retro fitting in

Author(s)/Creator(s)

Nartano Lim, Syracuse University

Document Type

Thesis Prep

Degree

B. ARCH

Date

Fall 2005

Keywords

Housing, South East Asia, Orchard Road, Shopping

Language

English

Disciplines

Architecture

Description/Abstract

Consumer culture has become a driving force within western society through the rise of expendable goods and the lower costs of manufacturing. The "good life" has now been made available to a much greater portion of society and as a result, possessions as signifiers of status have lost much of their exclusivity, but none of its effectiveness. How does one assert individuality by the products they choose?

A primary driving force of consumer culture is that goods have a designated obsolescence that is perhaps only surpassed by the users desire for something new sooner. This rapid rate of replacement is paralleled in the rapidity of Singapore's deployment of housing developments for its equally rapid growing population. A primary issue that has grown out of this explosion of government constructed housing is the role of the individual and how much control the individual can assert over their own space.

By adopting the tenets of consumer culture: the short lifespan of products,the aspiration to obtain "better things" and the cultivation of consumer choice, the existing consumer conditions can be harnessed to benefit the public housing inhabitant. By challenging the distinction between what is a consumer good and what is a consumer architecture the consumer/inhabitant can affect their space just as easily as they are able to change the perception of their identity through consumer choices of designed goods.

Additional Information

Syracuse University School of Architecture Thesis Prep

Recommended Citation

Lim, Nartano, "retro fitting in" (2005). Architecture Thesis Prep. 7.
https://surface.syr.edu/architecture_tpreps/7

Source

submission