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.
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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