THE URBAN REFUGE
“Escaping from the ever-growing city”
Year
Year 2 Semester 2
Location
Between Alkaff Quay & Merchant Rd, Singapore River Planning Area
Typology
Cultural Hub
Site area
15800 sqm
Singapore River was a vital artery in the growth of Singapore, beginning from a humble fishing village to a bustling metropolis. Yet, this relentless cycle of growing in the city is changing our environment, habits, and overall connection with others. It’s showing its effects on society through stress, isolation, and overwhelm.
The Urban Refuge serves its place for the people of Singapore River to recollect their inner selves and forge new relationships with other “refugees”. Its design inspired by the Sampans, historically used back before the beginnings of Singapore’s role as a trading hub. The sampans were the sea gypsies’ home/fishing boats, where they would eat, sleep, and meet other sea gypsies in their own boats.
Thus this reinterpretation “The Urban Refuge” seeks to evoke a culture of peace while fostering deeper connections - within oneself and others.
Design Process
Through mapping out the activities of Singapore river from the past and present, it shows a contrast between the social interactions between the people. The main design driver of The Urban Refuge was to reinterpret the ways of the people of the past and translating it spatially and contextually in present day Singapore River.
Right Mappings of activities of Singapore River in the past vs present
First few iterations in summary
The first concept began with creating a section collage, determining the experiences and programmes and laying them out in a section collage, with the intention of creating a communal feel on the ground levels and a peaceful zone on the upper levels. This collage was translated to a physical 2.5D collage model
Top First sectional collage iteration of the Urban Refuge
Middle 2.5D Collage model, facade view of the Urban Refuge model
Bottom slider 2.5D Collage model, spaces within the refuge
The main issue with the first design was that the form felt very heavy, not suited for a place where one should feel at ease, and the experience was not well refined to fit the context and identity of the site.
Therefore, I continued on to draw out the experiences of The Urban Refuge in different ways. The process began with designing the refuge similarly to a village where there is that abundance of nature with a thriving community, I then decided to focus more on creating a close proximity with water using steps and a journey through nature to arrive at resting spots.
The sampan’s form became the driving design form, by creating different sizes of it, I was able to have distinct heirarchies between zones for reflection (small pavilions) and zones for communities (large canopies)
At this point is when I had hit the eureka moment. I decided to create the models and fine tune the space, experience, and tectonics. All of which led me to create The Urban Refuge you see right here.
Iterative sketches of the Urban Refuge
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