.




"Its name as well as the block of flats was the closest to Le Corbusier's ideal of high-rise living, as expressed in his Marseilles Unité d'Habitation, both in concept and in form"

Jane Beamish, Jane Ferguson (1989), A History of Singapore Architecture: The Making of a City



The original exterior finishing of the building was exposed raw concrete (ref Brutalist Architectural Style) but has been receiving several paint jobs constantly over the years. Currently, its green and orange but personally i rather the Béton brut.

The authorities should really look at Boston City Hall to see how beautiful raw concrete is. A paint job doesn't really do any good, let alone the choice of mismatching colours, but that's just personal taste.



Multi-storey interlocking atriums, "City Rooms" that bring the bustle of a busy chinatown street indoors. A first in Singapore architecture back then and now a common sight in almost any Singaporean shopping centre.

ref 1960's Metabolist Movement by Japanese Architects

"But we theorised and you people are getting it built!"
Fumihiko Maki , who visited the site during its construction


Walking back there now reminds me of those older times, where this was the place to be (and not Orchard road).That feeling of nostalgia although cliché overwhelms me. Its worth paying a visit here to soak up the atmosphere and feel the hustle and bustle of 1960s Chinatown.

Lets all just hope its survives the en bloc rage that continues to destroy the more 1960's architectural gems

On 157 Neil Road

Shophouse rules!
As I walked past the 157 Neil Road shophouse that NUS acquired and is currently undergoing the phase of renovation, I felt a greater impulse to acquire one myself next time! Ah, I wonder to what extent would this existing one take on a new layer of skin and how much traces of stories that we can undercover after this phase is completed.

On Conservation

"If we human beings learn to see the intricacies that bind one part of a natural system to another and then to us, we will no longer argue about the importance of wilderness protection, or over the question of saving endangered species, or how human communities must base their economic futures – not on short-term exploitation – but on long-term, sustainable development." - Gaylord Nelson, Founder of Earth Day


And this blog shall be as it is.
For those who are keen, who are concerned for the diminishing gems in our society, or those looking out for little nooks and crannies or detailings that are slowly succumbing to the new face in life.