ALTUS : A City of Transient Sight
BY Esther Tan Sze Ern
SUPERVISED BY Adj. Assoc. Prof. Khoo Peng Beng
STUDIO THEME HOLON STUDIO
Abstract
ALTUS speculates a city where freedom can be returned back to the individuals within the proliferation of surveillance through the conscious choice of concealing and revealing. It proposes an architectural dialogue within the setting of a startup incubator hub, exposing the relations between surveillance and individuals with the overall aim to investigates the notions of freedom within such restrictions.
In our contemporary context, surveillance as a tool can be utilised in a vicious or virtuous manner. It can either rob individuals of their autonomy or provide safety and security. Thus, the dynamic city does not seek to subvert surveillance but to integrate and encompasses both qualities and allow for the element of choice to take place.
Supervisor Comments
Esther’s project explores the virtuous and vicious cycles of surveillance in architecture and is ultimately about the basic human right to choose. Her project proposes a fortress of capitalism that allows the user full autonomy to choose how much they wish to conceal or reveal. She questions the notion of freedom and the power of architecture to control or to be liberate. What on first glance appears highly structured and ordered is really an ever-changing system of possible choices that can be freely exercised. This project explores the relational need for humans to connect but also to retreat to silence and peace while operating in a highly performative environment.
- Adj. Assoc. Prof. Khoo Peng Beng