Masak Masak

A food stall is deconstructed into theatrical geometric objects to reposition the relationships between consumer and display.

Masak Masak is a project to rethink the food stall in Singapore. How can we create a framework for food display that is also interactive?

The project receives its inspiration from today’s food cart, which often tends to be well ornamented but only weakly influences consumers’ interactions with food and with one other. The project strips the food stall to its bare essence and creates a toy-box of geometric objects that facilitate open-ended interactions.

The project takes reference from the neighbourhood game of Masak-Masak, a children’s game of kitchen play-pretend. Capturing those ideals of casual appropriation and intuitive response, the project operates with the most fundamental shapes: the square, the triangle and the circle.

Various spaces are created through the 3D composition of these primary geometries, with no fixed assigned function. A plinth might be used as a display platform and also doubles up as a seat. Besides volumes, voids are also punctured at adjacent sides to multiply the potentials for interaction.

At “rest”, the object is a monolithic cube, measuring a comfortable 1.8m x 1.8m x 1.8m that straddles between toy, object and space. Holes in the cube invite curious visitors to peer into the compressed space, producing a theatricality even when not in use.

During operation, the cube is deconstructed into its five units to constitute a stall. Expanding over an ambiguous amount of space, pedestrians find themselves weaving comfortably into browsing environments, purchasing counters or even the demonstration kitchen.


Year 2017 Location Singapore Client Infuud Asia Area 6 sqm Status Completed