WHAT IS UNIQUELY SINGAPORE? A GENERI-CITY PROJECT?Creative [SIN]ergy presents, Uniquely Singapore? a generi-City project. This project is an architectural investigation of Singaporean spaces as generic. This project seeks to consolidate a re-reading of Singapore’s urban spaces that differs from /reacts to the dominant image of unique as enforced by tourism, literature. Although being dubbed as a city with a “unique” blend of different cultures by the Singapore Tourism Board under its previous slogan of “Uniquely Singapore”, Singapore is by default like any other cities characterized by a generic set of spaces that organizes and manages daily life. Rather than claiming uniqueness through cultural references in architectural expression or iconic figurative gestures; this project aims to rediscover the uniqueness of Singapore’s urban spaces through the most generic and banal scenes of everyday life. Through the generic, latent conditions within the city will be revealed.
Six key activity spaces which host collective life in Singapore have been identified:
- Transit Space
- Eating Space
- Leisure Space
- Retail Space
- Living Space
- Occupational Space
These spaces will be juxtaposed against other cities which provide a basis for analyzing the similarity and difference in their spatial usage in hosting these activities. Through this comparison conversation, the project hopes to dissect sets of generic architectural typology that provide the framework and characteristics of these spaces. Therefore, it is only through the celebration of the generic that the uniqueness of Singapore can be achieved.
WHAT IS GENERI-CITY?
Generi-City is a project that investigates generic spaces - airports, shopping malls, food courts, fitness centers, etc - within the city. It hopes to offer a point of departure from Rem Koolhaas’s commentary on the “The Generic City” in S,M,L,XL through images and photographs.
Given the complete ubiquity of generic spaces around the world, cities are trying to resist it by overly emphasizing individuality and differences through their architectural ‘masterpieces’ in an attempt to remake their city - otherwise known as the Bilbao effect. With each city wanting to be special, outdoing others by creating strings of iconic museums, opera houses and viewing towers, the generic condition has become even more pronounced.
Therefore, rather than claiming uniqueness through cultural references in architectural expression or iconic figurative gestures; this project aims to rediscover the uniqueness of urban spaces through the most generic and banal scenes of everyday life. The generic will be celebrated in order to reveal the uniqueness of the city.
WHAT IS UNIQUELY SINGAPORE?
Uniquely Singapore? is an architectural investigation of Singaporean spaces as generic. This project seeks to consolidate a re-reading of Singapore’s urban spaces that differs from/reacts to the dominant image of unique as enforced by tourism, literature. Although being dubbed as a city with a “unique” blend of different cultures by the Singapore Tourism Board under its previous slogan of “Uniquely Singapore”, Singapore is by default like any other cities characterized by a generic set of spaces that organizes and manages daily life. Through a series of conversations between six pairs of architects, we hope to rediscover the uniqueness of Singapore through the generic.
