Recognising that society is made up of a diversity of people with distinct idiosyncrasies, building carcasses can only say so much. The thesis serves as a counterpoint to traditional processes of conservation, where buildings are intentionally retained in their authentic forms. It calls for a rethinking of the value system that drives the notion of authenticity as one more social than architectural, and strives to achieve that by introducing a new archival framework and space through the alternative lens of the invisible histories, micronarratives.
Architectural ghosts are buildings that have either been demolished or are soon to be demolished by a certain date, “ghosts” and “soon-to-be-ghosts” respectively. The thesis explores an interpretive process of translating text (micronarratives that concern architectural ghosts) as space (architectural tableaus). It classifies fragments of individual memories, manifested as tableaus, into a bottom-up collective through a spatialised classification system, governed by key facets: “energy”, “space” and “time”. Playing this archival framework out in real life, micronarratives are shortlisted through a lottery system. It functions on the element of chance and the law of large numbers, to manage the size and scale while not privileging one micronarrative over another. Once the annual selection process is concluded, fragments are shipped over and resurrected at Pulau Semakau, an artificial island, where the generated waste turned into ashes becomes a landfill that allows the island to grow.
There exists a synergy between the project aspiration and Pulau Semakau – demolished buildings are recreated through micronarratives, reclaiming both the memories and the context where the memories took place. The architectural fragments co-exist on a standalone reclaimed island, an archive of architectural ghosts, constructed as a counterpoint to Pulau Semakau.
The archive grows over time as more fragments are deposited. This growth may be perceived in terms of a timeline – a beginning, past and present, where the beginning speaks about a specific turning point in history where the nation began to resurrect buildings through micronarratives. The growth of the Archive is twofold. On one side it is catching up with the present by collecting actual fragments, while on the other, it is simultaneously growing into history by reconstituting lost fragments. The archive aims to transcend the normative idea of a static card box filled with black and white documents. It is instead envisioned as one that is much more humanistic, where the ethos lies in the ideology of a decentralized curation of narrative mediators that exist and act upon each other within a network. Each experience at the archive involves the coming together of narrative mediators, re-animated and put into parallel conversations, as visitors wander through the archive.
All design, agency and intentionality come from the uses we make of the archive, rather than what it contains; an aspiration to spur memories, produce new meanings, build relationships and re-member us as a community.
The project was developed at the National University of Singapore.
KOOZ What prompted the project?
LKX I began the thesis with an interest in exploring social aspects of conservation using memories. That gave me the impetus to develop a series of instruments that could potentially facilitate the recording (visualising) and interpreting (translating) of memories.
Instruments that took on the role of recording revealed the nature of memories – reconstructions of an individual’s past experiences that are often fragmented and incomplete. On the contrary, instruments that facilitated the interpretation of memories offered me insights into the mediative nature inherent in these instruments. Due to the subconscious bias imposed by the interlocutors (both subjects and I) as we engage ourselves in conversation, representations of these memories become inconsistent and incohesive. These findings primed me with the necessary questions that concern collective memory, subsequently serving as the precursor to the development of the archival system and space.
KOOZ What questions does the project raise and which does it address?
LKX I believe that the thesis challenges fundamental assumptions in relation to architectural conservation and the notion of authenticity. In its traditional sense, conservation often concerns itself with the “pure”, “original” and “factual” – essential qualities often regarded as the blueprint for the authentic. Ironically, in this bid to conserve, we often fail to ask ourselves, “What are we conserving?” and “Who determines what to conserve?”. We become so caught up in this relentless pursuit in preserving buildings that we lose sight of the intentions of doing so.
The thesis adopts a certain reaction towards these assumptions and attempts to rethink the value system that drives this notion of authenticity. Rather than prioritising the architectural, it now seeks to foreground the social. In response to the questions raised, it strives to spatialise past experiences and idiosyncrasies through micronarratives and seeks to undermine the top-down intercession of the state in deciding what to conserve by embracing the polyvocality of society through micronarratives, shortlisted through a lottery system.
KOOZ What stance does the project take in relation to the very act of preservation?
LKX Architectural preservation, beyond just an intervention that reinforces material, structural and historical integrity, is more importantly a representation of our values today through the re- fabrication of the past. Framed as an inquiry into the values of post-independence Singapore, the thesis seeks to question the underlying agenda of the state behind its advocacy of architectural preservation, a notable contradiction to its enduring mantra of “unsentimental pragmatism”.
The preservation of “architectural gates” in Singapore – Nantah University, Old National Library, Bukit Brown Cemetery and just recently Maris Stella High School – is a case in point, revealing that behind the façade of architectural preservation sometimes lies a superficial gesture of tokenism. In such instances, architectural elements are simply retained as a gesture of public placation, covertly paving way for unimpeded demolition and subsequent redevelopment.
I believe that we should adopt a critical posture towards architectural preservation and recognise that the matter of concern lies in why we conserve, rather than what we conserve.
KOOZ How does the project approach the role and power of the narrative?
LKX In post-independence Singapore, authorship of history has always been demanded by the state through their metanarratives. This superficial acknowledgement of the past reduces it to a very narrow band of what truly constitutes history.
I believe that the construction of history should be performed instead through a polyvocal mode of narration, giving rise to the diverse voices through multiple narrators. Recognising that perception- free history does not exist, the thesis strives to propose an alternative approach to historiography, by placing resolute emphasis on subjectivity through micronarratives. Anecdotal and driven by individual lived experiences, the thesis believes that no one micronarrative should be privileged over another. Micronarratives are distinctive and idiosyncratic in their own ways, enabling us to recreate a richer and more representative version of history that speaks not only of the good, but also the mundane, the unpleasant and the everyday.
KOOZ What role does the archive play and how is this reimagined as an active and evolving entity?
LKX Archives tend to pride themselves on their comprehensiveness, as they attempt to retain as much of history as possible. Each archive has its own curatorial statement that informs the framework and approach governing the collection and organisation of elements. For better or worse, the curation process is inevitably mediated and non-neutral by nature; as we document, we impose our biases.
The archive and its curator therefore play a pivotal role in recognising the inherent mediation in the process of gathering elements while understanding the potential values it can bring to the archive.
In the case of the Archive of Architectural Ghosts, I took on the role of the mediator as I began to gather and interpret a series of micronarratives that concerned architectural ghosts, while simultaneously being aware of the biases I was imposing as I was spatialising them. Interpretation was no longer about the reproduction of formal aspects but instead, staying true to the descriptive texts of the micronarratives. Besides gathering and interpreting, the archive also concerns itself with the organisational framework that makes sense of the gathered elements as a collective. The archive distinguishes the two classifications of architectural ghosts – buildings that have been demolished and buildings that have been confirmed to soon to be demolished – through a brutal cut into the archive, its central aisle. This cut signifies the beginning of the archive and more importantly its adoption of a new value system, a turning point in the history of conservation.
From this beginning, the growth of the Archive is twofold. On one side it is catching up with the present by collecting actual fragments and on the other, simultaneously growing into history by reconstituting fragments that no longer exist. Over time, more architectural ghosts get resurrected at the archive as the built environment on mainland continues to be obliterated in the name of progress and development.
I believe that we should adopt a critical posture towards architectural preservation and recognize that the matter of concern lies in why we conserve, rather than what we conserve.
KOOZ What is the power of the architectural imagination?
LKX Architectural imagination is an innate ability of us sentient beings to interpret the unknown based on our biases, emotions and values, freeing us from the realm of the “objective” and “factual”. History is never objective because we who interpret are human. We feel; we impose our biases, emotions and values as we read into the past, enabling us to derive a multiplicity of interpretations from a single source or entity.
I see the archive as an aspiration rather than a recollection, effected by the anticipation of collective memory. Its value lies in the uses we make of it, rather than what it contains. The fragments within it are by no means a singular expression of history and they most definitely cannot capture the past in its entirety. Leaving them to the work of one’s imagination, they become a palimpsest that enables a perpetual overlaying of re-interpretations upon old interpretations.
Bio
Kai Xiang recently completed his Master of Architecture degree at the National University of Singapore. As a designer, he sees architecture as a form of reflective practice; a lifelong process of questioning, challenging and discovery. He believes that every design opportunity begins by asking the right questions motivated by one’s values and aspirations for the community, as a way to reveal the underlying assumptions that prevail.
