Singapore's Architecture
Our lesson for this week was about Singapore's architecture. We were again separated into a new groups. The task was to take pictures of buildings or furniture which could be found nearby NAFA Campus and then we were supposed to talk and share about their architecture to the class. My group decided to choose Singapore Arts Museum because we found that its architecture was very interesting.
Singapore Arts Museum was formerly St Joseph's Institution. It was first established as a boys' school in 1867. This explains why the museum has a classical style reminiscent of the European Renaissance as it was built in the mid-19th century. The building captures our attention as it looks like European castle. It is refreshing to see such an old classical building in this modern era, especially in a metropolitan country like Singapore.
The museum's building is decorated with beautiful tall columns which have captivating Rosette design on them. Rosette design is derived from the natural shape of the botanical rosette, flower and plant. It commonly serves as a decorative ornaments for architecture and furniture found in European Renaissance era. I think that this building looks antique due to its pillars and the rosette design on them.
The museum has a very interesting traditional air ventilation. It possesses a primitive sense to it due to its pattern. It seems like the crafted motifs of the air ventilation are inspired from the shape of a four-leaf clover. In the modern world, this type of air ventilation is rare to be found. I am glad that this building preserves it.
The museum has many different patterns of floor tiles. Different rooms have different motifs of tiles. I think that it is a good idea to have various patterns of tiles for different rooms as it will bring vibrancy to the building, preventing a boring look. I find out that the floor tiles are Moroccan ceramic tiles. Moroccan ceramic tiles use triangles, squares, rectangles, diamonds, hexagons and octagons, to form elaborate and colourful patterns. By using Moroccan ceramic tiles, it gives a vintage look to the building.
When we were exploring the building, we could find the lamps all around the compound. The lamp is so beautifully designed. When I look at it, it gives a very European look. The two light bulbs in the interior part of the lamp resemble the shape of ancient candle and its holder as seen in the below pictures.
I think, in the past, instead of using light bulbs, it used to put candles in the interior part of the lamp. Over time, the building tries to adapt to the modern world and hence it uses ancient-candle-inspired light bulb for the lamp to maintain the European look.
As we were heading back to NAFA, this uniquely designed chair, which located around the museum compound, attracted my attention. it is not ordinary as it has different design as compared to the usual design of what chair is supposed to be. In my opinion, this chair is inspired from the shape of unstill water surface. It may not be comfortable to sit on it as it has no back rest. However, it is richly designed with its simple look.
In conclusion, many buildings and furniture around us are actually inspired from something. "There is nothing new under the sun". So as a designer, we have to be smartly creative.
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