GSA Showcase 2021

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Interior Design School of Design Singapore

YuBing Ng

Project Intent:

Vision might be the most important sense that we rely on in our daily lives. Especially in Singapore, where artificial luminance is employed to brighten up the country at night when the Singapore skyline is lit for all to see. Artificial luminance brightens up our night lives, but unfortunately, excessive lighting has also brought us a plethora of health and environmental issues. What happens if the country was to reduce the excessive luminance at night, and we are left with low-lit to dark space? The projects presented here, explore how we might interact with the spaces around us and its subsequent design, by engaging with our other senses.

Contact
nyubing12@gmail.com
Y.Ng1@student.gsa.ac.uk
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Works
Re-engaging of Senses pt. 01: Home
Re-engaging of Senses pt. 2: Rest
Re-engaging of Senses pt 3: Play

Re-engaging of Senses pt. 01: Home

Part 01 Intent:

With darkness as a form of material, I would like to explore the sense of familiarity in the notion of a familiar setting in our HDB estate but with our sight being the less important sense in the space, to create a possible outcome of what it feels like to be in a familiar place by relying on our other senses. Using my usual route to and fro of home, how can I bring back the sense of familiarity lost in the realm of darkness and allow people to maneuver in the dark at ease?

 

Site:

The chosen site is at Blk 845, Woodlands. I stay at this block and because I am exploring the sense of familiarity in the ‘Known’ spaces, I’ve narrowed down the targeted areas to the five spaces – Void deck walkway, lift lobbies, lift and corridor, as those are the spaces I would journey through from home to school and school to home everyday.

Journey:

Lift Lobby - Lift - 5th Storey's Lift Lobby - Corridor towards my house - A closer view of my house
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Body:

This experiment is really interesting and intriguing as I did not have to care about being judged as I am being blindfolded and I feel more aware of different surfaces and spaces.
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Memory:

I tried to reduce the luminosity of the images to try to depict the different luminosity of light in the space and with that, how can my memory aid me to remember things in the spaces. The things I could remember are the ones that are closest to me and slowly fades away as it gets further. This method allowed me to design what I feel comfortable in the space and what I would want to walk through as my sense of sight is reduced.
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Environment:

How I touch and feel the space when I am being blindfolded
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Design Outcome

Design Outcome

Block and Guide: This is a space where the journey back home starts. Tall panels are created to block off the noises that are usually coming from the right side. This way, it would create a more specific way to the lift. The panels are based on how I move through the space in the blindfolded experiment. As my hand move brush against the panels, it would turn the panel subsequently and each panel will lead me to the lift.
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Home 2.0

I wanted to create a sense of home in the lift as it is where I and people usually take to transit from places to places. Home is where we feel most familiar with and just by creating a space for rest, and allow us to wind down in the lift.
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Whose laundry?

Transiting through the lift and arriving at the 5th floor, where I encounter countless of clothes hanging by the corridor. With that sense of familiarity, a path of different textured fabrics to guide me through the lift lobby.
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A walk with the leaves

Upon reaching the long corridor, a designed pathway of planes with texture that feels like dried leaves where it brings back a sense of familiarity as I usually hear vivid leaves rustling downstairs. Also upon reaching my house, I would feel plants along the corridor.
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Re-engaging of Senses pt. 2: Rest

Part 02 Intent:

Allow the night shift workers and people around the area to getaway from the well-lit city into a warm and cozy space to relax. With this space, I would want people to re-engage with their other senses in the low-lit environment, relaxing their eyes and be more
intuned to the interior environment instead.

Site:

The chosen site is in between ION Orchard and Wisma Atria. It is a stairway that links the crowd from the MRT station exit to Wisma Atria and a taxi stand behind Wisma Atria. At Orchard Road is a bustling area and well-lit area at night, I wanted to design a space in contrast to the existing site condition for people to rest in that area.

Site photos

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Being inclusive

After conducting the site visits, I realised that what I am going to design not only benefits the people who can pop-by every now and then, but I am designing for inclusivity too. As I was conducting the site visits, I realised that some migrant workers or deliverymen who tuck at this corner to rest on the steps and they are not seen at the huge stairways in front of ION. As this space is more tucked aside, they probably wants a hideout from the crowds as they might not feel like they belong there. Hence, it made me want the space to cater to them as a form of acceptance, rather than exclusivity.
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Design Development

Playing with different wall heights allows me to alter the amount of privacy for the people too. I have to consider how would people want to feel in the space and since it is for resting, minimal amount of distractions should be made and felt in the space. Also allows me to control the lighting in the space as I wanted to have less lightings in the space so that people could immerse themselves by engaging other senses in the low-lit space. With the different wall heights of 2400mm, 2150mm and 1650mm, I take in considerations on how people could maneuver around in the space at ease. As having gaps beneath, people can easily see through the space and would know that if it is occupied. Gap above is to allow the existing site condition like light, air and sound to be incorporated into the space with moderations.
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Wayfinding

As wayfinding in a low-lit space is important, different floor textures are incorporated into the design to assist people with their movements. Wide to narrow spaces are there to allow people to focus on the path and wonder but eventually entering a narrow space to focus on the area itself.
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Layout

The layout of the designed space has three levels on the existing stairway. It goes from Public for the resting space to Semi-private for the Tea space then Private for the meditation space. As the sound would affect the meditation space, I placed it on the 3rd level so it could be slightly away from the noises and also with the designed surfaces, it would help block the noises away. Also, the tea and resting space are for people who want short period of rest time so it is more accessible in the sense where it would be at the ground floor and halfway through the landing of the stairs.
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Lighting

Warm lighting is chosen for the space as it is less harsh than white light and it provides a cozier and calmer setting and environment especially for the people who is trying to escape from the jarring white lights around in the city to the designed space. The space would be lowly lit with lights running under the walls. The light also provides the people to maneveur in the space easily too, even though it is to reactivate their other senses, but with their vision being taken away completely would not evoke the same emotions for relaxation.
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Entrance from the Resting space near Orchard MRT Exit C

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Entrance from the Meditation space near the Taxi stand of Wisma Atria

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Rest space

A meditation space for users to relax in the space. The space is designed for the users who wants more alone time and longer breaks and they can head up to level 3 to settle down for relaxation. The bamboo plant that accompanied the space from the exterior provides a sense of privacy for the users too.
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Tea space

A space for the users to have some tea and unwind in the any time of the day. The space is designed to cater for users who wants short breaks and could just finish their tea and leave the space immediately.
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Meditation space

A meditation space for users to relax in the space. The space is designed for the users who wants more alone time and longer breaks and they can head up to level 3 to settle down for relaxation. The bamboo plant that accompanied the space from the exterior provides a sense of privacy for the users too.
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Re-engaging of Senses pt 3: Play

Part 03 Intent:

Allow people to re-engage their senses in the dark through materials in a curated temporal exhibition. To diminish the preconceived notion that people usually adopt about the dark. Through this series of journey through interacting with materials in the space, could allow people to feel a sense of intimacy and belonging in the space.

Site:

The chosen site is at Pasir Panjang Power Station. It used to be a functioning power station in 1953 and in the present, it has been non-functioning and preserved as a landmark by the government. Currently, it hosts music events and exhibitions and people could book the venue for shoots.

Site photos

What I found most interesting on site was the amount of things they have preserved in the space. Basically everything was original except for the lighting fixtures for exhibitions and the new air-conditioners installed for events and such. The materials like steel and concrete have been preserved and it has the raw and disheveled look that you would have not expect a place to still be standing after decades. I chose the power station as I wanted people to feel the sense of mysteriousness whilst travelling to the place as it is a place where many people could visit. Hence as the exhibition functions in evening, it would be a place where people would potentially feel scared and the built-up starts from the journey to the power station itself. The space is a contrast to the Orchard Road where it is well-lit, however, this space has natural darkness at night and I wanted to test out the experience in the power station itself as it is secluded from other well-lit cityscape in Singapore
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Scale of the space, in two different areas of the space. Making one feel and in the space. I do not really feel the sense of security there.
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Design Development

To design the exhibition, I have thought of the ways to create an intimate environment and it is the use of curves as it is smooth and able to form different forms to embrace the visitors in the installation spaces. However, circle and dots to create the rough textures on the surfaces and floor for the constant wayfinder that visitors would walk through. Whilst keeping the rectilinear form taken from the power station, the structure holds in a 9-grid structure in the squarish form, in contrast to the curve and flowy intervals of installations. As the site itself is mainly built with concrete, my aim is to bring in a softer material to allow the contrast to stand out in the rigid form. The use of recycled paper has lots of fibres and acts as an acoustic in certain installation area. The structure would be made up with plaster board and with concrete mix finish as it is temporal.
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Emotional Journey Mapping

This emotional journey mapping is depicted to curate the emotions that the visitors would feel throughout the space. The intent is to allow them to feel calm and solemn in the intially huge and uncommon space. As they journey to Pasir Panjang Power Station, the en route is rather mysterious and would slowly transit into a secluded space, away from the usual city space we are in. As my intial emotion to the site was neutral yet as I journey through the space I feel a tad bit scared yet empty in the massive space. Ultimately, they would transit through a series of curated installations, putting them at ease and feel intimate in small unusual areas in the site . As the exhibition comes to an the end, they would appreciate the solemnness in the site by heading to the various pods to relax.
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Tunnel vision

The 2.5 metres entrance where you travel through a series of rough textured surfaces to guide the visitors into the space. As the dots increases in amount as they head into the space, they would be immediately welcomed with the next designed space. Starting off with a common ceiling height, and narrow pathways, allows the visitors to feel safe in the space before venturing into higher ceiling heights.
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Heading towards the stairs

As they approach the end of the level, transcending up the stairs would bring the vistoris into another space and the constant textured pathways would be a series of intervals between each paper installation segment. This ensures the visitors to feel at ease while transiting to a different environment
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Epilogue @ Level 2

A space catered at the ending journey in the exhibition , for the visitors to sit and unwind before heading back down to different pods to sit in to appreciate and have a sense of belonging in the space.
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