Marine Parade Community Building History
After 22 years, the iconic facade of the Marine Parade Community Building will soon be no more as the building undergoes major upgrading with no plans by the PA to retain the mural. Interestingly, many aren't aware of the storied past of the facade and its status as Singapore's largest piece of installation art. So, some history is in order.
On 28 May 2000, the new Marine Parade Community Building was officially opened by then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong.
Completed in mid 1999, the building, designed by William Lim Associates in the Postmodern style, was special in more than one way.
Its design architect from WLA was Goh Kasan, one of the sons of famed Singapore dramatist, novelist, poet and doctor Goh Poh Seng.
The architects, the People’s Association and the Marine Parade Community Club building fund committee decided to hold a design competition for a mural and then incorporate the winning design onto the facade that would wrap around a large part of the building. They rationalised that “Instead of commissioning one person, we thought it was better to get different concepts from many artists and see whether we could choose a winning entry from there.” (Straits Times, 08 November, 1998)
In the end, an ASEAN wide contest with the theme of “dynamism, interaction, fashion and harmony” was held. The judging panel was helmed by local art historian T. K. Sabapathy and the winner was a young Thai architect by the name of Surachai Yeamsiri. He was 27 in 1998 when he won the contest with his piece titled “Texturefulness of Life”.
Yeamsiri received a cash prize of SGD30,000 from PM Goh himself at a ceremony at the People’s Association HQ and became the artist for what would be (and still is today) Singapore’s largest piece of installation art.
Texturefulness of Life would measure 63m in length and 12m in height and wrap around the North and North East corner of the proposed building, facing the junction of Still Road and Marine Parade Road. The mural was to be executed in a mix of stone, mosaic tiles and metal. Yeamsiri said that he used a “mix of materials to reflect the eclectic mix of traditional and high-tech environments in Singapore.”
The Marine Parade Community Building also ushered in a new era for the “community centre” as it was one of five new community clubs that the PA was building under its new “CC Co-location Scheme”.
This was announced by PM Goh in his speech given at the Marine Parade Community Building’s opening on 28 May 2000 where “compatible organisations are invited to co-locate with a CC. This maximises land use and allows sharing of common facilities. The Presence of co-tenants also enhances the attractiveness of the CCs to residents, while the co-tenants can draw on the visitors to the CCs.”
To this end, the Marine Parade Community Building included not just the Marine Parade Community Club but also the Marine Parade Community Library and The Necessary Stage. This would be the very first time a public library was co-located with any other public organisation.
If co-location sounds familiar to you, it is because this was the precursor to the large scale community hubs we have today like Our Tampines Hub (OTH) and Heartbeat @ Bedok where EVERYTHING is co-located under one roof. But folks, remember, it happened first at Marine Parade.
In April this year, the People’s Association announced that after 22 years, it was time for the Marine Parade Community Building to “receive a major upgrading”. Funnily, the footprint and tenants (except for TNS which has moved out) of the building as well as its height will remain unchanged.
Unfortunately, one of the biggest changes is that Texturefulness of Life will be removed and a new facade installed on the building instead as part of this “upgrading”.
Marine Parade Community Club closed its doors in its present form for the last time today on 30 June 2022 and will reopen only in 2025.
If you have come to love the facade and the mural on the Marine Parade Community Building, you don’t have much time to visit it for a last look before it is removed for good and the reign of Singapore’s largest piece of Installation Art comes to an end after 22 years.
You can see the announcement for the CC’s upgrading here:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=4959161857501512
and read PM Goh Chok Tong’s speech at the CC’s official opening on 28 May 2000 here:
https://www.nas.gov.sg/archi.../data/pdfdoc/gct20000528e.pdf
Disclaimer:
This essay was prepared by Darren Soh in his personal capacity. The opinion expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of Docomomo Singapore.
