Jalan Besar

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


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


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


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


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


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


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.


SERIAL VISION

Modern BuildingsHistoric Buildings


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.

Health & Medicine

Jalan Besar