Architecture Student Eugene Tan Awarded Krob Architecture Delineation Award

Architecture student Eugene Tan took part in the 48th Ken Roberts Architectural Delineation competition and his drawing was selected as the winning entry in the student digital/ hybrid media category.

A link to the competition page is as follow: https://krobarch.com/winners

The drawing was made as part of the Year 4 Semester 2 Design Options studio, under the guidance of A/Prof Lilian Chee, Samuel Tan Yi-Ern, Wong Zi Hao and Anthea Phua.

“In Singapore, land is scarce and often seen as an economic resource. Due to their precision, Maps are effective in measuring the size of land – thus allowing planners to maximise land use. But this cartographic approach to surveying land often reduces it to a shape on paper; one that omits other information such as the history and narratives of the land.

This ideology is also why Kampong Lorong Buangkok, the “last kampong” (rural village) in Singapore, faces the threat of redevelopment as the authorities plan to convert the large site into a three-lane expressway. Having visited the kampong and spoke to the residents, I disagreed with the distant and simplified representation of it on maps.

Using the medieval mappamundi as a reference, I redrew the map as both a historic and geographical document, situating narratives in their geographical locations. As folktales inspire space and ways of living, narratives distort the land and space. By distorting the scale and grid, the map loses its measurability and objectivity, becoming a record of places, people and events; new opportunities for inhabitation are uncovered.” – Eugene Tan