Seminar on ConservationFriday, 7 November 2014, 2:30pm - 5pmThe URA Centre, Function Hall Level 545 Maxwell Road, Singapore 069118

CAN BUILDINGS TALK?YES, THEY CAN.

Target ParticipantsThe seminar is directed at professionals in the closely affiliated architectural industry, teachers, academics and students involved in architectural education as well as members of the public who are interested in conservation.

The conservation of our built heritage in Singapore is a testament to our rich architectural, historical, social and cultural heritage. Protected as part of URA’s planning approach, these buildings and areas add to the distinctive character and identity of our city, but more importantly, they provide a sense of history and memory even as we move into the future.

Heritage buildings are the human touch of our city. Behind every detail is the story of someone who once gave their best to create something that was to last into the future. If they can talk, they can share with you their life stories - for they are the products of numerous craftsmen, artisans as well as architectural, building and conservation professionals. They stand proud today as “Singapore’s architectural treasures” to be handed over to the future because they have been lovingly restored by a new generation of owners and champions.

A key factor for their long-term wellbeing lies in the careful thinking, decision and restoration process between the owners, planners and professionals, to retain a sense of originality, authenticity and heritage values. Through this process, their stories and meaning are also kept and transmitted to the next generations.

This seminar is an opportunity for the buildings to “talk” through the voices of the various stakeholders involved in their restoration.

Jointly organised by NUS Department of Architecture & Urban Redevelopment Authority URA Speakers Series

2:30 pm Pre- registration

2:45 pm Welcome by Emcee and Sharing on Conservation Portal

2:55 pm The Past is in the Present: Technical Perspectives in the Case-study of Wak Hai Cheng Bio

(Yueh Hai Ching Temple) Dr Yeo Kang Shua

Assistant Professor Architecture and Sustainable Design Singapore University of Technology and Design

3:15 pm 145 Neil Road, A Home of Story & Soul Mr Mark Wee Director, Experience Design studio, ONG&ONG

3:35 pm If these walls could talk: Architecture in a cultural landscape approach to place histories Dr Imran bin Tajudeen Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture National University of Singapore

3:55 pm Q&A Session Moderated by Assoc Prof Wong Yunn Chii Head, Department of Architecture, NUS & Mr Kelvin Ang Director, Conservation Management, URA

5:00 pm End of Event

145 Neil Road

Yueh Hai Ching Temple

RegistrationAdmission is FREE. However, advance registration is required and will close on 6 Nov 2014. For more details and to register, please click on this link:http://www.arch.nus.edu.sg/seminar/registration.aspxIf you have any query, please call Ms Tan Liu Hu (NUS) at 65165186.

CPD AccreditationThis seminar is accredited 4 points under the BOA-SIA Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Programme. CPD points will only be given out at the end of the seminar.

JOINT NUS DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE – URA SEMINAR ON CONSERVATION FRIDAY, 7 NOVEMBER 2014, 2:30 – 5:00 PM THE URA CENTRE FUNCTION HALL LEVEL 5 45 MAXWELL ROAD, SINGAPORE 069118 THEME: CAN BUILDINGS TALK? YES, THEY CAN. The conservation of our built heritage in Singapore is a testament to our rich architectural, historical, social and cultural heritage. Protected as part of URA’s planning approach, these buildings and areas add to the distinctive character and identity of our city, but more importantly, they provide a sense of history and memory even as we move into the future. Heritage buildings are the human touch of our city. Behind every detail is the story of someone who once gave their best to create something that was to last into the future. If they can talk, they can share with you their life stories - for they are the products of numerous craftsmen, artisans as well as architectural, building and conservation professionals. They stand proud today as “Singapore’s architectural treasures” to be handed over to the future because they have been lovingly restored by a new generation of owners and champions. A key factor for their long-term wellbeing lies in the careful thinking, decision and restoration process between the owners, planners and professionals, to retain a sense of originality, authenticity and heritage values. Through this process, their stories and meaning are also kept and transmitted to the next generations. This seminar is an opportunity for the buildings to “talk” through the voices of the various stakeholders involved in their restoration. MODERATORS Dr Wong Yunn Chii is the Head of the Department of Architecture at the National University of Singapore. A graduate of MIT-Cambridge, Massachusetts, he teaches architectural design and lectures on architectural history/theory. His on-going researches and writings deal primarily with the contemporary architecture of Singapore and the history of modern architecture. He has curated the 2004 Venice Biennale and several URA Exhibitions as well as edited a number of architectural publications. Mr Kelvin Ang Kah Eng is the Director of Conservation Management Department with the Urban Redevelopment Authority. A graduate of the University College London, he started his career as an Architect with URA in 1999 in Urban Design and since late 2000, he has handled many research and planning studies. His work now focuses on the equally important field of public education to promote the awareness and appreciation of conserved buildings and conservation issues to both the profession and the general public.

SPEAKER 1 - PEN SKETCH CURRICULUM VITAE

Dr Yeo Kang Shua is the Assistant Professor at the Architecture and Sustainable Design Pillar (ASD) and holds the career chair of Hokkien Huay Kuan Endowed Professorship (Architectural Conservation) at the Singapore University of Technology and Design. A graduate of the National University of Singapore, he has worked on many conservation projects including the Hong San See and Yueh Hai Ching Temple, both UNESCO Award winners, and has also been part of the team in several archaeological projects in Singapore. Dr Yeo is also the Honorary Secretary of the Singapore Heritage Society, one of the founding Directors of International Council of Monuments and Sites, Singapore Chapter (ICOMOS Sg) and a Principal partner of Laborans, a Singapore-based multi-disciplinary material culture consultancy which offers its services in architectural conservation, material conservation, historical research and culture resource management. Abstract of Talk “The Past is in the Present: Technical Perspectives in the Case-study of Wak Hai Cheng Bio (Yueh Hai Ching Temple)” Singapore’s oldest and most significant Teochew temple, Wak Hai Cheng Bio (Yueh Hai Ching Temple) recently completed its comprehensive restoration that commenced in 2011. Such restorations are necessary in order to prolong the life of the structure and in this case, enabling the temple to continue its role as a religious site and a heritage beacon. Its rich social history and architecture enrich, yet contribute to the complexities of the restoration project. With the pre-restoration work starting earlier in 2009, the five-year long project was met with many challenges that demanded multi-disciplinary approach in the restoration. This presentation attempts to shed light on some of the complexities encountered during the restoration of temple through an overview of its historical developments and general conservation approaches with specific examples.

SPEAKER 2 - PEN SKETCH CURRICULUM VITAE

Mr Mark Wee is the Director of the ONG&ONG’s Experience Design studio which provides a collective integrated expertise in architecture, interior design, brand creation, communication design, product design, film & story, workplace strategy, and change & transformation, framed by a design thinking approach centred on understanding human motivation and behaviour. The studio has designed innovative experiences for both the public & private sector like the OCBC’s award winning Gen-Y bank Frank, HDB’s Branch Office of the Future at Punggol, Sentosa’s Post of Lost Wonder (POLW) family attraction, and the Singapore Airline’s new Silverkris Lounges’ ‘Home Away From Home’ concept world wide, and SaladStop’s new Eat Wide Awake experience. Mr Wee has also won several design awards such as the President’s Design Award, the URA Heritage Award, the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) Design Award, and the Interior Design Confederation (Singapore) Colour Award. He is an SIA Council Member and was Chairman of the Architectural League, a new initiative to serve the needs of the younger architectural community and dedicated to identifying future leaders of the profession from 2010-2012. In 2012, he chaired the SIA Archifest where he led the change from a festival format to one that was more community focused and celebrates the city. Abstract Of Talk “145 Neil Road, A Home Of Story & Soul” The talk will focus on the design journey and collaborative process between client, owner, and builder, that led to a unique approach to conservation that valued not just historical preservation, but also how the owner’s aspirations and personality was able to be expressed as a personal story and narrative in the architecture of the place.

SPEAKER 3- PEN SKETCH CURRICULUM VITAE

Dr Imran bin Tajudeen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture at the National University of Singapore (NUS). His research interests include place histories and the processes, underlying motivations and assumptions through which notions of heritage have been constituted, and how they are narrated in contemporary reconstructions and representations. He has been engaged in a number of urban history and heritage documentation projects, among which the most recent is as Main Consultant for the recovery and documentation of the historic graves at Jalan Kubor, Kampung Gelam with Nusantara Consultancy. Dr Imran’s doctoral dissertation (NUS, 2009) on the architecture and urban histories of Southeast Asian cities won the ICAS Book Prize for Best PhD (Social Sciences) in April 2011. He was a postdoctoral fellow at MIT's Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture and the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) in Leiden, the Netherlands. Abstract of Talk “If these walls could talk: Architecture in a cultural landscape approach to place histories.” Both commonplace and academic notions of architectural history have recognised the importance of pushing beyond the traditional historian’s approach to buildings and cities. This talk discusses how archival materials and the reading of a building’s characteristics can provide the framework within which personal and social histories of home and place that is currently enjoying popular participation can be better understood. The key to this mutually-enriching engagement between research and popular history lies in the dissonance between what I would call the ‘personal but necessarily limited horizon of knowing’ and the longer-term yet remote perspective of the physical building and the archival record. The architectural historian Dell Upton has urged for a “cultural landscape approach” to buildings that goes beyond the traditional focus on the architect’s intentions and the act of constructing. It explores the act of ‘construing’ – that is, perceptions about a building from personal and community engagements with and responses to architecture. These voices add much to the study of building histories, as the study of architecture as an artefact tells only half the story. One needs to note, however, that buildings always have to be ‘spoken for’ and every perspective carries its own limitations. Who speaks for buildings today, whose voices are not heard, and what do the various parties speak of? Adding to Upton’s framework on building histories beyond architect- and form-centred perspectives, I will discuss how the fundamental task of the architectural historian contributes another pertinent dimension of understanding typically missing in popular or personal accounts – the reading of forms, interiors, and spatial conventions against a longer time frame. Further, buildings can also speak collectively through the juxtaposition of their multiple histories – the resultant whole amounts to much more than the sum of its parts. The ‘rarefied’ perspective of architectural history on the one hand, and the personal accounts and social memory of buildings and places on the other, complement and correct the biases and limitations inherent in both. More importantly, both approaches highlight the scientific-historical, socio-cultural, as well as collective emotional and commemorative significance of built legacies. A more sustained conversation between academic and popular approaches to historical environments needs to be broached to enable buildings to tell their stories.