About the Project
What's the MacPherson ID(ea)? (2010-2011) started as a Master's thesis project at the National University of Singapore's Department of Architecture. In this project we explored the relationship between architecture and community participation, in the context of the public housing estate of MacPherson, Singapore. From October 2010 to March 2011, we curated a series of activities and exercises that helped to facilitate the everyday resident's involvement in the design and planning of their neighbourhood. Each exercise helped to formulate and refine the overall design brief.
The outcome of this project was twofold: firstly, by experimenting with a wide range of participatory design tools and techniques, we developed a complementary framework for community engagement that encompasses both 'guerrilla' and workshop-based approaches; secondly, we developed two collective briefs, one that involved rethinking the sheltered walkways that are ubiquitous to most public housing estates as opportunities for ground-up interaction and play, and another that sought to redefine the shopping mall experience to one that is socially inclusive, open and integrative with existing social centres within the estate.
For more information, visit our project blog below: