Thursday 25 September 2008

TAIPING MARKET SITE (discussion)

This well deserves its 13 point DD (Degree of Difficulty). As Ed mentioned yesterday (lunchtime) it requires an ingenious solution, as it may well turn out to be a red herring (a non-site, for being so enormously difficult a design problem to be a site).

The challenge, nevertheless, remains; and Taiping Market is worth exploring for its full potential. Your recorded design exploration should form part of your final presentation.

More importantly, the process will sharpen your skill and your understanding of the design project and almost certainly will make your selection and development of the (next) appropriate site a breeze (susupsuey).

But I think you need to run that process quickly. Hence, it would be good if those tackling this site lay it all out, discuss and share your thots, for some kind of composite conclusion. Better discuss before we hit Egypt, as I'll be quite likely out of reach for those 7 days. I mean start talking NOW.

5 comments:

ian ng said...

It's worth learning from the lessons of Covent Garden, London (http://www.coventgardenlife.com/info/history.htm)and our own Central Market.

KS said...

yeah...
the range of approaches grew bigger&bigger along the discussion yesterday noon, ian even suggested moving away BOTH market buildings(including the market business activities, i think), so as to cater for my proposal..
However, mayb u're biting own tongue suggesting this to me? Same intention of urs suggesting vy & lyd to build beside their respective commemorative places, I believe it's a must tat I maintain the adjacency & close relationship between my building n the market life I'm commemorating..
They can't possibly just go somewhere else.

KS said...

n..bout my proposal of demolition, the 2 (uploaded) imgs more or less can explain such thought. The blue 1 is d same market some years ago (duno when,duno how long it'd been lik tat),duno if d municipality repainted it,replaced it or what. But 1 thing 4sure is tat d building's signature colour (primary impression) on its envolope hadn't been constant thru time ("to be proved"), what we're seeing today isn't exactly wat they saw in d olden days. Thus d building-envelope element itself literally contributed to the memory-of-place not as much as we've thought.
So why shudnt we get rid of it and try exploit to the max d contemporary potential of other 'true-er' elements in d building(meaning my scheme la...lol)?

ian ng said...

interesting thots..

1. The fact that building owners tinker with and dress their precious buildings over time does not mean that the building therefore loses their intrinsic architectural and heritage value, which means it's not good enough a reason to "get rid of it". And in fact the tinkering actually gives it an interesting life history which the visitor centre can use as diplay content.

2. We're in the early stage of generating wide and creative ideas and this often means 'brief expansion' as we try to optimise and understand the brief in depth to get the max out of it. The idea of creating a public square/plaza--a mini tianamem--was an interesting idea, something that would add heaps to Taiping. But u would have to ask yourself,
'At what cost?'
'What's got to go to achieve that?'
'Is that justified?'
'Can we relocate one market building to do that?'
'Can we relocate one and leave its partner behind?'
'Can we afford to lose the adjacency of the market buildings to their neighbouring buildings which is so etched onto the collective memory of Taiping?'
'Is the value of the market buildings in the structure alone or in the conversation it conducts unceasingly with its surroundings to give us a sense of the spirit of the place?'
'Is it possible to have both--the buildings in place and a new square, or, and a new continuity of the boulevard?'

3. The idea of the continuity of the boulevard is a foreign townplanning idea. Originally, without many buildings around, the boulevard was just a horse carriage track leading to the market. (I think.)

4. Most visitors' centres support the thing to be visited, they don't replace the thing itself. Check out Fountains Abbey Visitor Centre. http://www.fountainsabbey.org.uk/html/visiting/what-to-see/visitor-centre/

Let's hear it from the rest of you!

KS said...

waa so many things more to think n justify, no wonder dd13 lol..
my brain doesnt act fast, so, wait.....