A no-reservation, no-waiting list, walk-ins only, first-come-first-served bit of fun cutting off pre-stamped Freitag tarp at Kapok, National Design Centre. To ensure more people could enjoy the freebies, the woman-in-charge made a big deal of checking that each person only took away either a Merlion tag or a “F-aster Chope” tissue holder.
Then it was all-aboard the Design Trail 2015 shuttle bus that took us round to various open houses:
First stop, Basheer Graphic Books (Blk 231 Bain Street, #04-19, facebook) at Bras Basah, where a talk was going on and the logistics uncle was making teh tarik:
Next stop, Park + Associates Architects:
I really liked the little plant-covered house-office in one corner of the open-plan work area:
Chatted about one of their current projects: a new black-and-white bungalow(s) project for a man and his family. This brought us to the question: makes a colonial bungalow so easily recognisable as such? The colours of course, but also the shuttered windows, the pillars, and the verandas (but not those roof-top spaces seen in this model).
And because it started to rain quite heavily, the final stop of the day was Matter HQ (145 Neil Road). The restored shophouse we heard so much about at the Appreciating Architecture talk at SingaPlural 2015.
The shade of blue on the front facade was positively delightful:
And it was great to actually experience the interior after seeing all those slides a week ago – current use is both commercial-retail and residential:
Patterned dhotis, harem pants, cloth:
And Fictive Fingers (facebook) had laid out some eraser stamps for us to play with:
All-in-all, an enjoyable opportunity to experience the sort of “creative” work that is going on in Singapore.
