Fabian's P.M.S

5th May 2012

Expo City: Expositing the Ex-Port

Scale model

3rd May 2012

Expo City: Expositing the Ex-Port,

Thesis in partial fulfilment of the M.Arch Degree at the National University of Singapore

This thesis looks at the question of how an iconic and valuable site of the ex- port may be developed without creating a tabula rasa situation when its lease expires in the near future. The thesis proposes to maintain a continuity of the port as a trading hub albeit through the introduction of a 21st century trading unit - the Expo - where exchanges of information, services and commodities are located. The design strategy retains the cranes as infrastructure and iconic landmarks, some act as entrances to the expo while others resume their role to unload and load goods.

The proposition also juxtaposes this mechanic landscape with a swath of greenery - a ‘natural’ landscape - thus bringing to this new ‘port’ two of Singapore’s prized attributes - the garden and the port. Here, the
constructed artificiality of both landscapes are played out and celebrated - nature is multiplied and
intensified and the machine is both monumentalized and made indispensable as landmark, structure and
infrastructure.

The creation of a new public waterfront edge is the jewel of this proposition. Accessible to all, this space is a surreal hybrid landscape of towering machines reaching for the sky and quietly moving overhead, framed by rolling hillocks, trees and wild grasses and park follies. On the water’s edge float the new expo halls, a series of metal structures reminiscent of ships, with open able roofs used for recreational purposes. The dream of a multipurpose zone – a park, expo, port, entertainment, meetings and sport fold into each other as the ex-port continues to proliferate ‘exchange’!

3rd May 2012

Expo City: Expositing the Ex-Port,

Detailed plan of typical expo halls and ground floor plan of garden. From left to right, roof plan, main entrance level plan, ground floor plan.

3rd May 2012

Expo City: Expositing the Ex-Port,

animated section showing connection to park and water’s edge.

2nd May 2012

Expo City: Expositing the Ex-Port,

Sectional elevation of expo halls. A juxtaposition of a mechanic landscape with a swath of greenery - a ‘natural’ landscape - thus bringing to this new ‘port’ two of Singapore’s prized attributes - the garden and the port.

1st May 2012

Expo City: Expositing the Ex-port,

The design strategy retains the cranes as infrastructure and iconic landmarks, some act as entrances to the expo while others resume their role to unload and load goods.

1st May 2012

Expo City: Expositing the Ex-Port

Accessible to all, this space is a surreal hybrid landscape of towering machines reaching for the sky and quietly moving overhead, framed by rolling hillocks, trees and wild grasses and park follies.

5th Apr 2012 | 1 note

Expo hall sketch

30th Sep 2011

The Effect of the Narrative, Choreographing Spectacle in the Disneyland Dark Ride

A dissertation written in partial fulfilment of the M.Arch Degree at the National University of Singapore. (click on the title to download full dissertation)

Abstract

Keywords: spectacle, narrative, association, immediacy and effect
This paper addresses the issue of architecture and its relationship with narratives and effect. More specifically, the effect of spectacle produced in the context of the Disneyland dark rides and its narratives. Most dark rides found in run-off-the-mill amusement parks are designed with the main aim to scare riders in the form of ghost trains. The Disneyland dark rides however, make use of the narratives from Disney films as its main draw. The dark ride is a form of entertainment like the cinema; it however being the immersive, three-dimensional versions of the cinema.

It is not the first time architecture has been manipulated to cause effect and meaning within the observer. In the eighteenth century, picturesque gardens were also designed with allegorical associations through picturesque landscapes, objects and architecture. This will be used as a primer to show how objects can have effect and meaning within the minds of the observer, through association. The picturesque garden of Stourhead will be discussed to illustrate how its narrative can be read only through this process, with the help of the garden stroller’s inherent knowledge.

With regards to the dark ride’s narrative, this paper will show how the spectacle is produced and how it facilitates in the ride’s storytelling process, just as how films use the choreographed spectacle to help the audience understand its narrative. This effect of spectacle in the dark ride will be expanded on the premise of Yi-Fu Tuan’s essay, Disneyland: Its Place in World Culture. He defined the spectacle as a product of the movement of the ride vehicle interacting with the landscapes within the dark ride. This paper will attempt to expand on Tuan’s definition and show how the spectacle within the dark rides is produced. More importantly, how the choreographed spectacle facilities the process of story-telling. The spatial experiences of the dark rides will then be discussed in parallel with how the spectacle is choreographed in film and how similar principles are applied through the analysis of three different narrative categories of the dark ride - the non-narrative, familiar narrative and original narrative with familiar characters – in order for riders to piece together the plot of the narrative.

This paper will be concluded by touching on the idea of immediacy in architecture. The dark ride will be shown to be more immediate in terms of the how the observer is able to grasp its inherent narrative as compared to the picturesque gardens. Thus, this paper hopes to challenge the possibilities of what can architecture be as well as the importance of the observer in terms of understanding the emotive and narrative meanings behind architecture.