the story of fruits:

THE FRUIT MILL

Part of the appeal of Pulau Ubin to Singaporeans are the wild durian trees that sees to hoards of knowing locals in July and August every year, on a pilgramage to collect durians in suitcases. Other times of the year, islanders were also seen selling wild jambul, rambutans and such.

The proposal looks into fruit plantation and its related fruit-processing ‘industries’. The land around Ubin Quarry has been recorded with the availability of alluvium soil (refer to chapter two). The architecture becomes a vehicle to stitch up resource use and the landscape.

The area around Ubin quarry has some durian trees, durians are pollinated by fruit bats (habitatnews,n.d.) of which, Pulau Ubin houses the nectar bat in mangroves. At the foot of Puaka Hill, the land has a long history of a rubber plantation (refer to Appendix D-2) before it was abandoned and nature took over. Nature in Pulau Ubin has been altered all throughout history. The vision for the island that relies on quarries as a lifeline is a driver for the architecture. The design is a work architecture that is a part of the quarry waterscape and takes on the role of water management and to be in sync with the environment.

MILLING THE WATER

The Ubin Fruit Mill in the Quarry Collective is a demonstration of the bigger vision for the Island. The spirit of Ubin is not only affected by what will be ‘built’ but the people who plays a role in ‘building’ it. The quarry collective is more than just the plantation and the fruits, it encompassess the people who depended on the quarry to live and work. The quarry collective and its blue corridor is a mark of identity and also pride for the people living in the collective. Like many civilisations and old towns, such as in Li Jiang, China,Indus Valley Civilisation, that depended on the land’s river for livelihood, the river is their onus. The environment and the land is cared for and protected by the people. The Quarry Collective

hopes to effect changes in behaviour for visitors and ownership and pride for dwellers. Without the water resource from the quarry, there will be no collective and without respect for the water and environment, the vision for the quarry collective will not work.

Pulau Ubin has to prove its worth in order to keep up with the environmental posibilistic nation that is Singapore. The challenges that Singapore faces in terms of land scarcity and limited resources will be continuously challenged to be overcomed. A productive landscape that does not forget the environment and the flora and fauna that shares the land is the proposition for the thesis project.