whenlightswork

I was at Rojak 15 yesterday evening, enjoying a night of discussion with friends, talking to new-found friends and exchanging ideas with the like-minded (as usual, the restless designers) when the presentation by one of the speakers, Kenneth Chong on Place, struck me as something, perhaps, in the re-making of our heartlands, we have seemingly ‘diluted’ or is gradually diminishing along as Singapore’s landscape is rapidly changing with the society’s desire to upgrade and improve. Somewhat, the idea presented seemed rather ‘unpolished’, but yet, post-Rojak, I was just intrigued about the idea of having an identity and going back to where we belonged in the first place. Furthermore, the presentation by Flim-maker Liao Jie Kai complemented the idea of a space that is lost with time, and I remembered his comment on the need to capture these spaces before are all gone. That really brings us to the point of identity, or perhaps, what defines Our Singapore.

Our Singapore? As opposed to Uniquely Singapore? So what makes Singapore unique and what makes Singapore ours? This is a question all Singaporeans need to ponder on what defines ourselves, not merely in terms of our citizenship, but with such rapidly changing landscape, we are gradually losing places we can identify throughout our growing years, or even the places we frequent a few years back. Strangely enough, of all the places that are familiar to me, the memories of me and my brother cycling through one of the earliest version of park connector struck me. The lush greenery, the smell of ripen jackfruits that are all wrapped in newspaper, and the little races we used to have there. Oh yes! The good old basketball courts where we used to play with our neighbors, the older part of west coast park where we used to have picnics, Sunday runs, kite-flying, and the playground with that row of swings that all children will queue up and challenge the limits of the rickety chain… Those were my fond memories of growing up in west coast.

Growing up and especially through one’s unforgettable life journey called the architectural school (I think all architects or designers will agree with me that nothing can compare to the experience one will have in a design school) , I have always enjoyed those times when we prowled through the back alleys looking for inspiration, walking countless of times around the Katong area whilst cracking our minds on our design projects. It was then when I have my first-hand experience of eating inside the ever-famous Katong Red House. It was during one of the architectural school site visit, me and my studio mates decided to stop by and take in the memories of the space within. The lights that seeped through the cracks of the party wall, the utensils, or the antique looking cabinet.  It was as though time come to a standstill within the building and everything is on the pause mode. Yet such places are rare now. So, do these places need to sacrifice themselves for development? If we were to retain them, how can we capture the essence of space? Or perhaps, it is at best to leave these places ‘untarnished’ and just leave them alone. Or, maybe when we are older, or when I return to Singapore after a long overseas stint, can i still remember Singapore?

Overseas Singaporeans friends have always returned to home for short visits during the festive seasons, but I never had a chance to ask them about their growing impression of Singapore. Is it a place that is increasingly foreign to them? If not for their family, will they call this place home? But I never failed to forget how much I missed home whenever the return flight presents such a stunning overview of the towering blocks of light (the stair cores of HDB), glowing ever so softly in the night. Perhaps it is not the imagery of home, but the identity of home that I can connect with. Went to the museum with Mr Lee yesterday for the 1960 exhibition, and the exhibition brought back so many fond memories, of the old ash tray, the old books I used to have, the black and white films, the newspaper that is seemingly tabloid-like… These memories seemed so distant, yet I can identify with them when I was growing up…. So, is Singapore moving and growing up faster than us? I just dread the day when I will be foreign to Singapore, even though I am living in Singapore most of my life….

People make spaces, and underneath those glossy marketing gimmick to promote Singapore’s latest tourism spots, maybe it is time to re-discover what makes each region of Singapore unique, or perhaps instead of those towering landmarks we seek to create,? What defines the unique architectural landscape we have around us. Reading what Mr Tay Kheng Soon had commented on the recent icons that were added to our landscape, I just thought that perhaps it is not these architectural ‘marvels’ that should dominate our built environment, but it might be more than them…What about our original architectural footprints? What defines our truly Singapore spaces? What makes our spaces unique? Thinking about the small houses in Tokyo, to New York where gigantic skyscrapers defines these tiny streets between the buildings, it seems that these cities have a certain intangible, unique quality to their spaces between the building. Or perhaps, what defines cities are not merely the built forms, but the life between the buildings.

That will then bring us back to the equation of the HDB flats that dominate most of our built environment. Although they appear to be generic in their design and layout, I believe all of us can identify certain essence within these monotonous looking modules, and relate to some parts of our neighborhood in our memories. Remember the void decks where you first held hands with your loved ones, the void decks where you linger with your siblings, the old playgrounds where you used to play, the hidden spots where you used to play hide and seek with your cousins… The list goes on but the unique experience of such seemingly boring heartland can only be retrieved by its residents. And these memories is especially precious for neighbourhoods like Queenstown or Tiong Bahru, where residents have gathered a treasury of memories that surpassed the younger estates. So, perhaps, the new campaign for Singapore should concentrate on how each estate has its hidden jewels and it is time for us to discover it once more.