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Design Competition - Place of Worship

Our proposal for the this Place of Worship is conceived as not only a religious centre to serve the membership in the north-eastern region of Singapore, but also as a public space that provides the community with a new social and communal space.

Public spaces have been long proven to positively contribute to the liveability and the building of stronger identities of communities. In Singapore, there is a slow shift towards providing privately-owned public spaces for the community’s enjoyment. We felt the project would be a great opportunity to contribute to this discourse as a gesture of inclusivity and community participation.

Architecturally, the conventional religious building typology is typically conceived as a single large mass that turns away from the street; often inwards-looking. The result often exudes a harsh sense of formality and rigidity that reaffirms the longstanding notion of the house of religion as a place of exclusivity, and as a result, rejects curiosity.

In the shifting role of organised religion in today’s society, we felt it imperative that the project challenges this convention, and that religious buildings should be socially inclusive and relatable - one that invites and celebrates curiosity.

Our proposal hopes to achieve this by breaking up the singular mass typology, and thus avoiding a monumental and imposing building that would upset the streetscape. Instead of signifying itself as a private, religious building, our proposal strives for the centre to be very much part of the surrounding and community it is in. By disassembling the traditional religious architecture typology, our proposal comprises of smaller grain, interconnected blocks that opens up to the street and the public, ultimately forming an interdependent relationship between building and community.

Project Year | Competition Entry 2019

Our proposal for the this Place of Worship is conceived as not only a religious centre to serve the membership in the north-eastern region of Singapore, but also as a public space that provides the community with a new social and communal space.

Public spaces have been long proven to positively contribute to the liveability and the building of stronger identities of communities. In Singapore, there is a slow shift towards providing privately-owned public spaces for the community’s enjoyment. We felt the project would be a great opportunity to contribute to this discourse as a gesture of inclusivity and community participation.

Architecturally, the conventional religious building typology is typically conceived as a single large mass that turns away from the street; often inwards-looking. The result often exudes a harsh sense of formality and rigidity that reaffirms the longstanding notion of the house of religion as a place of exclusivity, and as a result, rejects curiosity.

In the shifting role of organised religion in today’s society, we felt it imperative that the project challenges this convention, and that religious buildings should be socially inclusive and relatable - one that invites and celebrates curiosity.

Our proposal hopes to achieve this by breaking up the singular mass typology, and thus avoiding a monumental and imposing building that would upset the streetscape. Instead of signifying itself as a private, religious building, our proposal strives for the centre to be very much part of the surrounding and community it is in. By disassembling the traditional religious architecture typology, our proposal comprises of smaller grain, interconnected blocks that opens up to the street and the public, ultimately forming an interdependent relationship between building and community.