DEMOCRATIC INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPE
TEAM: Audrey Chin – Kang Jie RiverLaw – Singaporean – Singapore University of Technology and Design
Rethinking the 20th Century Industrial Park Typology
Site: Singapore Science Park
The democratic industrial landscape proposes an urban intervention to reinvent the 20th century suburban business park. This typology is characterized by the distribution of a generic low-rise factory or office building, partitioned by natural landscape and a central road. This fragmented public ground plane undermines the founding principle of the Park to foster a community of like-minded innovators. Looking to increase the intensity of research and innovation, specific nodes are introduced along the central road spine to connect adjacent buildings. Additionally, the communal intervention seeks to introduce start up firms by eliminating the barriers to entry to the innovation industry. This socially democratic ecosystem is conceived based on the triple objectives of creating opportunities, affording privacy and building community. This helps build an interactive social space organized by layers; the ground floor is the social layer where exchanges are fostered, the first level is the work layer that connects existing offices and the new development, as well as a transitional boardwalk that acts as a privacy buffer and informal interaction space, the top level provides private spaces of respite through the use of landscaped roofs.