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Construction and Landscaping
Construction
Metamorphosis: The villa in the process of restoration and extension.
Our architects and engineers
To restore a 100-year-old Palladian style bungalow is a delicate and difficult task indeed.
After the villa was gazetted a national monument in 1994, BG(NS) George Yeo urged the Chinese Chamber to make the villa into a "cultural shrine" aimed at National Education.
The double storey villa is not huge, so if we were to recreate history in a clear and comprehensible manner, building an annexe is the only way out. The Chinese Chamber had to purchase an additional piece of land behind the actual villa for the annexe.
DP Architects designed the new memorial hall, and Mr Liu Thai-Ker was invited to be the project advisor. Wan Qing Yuan was then renamed Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall, and construction began in 1997 after BG (NS) George Yeo officiated at the groundbreaking ceremony. The construction contract was awarded to Wee Hur Construction Pte Ltd. Property General Manager (from SCCCI) Mr Lim Chin Kheng was appointed to supervise the overall proceedings. Between 1997 and 2001, the management team conducted countless meetings and inspections of the villa to ensure that everything would go as planned. Construction and restoration was finally completed in March 2001.
Wan Qing Yuan |
Site meetings were held very frequently at the villa |
Mr Kwek Leng Joo (third from right) at the contruction site. |
Mr Kwek Leng Joo (centre) at the final inspection of the memorial hall, upon completion of restoration work in March 2001 |
Landscape Design
Besides the building itself, the courtyard is an area we cannot ignore. Visitors' first impressions are made when they walk past the gates, and the courtyard is the backdrop for the villa. Tropical plants such as coconut palms, rubber trees, pineapples and fruit trees dot the surroundings, fully illustrating the Nanyang ambience in our limited space.
Landscape design was undertaken by Peridian Asia Pte Ltd.
Research and Exhibition
The cultural and historical research team is led by Mr Foong Choon Hon (Director) and Jane Thum (Assistant Director).
Mr Foong, a man with several decades of experience in broadcasting and journalism, went to numerous cities, towns and villages which Dr Sun had visited, in many parts of Southeast Asia and China, to conduct in-depth research.
In April 2001, the team made a trip to Nanjing and Shanghai, China for a fruitful research field trip. They were warmly received by the Jiangsu Provincial Foreign Affairs Office and the Jiangsu People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries in Nanjing. They visited many places of educational interest and established important contacts with the Dr Sun Yat Sen Mausoluem, Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, Shanghai Museum of Sun Yat Sen's Former Residence, and Song Qingling's Former Residence in Shanghai.
The research team went to a cemetery in Ipoh to look for Zheng Luosheng's grave. |
Mr Foong (right) conducting street interviews with residents of Kuala Pilah. |
More interviews with residents of Kuala Pilah. |
Foong interviews an old resident of Penang. |
Mr Foong (left) with Director of Sun Yat Sen Former Residence in Cuiheng Village, Guangdong. |
The Directors of Sun Yat Sen memorial hall and Sun Yat Sen Mausoleum present mementoes to Foong Choon Hon who was representing Wan Qing Yuan. |
Foong Choon Hon inscribes some words of praise for Dr Sun in exchange. |
The project team at Song Qingling's Former Residence in Shanghai |
Outside Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall in Nanjing |
The project team is brought around one of the museums in Nanjing. |
The project team at Dr Sun Yat Sen's Mausoleum in Nanjing, China. April 2001
The research team also had the good fortune in obtaining a unit in the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry building for their use as a "War Room". Many a sleepless night did they spend in this battlefield.
To complete the picture, Strategic Design Centre Ltd (Hong Kong), Pico Art International Pte Ltd and 7G Studios were commissioned to assist the team in exhibition design and fabrication. After much research and development of ideas by the research team, the designers were then able to transfer their ideas onto actual display panels for the galleries.
The Heat is On...
Presentations, presentations and more presentations!
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| Tony Sin of Strategic Design Centre (Hong Kong) presents the elementary designs to the board of advisors. Sep 2000 |
Foong gives a synopsis of the storyline that the galleries will be following. |
Pico Art's Chin Ser Jong and Callum McCulloch present their gallery designs and
7G's Judie Qwek presents her AV concepts. April 2001
Chairman, Mr Kwek Leng Joo is flanked by advisors Mr Liu Thai Ker (left) and
Dr Kenson Kwok (right) during the final presentation of design concepts in April 2001. |
Pico Art's Chin Ser Jong takes the measurement of the wall for the huge oil painting. Below is artist Li Shuji. |
Pico Art's consultants - Chin Ser Jong (first from left) and Callum McCulloch (centre) discuss design issues with Jane at the villa. |
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