QUARRY COLLECTIVE

Pulau Ubin is a granite island off the northeastern shores of mainland Singapore. Over the course of its traceable history, it housed the granite mining industry and its people from 1840s to 1999. Other primary and commercially scaled enterprises that were introduced, have failed to last. Residents move out of Ubin and Ubin is wholly used for recreation these days.

The Studio envisions a ‘Uniquely Ubin’, where the value of Ubin to Singapore is in its ability to be a productive landscape for gourmet and craft food produce. In response to the vision, the thesis proposes the Quarry Collective Master Plan, whereby a network of livelihood and dwellings participates in the production of gourmet food.

The study investigates disturbed sites of quarry waterscapes and its surroundings scarred from the days of granite mining. Filled presently to the extent of overflowing, the quarries are natural reservoirs. They yield many opportunities; of which the potential to become a reliable water source for Ubin to thrive, is the motivation for the Quarry Collective and its new dwellers. 

Fruit trees on Ubin, one of the last remaining symbol of the place, have withstood the test of time and the fruiting seasons continues to tell the story for the island. The thesis further looks into work architecture for fruit processing in one of the four Quarry Collective. Of which the focus of the design lies in three main themes; the journey of water, the journey of fruits and the journey of the visitors.
The dichotomy between a fruit mill and the quarry that has been consumed back by nature recollects the relationship granite mining has with the landscape in the past. The architecture is a reminder of Ubin’s industrialized history, a vehicle to stitch up the disturb site and a place that continues to ‘mine’ sustainably the water that nature gifts.