This Thesis takes focus on one of many overlooked minor ethnic groups in Singapore. The Chitties, a lesser-known hybrid - Peranakan - community, have been facing difficulties in negotiating their identity with members perceiving their culture as “dying”. Sociologist Stuart Hall posits that cultural identities are constantly reinterpreted and never complete; hence, if Chitties have constantly been adapting their lifestyles even after migrating to Singapore from Melaka since the 1820s, why do they think that their culture is phasing out? Situated along Chitty Road, within the Little India area, this thesis redefines the boundaries of national racial policies that have played a part in homogenizing ethnic groups and attempts to provide a platform for Chitty community to reconcile with current times, allowing their culture to evolve while preserving important traditions. It also critiques the State’s commercial-centric approach to conserving cultures by proposing a cultural centre that serves as the hub for local Chitties with private spaces allowing members to rediscover and reinterpret their own identities, placing them in a perspective that their culture can continue to perpetuate with generations to come. The main programs of the site offer a domestic, autonomous experience, allowing non-members to subconsciously explore and understand Chitty culture by engaging their senses through active and passive participation.

The project adapts and reuses the 1920s historic terrace houses as accommodation quarters adjacent to a new building which takes on a reinterpretation of vernacular Chitty architectural elements, materiality, and cultural spaces in the context of a 21st-century with spaces facilitating cultural events & festivals and flow of exchanges that could spark conversations and transmit cultural knowledge.