Strategic Ecosystems

Social Strata



A demonstration, by imitation, of the potentials and challenges of adaptive reuse of strata malls in Singapore.

Strata title development is a legal framework of ownership where individual property owners have a share of the land and to share the responsibilities in upkeeping the common areas of the building.

Once popular in the 1970s and 1980s, it slowly lost its appeal to developer-managed malls as the latter provides better management and tenant mix. As a result, these malls have fallen into disrepair and lost their functional use. Several strata malls, including Golden Mile Complex have been slated for demolition.

By revealing the spatial and socio-economic values of these strata buildings, this exhibition will serve as a platform to discuss the future and possible adaptive reuse of these buildings. More importantly, the exhibition hopes to question the very essence of the strata-ownership model and its resultant architectural typology in relation to today’s socio- economic and cultural context.
How can existing strata building stock be resilient to the rapid socio-economic changes in Singapore’s urban development?

Given the successful adaptive reuse of Sewoon Sangga, a strata-mall equivalent in Seoul, this exhibition on Singapore strata-mall hopes to establish a dialogue during the course of the biennale to allow key stakeholders and architects to exchange ideas on the strata (collective) ownership model. Possible dialogue sessions can take place in Seoul during the biennale opening week and in Singapore during a DOCOMOMO conference early October.

Visitors experienced the content through the insertion of a typical strata mall unit within an existing space in Donuimun Museum Village.


Year 2019 Location Seoul, South Korea Exhibition Seoul Biennale Area 15 sqm Status Completed