This is a co-living project for 2 vastly different communities – Foreign Migrant Workers and Local Food Market Vendors in Singapore. It utilizes the contrast between the culturally entrenched Food Market run by locals staying within the project and the culturally foreign and isolated Foreign Worker to encourage the public to visit and overcome their prejudice through interaction with the latter to overcome xenophobia and racism that stems from cross cultural misunderstanding.
It also improves the dismal living conditions of the Foreign Workers that has been exacerbated by COVID-19 where 10-20 men are crammed into small quarters in dormitories that are isolated from locals which breeds further misunderstanding. Foreign Workers will instead be grouped with local food vendors to stay in 4-bedroom units to ease them into interacting with other locals that they come across in the market on the ground storey. It also takes into consideration food vendors with children with the integration of 2-bedroom units. The presence of children also alleviates the homesickness of these Migrant Workers who usually leave behind their families to work in Singapore. Children also tend to be more colourblind and will feel less apprehensive approaching the Migrant Workers.
The project is situated in Little India, an area popular with both locals and Migrant Workers. It is also located along the location of the Little India Riots – where tension and anger of the mistreated migrant workers exploded. The project now symbolically gestures towards a new future where Migrant Workers are now respected.
Inspired by passive cooling strategies of vernacular architecture in Southeast Asia, the building takes a strong stance on Singapore’s overreliance on air-conditioning. Through removing the need for air-conditioning and relying on sun-shading and ample ventilation, it keeps cost down. Large, open community spaces have an abundance of trees to provide shading to allow children to play and support existing social patterns of both groups.
Comments