Architecture

Hello! So I took a second round around Geylang to observe more closely if there was anything that I missed out from the first round. As for the first round, I only noticed the shopping malls, Malay cuisines at the marketplace and other normal stuff. So this round I made sure to stop at everything. In the end there were three elements that caught my eye, the architecture, doors and windows and the signages. These elements seem to breathe in more life and vibrancy the deeper I went into Geylang. On the surface, was a cold and commercialised place, loosing what we imagined Geylang to be.

Architecture

As you can see, infront there is a lot of construction going on and also the shopping malls placed all infant were grey in colour. It felt very foreign and cold and not what I expected of Geylang. However the deeper I went into, I discovered more character as I looked around and up. I made me feel as sense of warmth and life.

Doors and Windows

The deeper one goes into Geylang, you can see how colourful and unique each shophouse or homes are from their doors and windows. It makes me feel like each shophouse is expressing their own character from the way their doors and windows are painted or decorated making it different from one another, no two doors or windows are ever similar.

Signages

As you can see, in the front there were a lot of construction signs and with different fonts. The fonts were sans serif and very stiff and stagnant, whereas as you walk in deeper the signs became more decorative as they are hidden. If you don’t look up and around you probably won’t notice any of them. It took my second trip here to start noticing all this.

Conclusion to my findings: Geylang is cold and commercialised construction upfront, but behind it it full of colour and character!

My idea for the zine would be uncovering the layers of Geylang! I can do so in many ways, following by colour, or even just the 8 pages being the difference doors and each expressing different characters.

Attached is my presentation slide. Thank you for taking a look!

Neighbourhood Explorer

Thats all!

Hello! So the place that i have been assigned to is somewhere that i am very familiar of. Geylang! It is known to be one of the most iconic Malay places in Singapore bursting with everything Malay ranging from the architecture, food and more. Though I am very much familiar with the place, upon roaming around i found little bits and pieces of the neighbourhood that caught my attention that never did. Here are some of those bits!

As you can see, so much good food! All these neons signs showing the various colourful kind of Malay food you can get here. (Some of the best, example their Kacang Pool). Looking at the different dishes an idea came that maybe i could do the publication in colour code, with each colour symbolising the iconic malay dishes here. So after my stop here, I decided to go across and walked further into Joo Chiat area.

So the more i travelled around the area, the more i realised that how every piece of architecture symbolises something unjquely Malay about Geylang. Eventhough something as simple as the lampost and the overheadbridge is something that is overlooked, it distinctvely has the essence of the Malay. I also walked past several shophouses that has its own distinctive styles. So an idea i had was that i could do a publication on the little things that make the architecture here uniquely Malay. Or I could also do on the different shophouses. And so I continued walking!

So another thing i noticed about the neighbourhood lastly was that how there was a traditional shopping mall as compared to a more modern one. The difference was oddlh strange showing how people would rather hang around and gather at the traditional mall rather than the modern ones. The difference was also the different shops there making the tradional one having a strange oldy tingy vibe than the modern. Another idea i could do is the publication on how the new blends with the old there.

Overall it was such a refreshing experience as it has been awhile since i’ve been there!

Meils

Tag Archives: Architecture

Neighbourhood Explorer Round 2: Deep in Geylang

Neighbourhood Explorer Research | Geylang