Hidden Katong
This project delves into the dynamic interplay between Katong’s back alleys and its main streets, aiming to highlight the critical, yet often overlooked, role of these alleys. We propose developing a co-living hub within these alleys to enhance this interaction, fostering a community that thrives in the spaces between the frontal opulence and the utilitarian rear of Katong, and emphasizing their symbiotic relationship.
Hidden behind the vibrant façade of Katong's Peranakan shophouses, a network of gritty back alleys unfolds—a stark contrast to the colourful storefronts. These alleys, primarily used by shopkeepers for loading and unloading goods and by residents as shortcuts, exude an unexpected charm. Their raw textures and the candid rhythm of daily commerce imbue them with an authentic, unpolished allure, complementing Katong's polished exterior.
Inspired by Seksan Design's Sekeping Kong Heng and Ryue Nishizawa's Moriyama House, the co-living hub features indistinct boundaries that blur indoor and outdoor living. Residents frequently transition between various programs, encouraging movement and interaction.
This design discards the traditional concept of a singular, consolidated living space. Instead, multiple small units scattered across the plot each serve different functions, encouraging community engagement and interaction. The project's design also allows for adaptability to different uses over time, offering the flexibility for the community to reconfigure the space according to evolving needs.
Read on to see my process.
Site Visits and Study
At the beginning of the studio, we made various visits to the location, walking the ground and interviewing locals and workers. While the site boasts a rich heritage and culture, it faces an onslaught of gentrification; cafes, restaurants, hotels and shops are slowly taking over the traditional eateries and food places.
Back alleys
Later, I took a deeper interest in the back alleys of Katong, realising that they are prevalent but completely overlooked in the landscape of Katong's shophouses.
Hidden behind the vibrant façade of Katong lies a network of uninviting, gritty back alleys. These passageways serve as a no-frills conduit for shopkeepers to load and unload their wares, a peaceful and undisturbed place for a break, and a shortcut for residents threading their way to various destinations.
Every day, a unique dance unfolds where workers engage with visitors and shoppers who drift in from the bustling main thoroughfares, while these workers find respite in the relative quiet of the back alleys.
Each shophouse has approximately 10m of spaces that serves as a back-of-house, typically used for storage, kitchen, or food preparation. The back alley that is approximately 4.5m wide, together with the back-of-house, would give us ample space to carry out some form of intervention.
Cross section of a shophouse along East Coast Road (left), concept visualization of what we could do with the spaces (right)
Case studies
Before moving further, I decided to look into existing precedents to study and determine an appropriate strategy for my project. The projects I looked at were Sekeping Kong Heng by Seksan Design and Moriyama House by Ryue Nishizawa.
Sekeping Kong Heng
Sekeping Kong Heng is a boutique hotel that is a part of a series of unique guesthouses designed and developed by Seksan Design. It’s unique features such as the semi-outdoor experience and distinctive room designs creates an immersive experience of staying in a piece of living history.
Moriyama House
Moriyama house is located in Ohta-ku, Tokyo. The project breaks away from traditional concepts of a single-family home. Instead, it consists of several separate units scattered across a small urban plot. These units vary in size and function, ranging from living spaces to a studio and a shop. The design reflects a radical rethinking of how spaces are defined and interact in a residential setting. The construction predominantly uses lightweight materials, including steel frames and large glass panels, which contribute to a sense of transparency and openness.
Sekeping Kong Heng by Seksan Design (left), Moriyama House by Ryue Nishizawa (right)
With the precedents studies, I derived 3 key focuses that my project should adopt. Blurred lines, fragmented living spaces, and flexibility.
Blurred lines
The medium that holds the project’s spaces should have indistinct boundaries, blurring the lines between indoor and outdoor living. Users likely must cross these lines often as they transit from one programme to another.
Fragmented living spaces
The traditional concept of a singular, consolidated living space is discarded. Multiple small units scattered across a plot, each serving different functions encourage movement within the space, and sparks interaction.
flexibility
The project should allow for adaptation to different uses over time. Versatility allows for flexibility of the community to reconfigure the space to their needs as they establish.
The co-living hub
With that established, I went into developing the concept of my project. As aforementioned, to accentuate the elements of the inherent candid rhythm in the back alleys, I decided to propose a co-living hub that sits within the back alleys of Katong, fostering a community that would dwell between the front and back of Katong.
A co-living hub is a residential concept designed to accommodate multiple residents in a shared living environment. It combines private living spaces and shared communal spaces, thus encouraging its residents to form a community and a sense of collaboration while providing convenience and affordability.
The strategy of the project involves three phases. Spatial reconfiguration, co-living, and adhoc expansion.
Spatial reconfiguration
To reconfigure the space, we first centralize the cooking, storage and distribution services to free up food preparation and food storage spaces in the shophouses. The economies of scale gained from agglomerating all food preparation work within proximity also means that it can serve more than the existing F&B establishments.
We perforate the back alley facing walls and the shophouse partitions where available to blur the lines between the interior and exterior spaces.
Co-living
We then populate the space with co-living units. Assuming individual ownership of the shophouses, the co-living units are populated largely within the grain of the parti walls, subjecting to the shophouse’s availability for intervention. Each unit is unconventionally small, fragmenting the living space. Residents are compelled to move about between units across programmes, sparking opportunity for social interaction.
Adhoc expansion
As the community grows, more units can be added. And as horizontal space diminishes, the units stack vertically, creating a three-dimensionality to the movement within the hub.
With more shophouses buying into the hub’s intervention, flexibility of expansion is facilitated. Configuration of the units adapts to the spatial constraints while simultaneously fitting the residents’ needs.
Kit of parts
The co-living space is made up of dwelling units, various living spaces, the centralized kitchen and distribution centre.
There are four types of living spaces that were designed, variations of a single room that increase in size, and a twin bedroom that can house a couple with a child or two individuals. As part of my intended design to create fragmented living spaces, I wanted to make the scale of these spaces miniscule compared to the conventional rooms that we are used to. This would mean that each individual space would be confined to it's intended purpose, and in this case, it's to sleep!
Maze
The fragmented arrangement of the living units and other programme spaces leaves a maze-like circulation as a byproduct. People weave in and out of these spaces, running into chance encounters and unexpected interactions.
Exclusive access
The access to the fronts and backs of shophouses are separated, creating an exclusive space within the back alley. However, at selected points, hidden or subtle interface between the front and back allows for convenience and shortcuts for the know-hows.
Partial ground floor (left) and second storey (right) plan of the co-living space
In conclusion
Katong’s rich and preserved culture and heritage offerings stands as its primary attraction. Yet the onslaught of gentrification demands a fresh perspective. The raw textures and grimy touch of the back alleys exudes an unexpected charm and presents a contrasting touch to the more polished frontage of the shophouses.
Our project seeks to build a co-living community on a specific back alley. However, the strategy could be adapted and expanded to other back alleys within Katong. With communities built upon the network of back alleys, we bring forth its undiscovered glamour and invent a new perspective while simultaneously enabling locals to enhance their livelihoods through their dynamic relationship between the front and back of the streets.
Special Thanks and credit
TEIK RONG: For the guidance and support as the studio's instructor.
JOSEPHINE: For assisting with illustrations and moral support.
ZULKHAIRIL & DAHLIA: For starring in the project's short film and assistance in its production.
infinite side-scrolling runner
infinite side-scrolling runner
