September 26, 2023

‘Geylang Unfolded’ — Lighting a spark of growth in one of Singapore’s most historic and controversial neighbourhoods

Together with our partners, MEIR Collective, we are working to repurpose an important part of Singapore to make it relevant and meaningful for future generations.

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In the early evening hours of an ordinary Thursday, we and our partners at MEIR Collective gathered at the newly launched shophouse nestled in the corner of Lorong 27 alongside a small crowd of individuals, each with their own stake in Geylang. Our purpose was clear — to celebrate the start of an exciting new collaboration to placemake Geylang and to stir the imaginations of attendees.

What would Geylang look like, 50 years from today? What would you see strolling through the various lorongs? What kind of businesses or services would be operating in the district by then? Will the area still serve as an active red-light district?

For context, Geylang has gone through multiple changes over the years. The district began as a humble lemongrass plantation before transitioning into a commercial district lined with ornately carved shophouses. In the late 20th century, night crawlers began to prowl the streets and Geylang again transformed. This time, into a hub for “alternative activities”. Since then, the streets of Geylang would be bursting with eclectic energy and life after sunset.

However, this all changed when the pandemic hit. Restrictions and social distancing measures were imposed across the country and like a light switch, suddenly everything went off and the district was suddenly devoid of life. Geylang was transformed yet again.

Today, we stand at yet another crossroads now that the pandemic is over. Life is returning to the streets of Geylang but still, it is not the same as it was before. The old narrative of Geylang is but a distant memory in the minds of its inhabitants and a new one has yet to be formed. Before us, we saw an opportunity to reimagine the future of Geylang as businesses and communities begin to stir.

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At the session, we invited our guests to co-create a piece of AI art, with a focus on envisioning how Geylang will be like in 50 years. Each guest was given the opportunity to share their thoughts on the future of Geylang from their respective standpoints, be it that of a new or existing business, a resident, or a member of the local community at large. Much like how one peels the layers off the iconic Lapis Sagu, we peeled back the layers that make for Geylang’s eclectic charm and painted it — and its dwellers — with colour and vivacity.

The inputs from the activity were collated and loaded onto an AI art generator, MidJourney, to form the final art piece. Each guest was offered a fragment of the art piece in the form of an NFT.

Much to our amusement — but not to our surprise — food was on everyone’s mind. Durians in particular was a popular response in the activity, with one cheeky attendee suggesting that the future Geylang should have a durian museum.

Some attendees considered that perhaps placemaking Geylang would gentrify the area. However, this is not the typical neighbourhood rejuvenation project. In our efforts to change public perception of the neighbourhood, our approach will not be to sanitise the district. Rather, we seek to amplify the voices and narratives that already exist within the community, but are currently overshadowed by stereotypes of the red light district.

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Kok Yong, our Co-Founder, once told us, “Within Geylang, there is an entire community of regular people and families, businesses, clans, and religious groups — much like any other district in Singapore. These ordinary members of the community are worth celebrating.”

From our perspective, Geylang is more than just a supper spot or a hub for vice; it is a district with its own unique identity, community, and spirit.

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Our partners at MEIR Collective are of the same mind. Sebastian, Chief Placemaker of MEIR Collective, shared, “In developing the urban fabric of this cultural neighbourhood, MEIR Collective and the Afternaut intend to conserve Geylang’s unique heritage and flair while making it relevant and meaningful for future generations.”

Since embarking on this project, we have always kept in mind that our goal is to find balance between preserving Geylang’s unique heritage and sparking a community that is meaningful and relevant for Singaporeans today and in the future. After all, the initial spark that caught our attention was the rich and vibrant history of Geylang.

The launch party also featured an assortment of drinks and canapes with an Asian twist, kindly provided by newly launched cafe & the Hare — heritage brand JiXiang Confectionery’s first cafe concept.

The shophouse in which the party was held is one of the three properties in Geylang owned by MEIR Collective today. Besides this shophouse at 483 Geylang Road, MEIR Collective will also be launching another two developments at 211 and 465 Geylang Road in 2024, with the latter designed by the Afternaut Group.


More photos of the session here.

Visit our website www.theafternaut.com and see our other stories here.

August 4, 2023

Why Placemaking in Geylang?

What sets one neighbourhood in Singapore apart from the other? For many Singaporeans, it’s the food. Prata from this neighbourhood, chicken rice from that one, satay from another one. But besides food, what else distinguishes neighbourhoods in Singapore from each other?

Read more

August 3, 2023

Placemaking as a Way to Embrace Nature and Technology

The built environment industry is here to stay, and beyond the houses we live in, we have spaces in our neighbourhoods and cities that we love. How can we make sure that these spaces are available to us for years to come? And what about the plants and animals in these spaces?

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July 28, 2023

Venturing Into the World of Rewilding

For most part, rewilding initiatives fall under the purview of conservationists, biologists, and landscape architects. What does it have to do with us as placemakers? Well, we’re not entirely sure — yet. But what we are sure of is that just as everyone has a part to play in environmental conservation, everyone has a part to play in the process of rewilding as well.

Read more

February 27, 2023

Lessons We Learned From Working In China

Afternaut got our start in China and looking back now, we’re grateful for all the opportunities we’ve had to create some of our favourite work. The fast pace, strength of relationships and the resourcefulness we’ve had to build add up to our experiences working in China.

Since then we’ve applied what we’ve learned to projects in Singapore too. Afternaut’s co-founders Berlin Lee, Kokyong Chew and Chong Zhe Wei share what they learnt about building a harmonious, constructive working relationship in the competitive Chinese market.

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February 2, 2023

Placemaking to rejuvenate dead spaces

More than just an exhibition, the Zero One Tech Festival is a placemaking project that merges technology and sites with old uses into something valuable.

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December 19, 2022

How can we design living spaces for seniors

The topic of designing for the seniors is something close to our heart, as we have loved ones who are getting on in years and we want to ensure that they lead the best quality of life. What can we do to help them? These are some of our initial thoughts, questions, and what we’d like to do about it.

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November 19, 2022

Is the future of retail a services-only mall?

Talks about the future of retail and of decentralising shopping malls has been going on for a while now. But when developing Seedplaza, Afternaut didn’t want to just move the mall outside the city.

Read more

September 13, 2022

“De-cluttering of the Third Place”: Our Design Leaders discuss the impact of the pandemic on space typologies

The third place is known as a space where people can build psychological and emotional relationships with each other. If our homes are the first place, and work or school is the second place, then spaces like cafes, social media platforms, and basically everything else that doesn’t fall into the first two can be third places.

But these definitions as well as what we know of space typologies has changed since the pandemic hit.

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Our understanding of space typologies has changed again.

During the pandemic, we had to live, work, study, and play almost everything virtually while at home. We built mini-inner cities at home, while staying away from actual city spaces.

The third place is where we go to be away from the first two places, but with everything combining into one place, how do we segregate our lives? Space typologies are being redefined too since we can now #workfromanywhere.

Before the pandemic we were flushed with excitement of the possibilities of co-living and social living spaces. Then when the pandemic hit, debates about whether productivity is higher in the office versus elsewhere versus a hybrid model heated up, changing our understanding of co-living and social living spaces again. What then happens when we enter an endemic phase?

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Can space typologies help address mental health and issues faced by the elderly?

The topic of mental health featured prominently in these discussions. Students and the working population alike had to deal with serious issues and we’re still searching for the best way to stay safe but also not lose our sanity.

The elderly were greatly affected when we suddenly had to do everything we used to do in other spaces at home. They were the sector of the population that were encouraged to stay at home the most because they were at highest risk of contracting the virus. Some felt intimidated by technology, which the younger generation took to very well. How will the shifts in the way we use our spaces affect them?

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Will it economically viable for the private sector and designers to step in and develop spaces that can benefit society? Our design chiefs Kokyong Chew, Berlin Lee (co-founders of Afternaut), and Alan Tay (co-founder of Formwerkz Architects) came together to discuss and raise some very crucial points on the impact of the changing third place as a result of the pandemic.

Here are some of the questions and key insights:

What happens when the first, second, and third spaces combine into one?

Decluttering the third place and redrawing our boundaries

Berlin: We classify everything clearly into home and work but when that doesn’t work now, we conveniently find another neutral place to put it in (which is home, or a hybrid situation). But if all the three places are being combined into one, it becomes messy. This is especially if you consider the gig economy (which is here to stay) and metaverses. So we need to declutter it.

What we know as the third place has to have a special purpose. It has to be an ecosystem for mental health, for work, for businesses and for everything else. This applies to your real life, as well as any metaverses where your online persona lies.

Redefinitions of the third place can lead to the rise of modular designs

KY: I think there’s an opportunity for a different type of 3rd place. Remote work doesn’t mean working from home, and meeting spaces don’t mean meeting rooms. A lot of cafes are exploring having meeting pods with modular walls that can be set up in 2 hours and can be booked online. During peak mealtimes they operate as a cafe but during downtime, they serve as a meeting space. Physical spaces like these are forming their own purpose.

In my opinion, there will be a lot of design solutions that allow the unlocking of the 3rd place to happen. Within these solutions, modular designs will truly shine and go beyond what we know them to be. The third place is going to be more tangible and will show its different functions.

"What we know as the third place has to have a special purpose. It has to be an ecosystem for mental health, for work, for businesses and for everything else." — Berlin Lee

Drawing our boundaries and finding a place to escape to

Alan: Will there be a death of the 1st and 2nd place then? Will we not need to talk about the 3rd place anymore since everything is combined into one? There’s no place to escape to. Isn’t that scary? If we can’t escape to a physical space then we have to escape and compartmentalise in our heads which is even harder.

KY: We could create an environment that discourages the encroachment of other spaces, e.g. work. For example, while we’re in a space where we’re supposed to be relaxing, can we design environmental factors or chemical triggers to the brain that deter us from doing what we usually do in our 2nd place, i.e. work, and help us to compartmentalise?

Alan: Are there such spaces for everyone and do we see ourselves creating such spaces for people? But we also need to ask ourselves, is it profitable and who will develop it?

Let’s be realistic — how economically viable is the new 3rd place?

KY: Shopping malls will be the first places that will be talked about, visited, and designed for especially in Singapore. It will be the first typology to explore this new “3rd place” typology definition because that’s where 90% of the people are. What is then the future of retail shopping centres, which will also need to take e-commerce into account?

Berlin: In Asia, shopping malls are places where social interactions happen (a third place for many people, if you will). Shopping malls are owned by developers thus they are profit-driven, so it might not be an area of interest. Perhaps, if mental well-being is a by-product of space, then there might be a possibility of designing for it within the mall.

But the developers’ intent is always commercial not social. Thus there needs to be a redefinition of the new value of malls to not be commercial for something like this to happen. In the future this might even be policy driven.

Alan: Shopping centres are one of the toughest typologies to create for this space. Is it even necessary? The Western countries have never treated a mall as a social space. Maybe in Asia, we feel like consumption is social. But it’s actually self-gratification. It’s not social interaction where you engage with others. Retail shopping centres are losing some attractiveness with the convenience and entertainment from online shopping.

How can we help the elderly cope with the new third place?

Berlin: Engaging the elderly at home requires a lot of effort. Even those living with their families didn’t get much attention because everyone else at home was focused on work or school. They might have been physically there but unless someone makes the effort to interact with them, they were not getting the social interaction they craved and needed, which they might previously have been able to do so (with friends, at the marketplace, and communal public spaces).

Alan: It’s a societal problem that needs to be solved at the root, and physical spaces are not the only solution. Issues like loss of independence, self-worth and health issues need to be dealt with as well, possibly policy-driven. Besides places, what sparks off passion? There is pride, and cultural identity. How can we get people to be passionate about something?

Gym Tonic Uncle & Auntie (good Quality)

Senior issues are tough and you don’t need to solve one whole goal. The policies we have out there are trying to extend the quality of life of the individual. There are lots of initiatives that encourage the elderly to keep fit, have an active lifestyle and mind, help boost their self-worth and make them feel like they are contributing to society.

So now what?

We’re living in exciting times. The definition of the third place and the boundaries of all three places are changing. It all boils down to this: what we knew of the first, second and third place has been broken down, added into a pot, and mixed around with digital metaverses to form a new stew. How can we re-compartmentalise them again? Should we?

We are always thinking of how to infuse the third place in our work. Discussions like these need to happen and in the realm of spatial design, we will continue to explore and discuss ways we can work together with other sectors, perhaps the private or civil sector to design solutions that can make our community a better place to live in.

Let us know your thoughts, or if you have any responses to the questions we raised here - drop us a note at hello@theafternaut.com or connect with Berlin, Alan, and Kokyong on LinkedIn.

The Afternaut Group Pte Ltd. 2024

 

The Afternaut Group Pte Ltd. 2024