Master Thesis Project with guidance from Professor Tsuto Sakamoto
Marina Bay Waterfront, Singapore
Received a RIBA Silver Medal Award Nomination
Exhibited in International Exhibition of Architectural Graduate Design in Taiwan
Presented to Norman Foster of Foster and Partners
Interviewed by WeAreAWebsite
Authoring Nature, a commentary
Furthering John Berger's notion of animal's role in the capitalist society, the thesis critiques the State's vice-like grip on nation building - in particular, the construction and misrepresentation of nature as part of our national image.
The thesis studies the myths of the Merlion, animals of the Singapore Zoo and homegrown mascots that form part of a larger picture in the manipulation of a national narrative of a photogenic landscape.The creation of this fable within Singapore's curated Marina Bay waterfront uncovers misconceptions of the way we expect nature to be accommodated within a "City in Nature". By rendering visible the processes that help produce this photogenic landscape, the thesis questions our tolerance in co-existence with nature as the "other" and at the same time, reveals the underlying truth that the nature we enjoy is unlike real nature but another construct of humankind.
To see thesis dossier, tap here
Image 1 (top left): Otterly in Love
Otterly in Love illustrates findings of the local otter’s adaptation to urban areas. These include climbing up ladders, staircases, fences, making nests underneath pavements, sun drying on rock and grass patches and travelling through concrete drainages.
Image 2 (top right): The Curated Image and an Anxious State
Depicts the local otters natural movement from a protected natural reserve towards Singapore’s tourist hotspot and urban landscape - Marina Bay Sands Waterfront, in search for food and new homes.
Image 3 (above left): A Nature’s Fable
The Fable represents the project in three stages. The Picturesque, Outside-In/Inside-Out and The Ottered City
Stage One - The Picturesque
”Behind every spectacle of nature in the city, a clean up crew”
The otter grows into a popularized icon representing core values of Singapore - Family, Co-operation, Love and most importantly, co-existence with wildlife in the urban city. A new urban beach is built to fit the perimeter of the floating platform at Marina Bay.
Stage One - A City Sanctuary
”A beautiful sunny day out in an urban beach right in our Central Business District. Singapore probably is the only first class city capable of cohabitating with our wildlife.”
Stage Two - Inside out / Outside In
”It’s better to keep them in. With the spiralling ramps, we can observe them at all angles, at all times of the day. What a wonderful way to still coexist with wildlife in the city!”
Stage Three - An Ottered City
”What was revealed underneath the rigid grid of steel was not just a mash of twigs and branches but a precise system. Complex and unfamiliar, an unexpected deviation from the intended curated image, but a nature true to its own.”
Stage Three - Nature beyond us
In the quiet of the mess, otters continued on as they did, packing their twigs to make more nests and exploring out further into the city to find more places to rest, Nature is unpredictable and uncontrollable.