Marine Parade Community Building
Encyclopedia
Marine Parade Community Building is a commercial
and community
building located at the corner of the junction of Marine Parade Road and Still Road South, in Marine Parade
of Singapore
. The community building currently houses a community club
, a public library
and a performing arts
group.
when Marine Parade Housing Estate was developed in the 1970s. The site was first occupied by the Marine Parade Community Centre (later renamed to Marine Parade Community Club) built in the early 1980s.
In March 1995, the People's Association
(PA) announced plans to upgrade 54 community centre
s and clubs that were more than ten years old, at a total cost of S$
9.56 million. The plan was to make community centres more user-friendly, with open concept offices and reception areas. Facilities like lift
s, dance studio
s, karaoke
rooms and multi-purpose air-conditioned
activities rooms would be added.
In June 1995, then-Prime Minister
Goh Chok Tong
asked PA to study the idea of combining community centres with other purposes. The community centres could share their premises with other civil users such as libraries, government offices and commercial developments. Goh, who is also a Member of Parliament
for Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency
, suggested exploring the idea of combining the Marine Parade Community Club, which was slated for upgrading, with the National Library
branch in Marine Parade. The new building could have six storeys, with the library and community club taking up three floors each.
In June 1996, Wong Kan Seng
, PA's deputy chairman, announced that eight community centres that would be redeveloped would be located with community libraries, day-care centres for children, senior citizen
s and the disabled, multi-storey carparks or other organisations, due to the scarcity of land in Singapore. These included Marine Parade Community Club.
As 30% of the upgrading cost had to be paid by the community club, Marine Parade Community Club carried out several fundraising activities for the club's redevelopment. These activities, which included music concerts, golf tournaments and cyclethon
s, raised a total of S$6 million.
The old Marine Parade Community Club building was demolished in 1997 and construction of the Marine Parade Community Building began the same year. SAL Construction was the project's main contractor
. Built at a cost of S$30 million, the new building was completed in January 2000, and was open to the public on 6 March 2000. It was officially opened by Goh Chok Tong on 28 May 2000.
The Marine Parade Community Building currently houses the Marine Parade Community Club, the Marine Parade Community Library and a professional theatre company, The Necessary Stage
. It also originally had an al fresco
Starbucks
café on the ground floor.
nasium overlooking part of the East Coast Parkway
, a covered basketball court
on the rooftop and an air-conditioned sports hall. There are also a 263-seat theatrette, a roof terrace for gatherings, and music, study and activity rooms.
Opened on 10 November 1978, the Marine Parade Community Library was originally located at the town centre of Marine Parade Housing Estate before it shifted to its new premises at the community building. The library is Singapore's second-oldest community library and the only one built on reclaimed land. It started moving in stages to the community building in April 2000, and was officially opened by Goh Chok Tong on May 28, 2000. The Marine Parade Community Library is the first public library in Singapore to be housed together with a community club and an arts group. The library's old premises was renovated for an NTUC FairPrice
supermarket.
The library is spread over four floors of the Marine Parade Community Building, with a floor area of 3,500 square metres (37,675 square feet). As one of the first neighbourhood libraries, the library's entire second floor is its children's book section, featuring mural
s, trivia
and multimedia tools. The library has more than 150,000 books and 2,500 videos available for loan. There is a café on the ground floor, and the library is fitted with numerous couches and benches for the public's use. Other facilities include multimedia stations, DIY service stations, and music posts equipped with headphones.
was the first arts group to be housed in a community building with a community club by Singapore's National Arts Council
(NAC). The move was part of the NAC's Arts Housing Scheme that offered alternative locations to arts groups besides old vacant buildings, in line with PA's plan to repackage its community clubs as fashionable multi-purpose spaces. The Necessary Stage's 672-square metre (7,467 square feet) premises at the basement of the community building was about three times the size of its old premises at Cairnhill Arts Centre, which did not have a proper theatre space for productions. The arts group's facility at the community building features a "Black Box", a stage
-less theatre with flexible seating. The NAC spent S$2.1 million on construction costs for the unit at Marine Parade, which includes a foyer
and the 120-seat Black Box.
blocks of the Marine Parade Housing Estate, the Marine Parade Community Building could be seen as an attempt to engage the wider community. The activities of the community building were planned to overlap and to coalesce, as a one-stop destination for the entire family. The rich congruence of the multiple programmes for the building is expressed architecturally as a collage of diverse elements. The building was designed by a local architectural firm
, William Lim Associates, which adopted a postmodern
pluralist approach, expressed through a multiplicity of materials and forms.
The community building is clad
in a huge wall mural
, a commissioned work of art by Thai
architect Surachai Yeamsiri. The mural is Singapore's largest piece of installation art
, measuring 63 metres by 12 metres (207 feet by 39 feet), and covers the curved north- and east-facing façade
of the community building.
Surachai's abstract
piece was the winner in the "Art on Wall" design competition, organised by the Marine Parade Community Club Management Committee in 1998. A panel of international judges picked the winning design from a total of 66 entries submitted by artists, architects and designers from all over ASEAN, including 40 entries from Singapore. Led by local art historian T. K. Sabapathy, the panel felt that the winning entry best reflected the contest's theme — dynamism
, interaction, fusion and harmony
. The mural was installed on the curved facade of the community building at a cost of S$50,000.
Called the "Texturefulness of Life", the artwork made use of a variety of materials such as glass and wood. The artwork's centrepiece resembles a huge human eye
plastered on a wall, made up of tiny mosaic
tiles arranged by computer-aided design
.
.
The community building's roof resembles the leaves of a palm tree, and covers the community club's rooftop basketball court. The court's location on the roof level was a departure from the norm, as in other community centres then, the basketball court occupies space on the ground floor.
", with the roof as a crest and the artwork as the eye of the dragon. The horizontal louvre
s on the library block was seen as the tail fins of the dragon, an auspicious beast in Chinese culture.
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
and community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
building located at the corner of the junction of Marine Parade Road and Still Road South, in Marine Parade
Marine Parade
Marine Parade is a town and an urban planning area in Singapore directly to the east of the Central Area, Singapore's central business district.-Location:...
of Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. The community building currently houses a community club
Community centre
Community centres or community centers or jumping recreation centers are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole community or for a specialised group within...
, a public library
Public library
A public library is a library that is accessible by the public and is generally funded from public sources and operated by civil servants. There are five fundamental characteristics shared by public libraries...
and a performing arts
Performing arts
The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...
group.
History
The current building sits on land which was reclaimedLand reclamation
Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, is the process to create new land from sea or riverbeds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamation ground or landfill.- Habitation :...
when Marine Parade Housing Estate was developed in the 1970s. The site was first occupied by the Marine Parade Community Centre (later renamed to Marine Parade Community Club) built in the early 1980s.
In March 1995, the People's Association
People's Association
The People’s Association was established in Singapore as a statutory board on 1 July 1960 to promote racial harmony and social cohesion. PA commemorated its 50th Anniversary in 2010....
(PA) announced plans to upgrade 54 community centre
Community centre
Community centres or community centers or jumping recreation centers are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole community or for a specialised group within...
s and clubs that were more than ten years old, at a total cost of S$
Singapore dollar
The Singapore dollar or Dollar is the official currency of Singapore. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or alternatively S$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
9.56 million. The plan was to make community centres more user-friendly, with open concept offices and reception areas. Facilities like lift
Elevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
s, dance studio
Dance studio
A dance studio is a space in which dancers learn or rehearse. The term is typically used to describe a space that has either been built or equipped for the purpose....
s, karaoke
Karaoke
is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music using a microphone and public address system. The music is typically a well-known pop song minus the lead vocal. Lyrics are usually displayed on a video screen, along with a moving symbol,...
rooms and multi-purpose air-conditioned
Air conditioning
An air conditioner is a home appliance, system, or mechanism designed to dehumidify and extract heat from an area. The cooling is done using a simple refrigeration cycle...
activities rooms would be added.
In June 1995, then-Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Singapore
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore is the head of the government of the Republic of Singapore. The President of Singapore appoints as Prime Minister a Member of Parliament who, in his opinion, is most likely to command the confidence of a majority of MPs.The office of Prime Minister...
Goh Chok Tong
Goh Chok Tong
Goh Chok Tong is the Senior Minister of Singapore and the chairman of the central bank of Singapore, the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He also served as the second Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore from 28 November 1990 to 12 August 2004, succeeding Lee Kuan Yew, the former Prime...
asked PA to study the idea of combining community centres with other purposes. The community centres could share their premises with other civil users such as libraries, government offices and commercial developments. Goh, who is also a Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency
Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency
Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency is a six-member Group Representation Constituency located in the central, eastern and north-eastern areas of Singapore. The constituency consists of a section of Bedok, Chai Chee, Geylang, Kaki Bukit, Kallang, Kembangan, Marine Parade, Mountbatten,...
, suggested exploring the idea of combining the Marine Parade Community Club, which was slated for upgrading, with the National Library
National Library Board
The National Library Board is a statutory board of the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, Singapore...
branch in Marine Parade. The new building could have six storeys, with the library and community club taking up three floors each.
In June 1996, Wong Kan Seng
Wong Kan Seng
Wong Kan Seng is a politician from Singapore. A member of the governing People's Action Party , he served as the country's Deputy Prime Minister from 2005 to 2011...
, PA's deputy chairman, announced that eight community centres that would be redeveloped would be located with community libraries, day-care centres for children, senior citizen
Senior citizen
Senior citizen is a common polite designation for an elderly person in both UK and US English, and it implies or means that the person is retired. This in turn implies or in fact means that the person is over the retirement age, which varies according to country. Synonyms include pensioner in UK...
s and the disabled, multi-storey carparks or other organisations, due to the scarcity of land in Singapore. These included Marine Parade Community Club.
As 30% of the upgrading cost had to be paid by the community club, Marine Parade Community Club carried out several fundraising activities for the club's redevelopment. These activities, which included music concerts, golf tournaments and cyclethon
Cycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
s, raised a total of S$6 million.
The old Marine Parade Community Club building was demolished in 1997 and construction of the Marine Parade Community Building began the same year. SAL Construction was the project's main contractor
General contractor
A general contractor is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and communication of information to involved parties throughout the course of a building project.-Description:...
. Built at a cost of S$30 million, the new building was completed in January 2000, and was open to the public on 6 March 2000. It was officially opened by Goh Chok Tong on 28 May 2000.
Facilities
The Necessary Stage
The Necessary Stage is a non-profit theatre company with charity status in Singapore. Formed in 1987 by current Artistic Director Alvin Tan, The Necessary Stage has been identified as one of the Major Arts Companies by the National Arts Council. The company is also the organiser and curator of the...
. It also originally had an al fresco
Al fresco dining
Al Fresco dining is eating outside . In temperate climates it is especially popular in the summer months when temperatures and weather are most favorable. It is a style of dining that is casual and often party-like in its atmosphere...
Starbucks
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
café on the ground floor.
Marine Parade Community Club
Opened on 6 March 2000, the Marine Parade Community Club is equipped with a glass-walled gymGym
The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, that mean a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men...
nasium overlooking part of the East Coast Parkway
East Coast Parkway
The East Coast Parkway is an expressway that runs along the southeastern coast of Singapore. The expressway is approximately in length, and connects Singapore Changi Airport in the east to the Benjamin Sheares Bridge in the south of the main island before it links with the Ayer Rajah Expressway...
, a covered basketball court
Basketball court
In basketball, the basketball court is the playing surface, consisting of a rectangular floor with tiles at either end. In professional or organized basketball, especially when played indoors, it is usually made out of a wood, often maple, and highly polished...
on the rooftop and an air-conditioned sports hall. There are also a 263-seat theatrette, a roof terrace for gatherings, and music, study and activity rooms.
Marine Parade Community Library
- Main article: Marine Parade Community Library
Opened on 10 November 1978, the Marine Parade Community Library was originally located at the town centre of Marine Parade Housing Estate before it shifted to its new premises at the community building. The library is Singapore's second-oldest community library and the only one built on reclaimed land. It started moving in stages to the community building in April 2000, and was officially opened by Goh Chok Tong on May 28, 2000. The Marine Parade Community Library is the first public library in Singapore to be housed together with a community club and an arts group. The library's old premises was renovated for an NTUC FairPrice
NTUC FairPrice
NTUC FairPrice Co-Operative is a supermarket chain based in Singapore and the largest in the country. The company is a co-operative of the National Trades Union Congress or NTUC. The group has 100 supermarkets across the island, with over 50 outlets of Cheers convenience stores island-wide...
supermarket.
The library is spread over four floors of the Marine Parade Community Building, with a floor area of 3,500 square metres (37,675 square feet). As one of the first neighbourhood libraries, the library's entire second floor is its children's book section, featuring mural
Mural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
s, trivia
Trivia
The trivia are the three lower Artes Liberales, i.e. grammar, rhetoric and logic. These were the topics of basic education, foundational to the quadrivia of higher education, and hence the material of basic education, of interest only to undergraduates...
and multimedia tools. The library has more than 150,000 books and 2,500 videos available for loan. There is a café on the ground floor, and the library is fitted with numerous couches and benches for the public's use. Other facilities include multimedia stations, DIY service stations, and music posts equipped with headphones.
The Necessary Stage
The Necessary StageThe Necessary Stage
The Necessary Stage is a non-profit theatre company with charity status in Singapore. Formed in 1987 by current Artistic Director Alvin Tan, The Necessary Stage has been identified as one of the Major Arts Companies by the National Arts Council. The company is also the organiser and curator of the...
was the first arts group to be housed in a community building with a community club by Singapore's National Arts Council
National Arts Council Singapore
The National Arts Council of Singapore was established in September 1991 "to nurture the arts and make it an integral part of life in Singapore.-History :...
(NAC). The move was part of the NAC's Arts Housing Scheme that offered alternative locations to arts groups besides old vacant buildings, in line with PA's plan to repackage its community clubs as fashionable multi-purpose spaces. The Necessary Stage's 672-square metre (7,467 square feet) premises at the basement of the community building was about three times the size of its old premises at Cairnhill Arts Centre, which did not have a proper theatre space for productions. The arts group's facility at the community building features a "Black Box", a stage
Stage (theatre)
In theatre or performance arts, the stage is a designated space for the performance productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a focal point for the members of the audience...
-less theatre with flexible seating. The NAC spent S$2.1 million on construction costs for the unit at Marine Parade, which includes a foyer
Foyer
A foyer or lobby is a large, vast room or complex of rooms adjacent to the auditorium...
and the 120-seat Black Box.
Design concept
Sited adjacent to Housing and Development Board apartmentApartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
blocks of the Marine Parade Housing Estate, the Marine Parade Community Building could be seen as an attempt to engage the wider community. The activities of the community building were planned to overlap and to coalesce, as a one-stop destination for the entire family. The rich congruence of the multiple programmes for the building is expressed architecturally as a collage of diverse elements. The building was designed by a local architectural firm
Architectural firm
An architectural firm is a company which employs one or more licensed architects and practices the profession of architecture.- History :Architects have existed since early in recorded history. The earliest recorded architects include Imhotep and Senemut . No writings exist to describe how these...
, William Lim Associates, which adopted a postmodern
Postmodern architecture
Postmodern architecture began as an international style the first examples of which are generally cited as being from the 1950s, but did not become a movement until the late 1970s and continues to influence present-day architecture...
pluralist approach, expressed through a multiplicity of materials and forms.
Wall mural
Cladding (construction)
Cladding is the application of one material over another to provide a skin or layer intended to control the infiltration of weather elements, or for aesthetic purposes....
in a huge wall mural
Mural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
, a commissioned work of art by Thai
Thai people
The Thai people, or Siamese, are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of...
architect Surachai Yeamsiri. The mural is Singapore's largest piece of installation art
Installation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
, measuring 63 metres by 12 metres (207 feet by 39 feet), and covers the curved north- and east-facing façade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
of the community building.
Surachai's abstract
Abstract art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...
piece was the winner in the "Art on Wall" design competition, organised by the Marine Parade Community Club Management Committee in 1998. A panel of international judges picked the winning design from a total of 66 entries submitted by artists, architects and designers from all over ASEAN, including 40 entries from Singapore. Led by local art historian T. K. Sabapathy, the panel felt that the winning entry best reflected the contest's theme — dynamism
Dynamism
Dynamism is a concept that has several meanings.*Dynamism , a cosmological explanation of the material world in the vein of process philosophy.*Dynamism , a Japanese retailer specializing in exports....
, interaction, fusion and harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
. The mural was installed on the curved facade of the community building at a cost of S$50,000.
Called the "Texturefulness of Life", the artwork made use of a variety of materials such as glass and wood. The artwork's centrepiece resembles a huge human eye
Human eye
The human eye is an organ which reacts to light for several purposes. As a conscious sense organ, the eye allows vision. Rod and cone cells in the retina allow conscious light perception and vision including color differentiation and the perception of depth...
plastered on a wall, made up of tiny mosaic
Mosaic
Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...
tiles arranged by computer-aided design
Computer-aided design
Computer-aided design , also known as computer-aided design and drafting , is the use of computer technology for the process of design and design-documentation. Computer Aided Drafting describes the process of drafting with a computer...
.
Other features
The library block is predominantly clad in glass, fitted with horizontal fins, on its frontage with the main road. The original alfresco Starbucks café has a street frontage, and is spread into the shared forecourtForecourt
In architecture a forecourt is an open area in front of a structure's entrance.In archaeology, forecourt is the name given to the area in front of certain types of chamber tomb...
.
The community building's roof resembles the leaves of a palm tree, and covers the community club's rooftop basketball court. The court's location on the roof level was a departure from the norm, as in other community centres then, the basketball court occupies space on the ground floor.
Architectural form
Overall, the architectural form of the Marine Parade Community Building has been described as a "dragonDragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
", with the roof as a crest and the artwork as the eye of the dragon. The horizontal louvre
Louver
A louver or louvre , from the French l'ouvert; "the open one") is a window, blind or shutter with horizontal slats that are angled to admit light and air, but to keep out rain, direct sunshine, and noise...
s on the library block was seen as the tail fins of the dragon, an auspicious beast in Chinese culture.