jalan besar
TRANSCRIPT
JALAN BESAR TIME CAPSULE
Yang Kuan Abel A0096469JIndividual Submission
AR2223 Theory of Urban Design & Planning
The transformation that Jalan Besar has undergone through the years is captured within the site. Walking down the street, one does not have to know its history to be conscious of the stepped nature and direction of its development
INTRODUCTION
AREA OF STUDY
AR2223 Theory of Urban Design and PlanningJalan Besar - Time CapsuleYang Kuan Abel A0096469J
1:7500
BUILDINGS PROTECTED BY URA CONSERVATION PLAN
AR2223 Theory of Urban Design and PlanningJalan Besar - Time CapsuleYang Kuan Abel A0096469J
MORPHOLOGY
VEGETATION
DIRT TRACK
DEVELOPED LAND
Road incomplete, ended at a mangrove
swamp.
Swamp filled up, buildings scattered along dirt track
1845 1895
Area along road is developed.
Remaining larger plots of vegetation get developed.
1915 PRESENT GENERAL DIRECTION OF DEVELOPMENT
AR2223 Theory of Urban Design and PlanningJalan Besar - Time CapsuleYang Kuan Abel A0096469J
CHANGING CITYSCAPE
Shophouses remain as remnants of the past, but could there be more hints to the history of the site?
1845
1920
TODAY
New World Amusement Park
259A JALAN BESAR
Juan Juan Hotel
1910 1975 1990
AR2223 Theory of Urban Design and PlanningJalan Besar - Time CapsuleYang Kuan Abel A0096469J
STREET WIDTH
Modes of transport in the past (trishaws, bicycles) were not as wide and numerous as modern
day vehicles
The change in street width along the road hints at the fact that the area was developed in
gradual stages.
4 Lanes3 Lanes2 Lanes1 Lane
Older modes of transportation
Modern modes of transportation
AR2223 Theory of Urban Design and PlanningJalan Besar - Time CapsuleYang Kuan Abel A0096469J
Shophouse style undergoes transition from old to new as road approaches end.
Detail on Rococo style shophouse
Example of Modernist Shophouse with the trademark Brise Soleil
The Stripped Classical Style reduced Classical details to their essentials.
1925-1930
The Modernist window was based on strictly rationalist principles.
1933-1941
The Neo-Classical style had lighter reliefs, and a neater arrangement of the facade
1910-1930
The Rococo style involved covering the facade with as much ornamentation as possible - swags, garlands, festoons, and later, tradi-tional chinese motifs
1916-1929A more subdued version of Rococo, the Peranakan bordered on Neo-Classical, but retained some chinese motifs.
1920-1935
SHOPHOUSE TYPOLOGY
AR2223 Theory of Urban Design and PlanningJalan Besar - Time CapsuleYang Kuan Abel A0096469J
Vehicle RelatedFoodHardwareHome FixturesEntertainmentServicesMisc. GoodsMisc. GoodsHotels
Towards the end of the road, the shops represent more
modern industries. The gradation is
also reflected in the kinds of shophouses that a particular that a particular
type of shop would occupy.
Restaurant in Rococo style Shophouse(oldest style along Jalan Besar
Hardware store in Stripped Classical Shophouse
Home Fixture store in Rococo style Shophouse
Automobile Store in Modernist Shophouse
HARDWARE VEHICLE RELATED
STREET LEVEL SHOPS
FOOD HOME FIXTURES
ZONING
AR2223 Theory of Urban Design and PlanningJalan Besar - Time CapsuleYang Kuan Abel A0096469J
More time spent in area
STREET LIFE
Shopfronts of automobile shops are used as part of
shop space, whereas shops in older shophouses respect the five foot way as a pedestrian
passageway.
AR2223 Theory of Urban Design and PlanningJalan Besar - Time CapsuleYang Kuan Abel A0096469J
SERIAL VISION
Modern BuildingsHistoric Buildings
AR2223 Theory of Urban Design and PlanningJalan Besar - Time CapsuleYang Kuan Abel A0096469J
CONCLUSION
Since its humble beginnings as a mere dirt track, Jalan Besar has undergone many stages of development. What is most intriguing is how the site has retained characteristic qualities from its various developmental stages, fragments of the past
that provide insight into its development. The varying widths of the streets that extend out from Jalan Besar suggest that they were once traversed by smaller, simThe varying widths of the streets that extend out from Jalan Besar suggest that they were once traversed by smaller, sim-pler forms of transport, but have since grown to accommodate modern automobiles. The rich array of different shop-house styles allow us to identify the period when the area was developed. The range of shops at street level gives us a
sense of direction along which the area was gradually developed.
Even the behaviours of pedestrians vary according to the ages of the spaces they occupy. Patrons of coffee shops in the area, most of which have remain unchanged for decades, move at a slower, relaxed pace as compared to people within the bustling modern food court, reflecting the change in the general pace of life and also distinguishing the anti-
quated parts of the site from the modern.
Newer shophouses house newer industries, which care less for the integrity of the five foot way, extending their shop spaces by displaying their products along the passageway.
Simply walking along the road and observing the difference between the older form of the shophouse and the newer buildings, one notices a gradual shift of the modern forms from background to foreground.
Encapsulating so much history of, not only the area itself, but of Singapore as well, the shophouses along Jalan Besar are truly worth conserving.