From Repository of Knowledge to Black Hole

I must say I wasn't one of those who strongly decried the demolition of the former National Library building at Stamford Road. Mostly, this was because I am young enough that Toa Payoh Library had already been built by the time I could read, so my memories of TP are far stronger than that for the Stamford Road Central Library. If anything, my strongest memory of the Stamford Road site is that of the bees buzzing around the syrup at the ice kachang stall in the canteen. Still, I couldn't help but be taken aback by the sight of the tunnel that has replaced the former library bulding.



There is something faintly disturbing about seeing what used to be a repository of knowledge [1] converted into a black hole. Where does the tunnel lead ? Somewhere better than where we are today ? We've decided that we have to sacrifice the past, the memories tied to the old library and the (arguable) aesthetic value of the red brick building and its surroundings, in favour of the benefits of smoother traffic flow. Is the exchange worth it ? I don't know. All we see now is a void. Hidden for now behind a row of potted plants, but still essentially a hole in the ground. I hope the exchange was worth it, because we can't reverse it now.

I suppose one of the other goods that might have come out of the demolition of the National Library building was the recent widening of the URA's conservation guidelines to include "socially significant" sites that create a sense of attachment to Singapore and which help to root Singaporeans to their homeland. We'll never know whether the controversy over the demolition of the National Library was the catalyst for the change in the guidelines - even if it were, the URA would never admit it.

Still, if buildings in the former University of Malaya/Singapore/NIE/SMU campus at Bukit Timah can be preserved for their social, if not architectural, significance, the National Library building would have been an even stronger candidate for conservation.

On a more mundane note, doesn't the tunnel look just awful ? This is the only road tunnel in Singapore where the entrance is visble to pedestrians at road level, and I must say, it looks terrible. Every other tunnel I know of in Singapore is hidden out of sight below surface level, but this one is actually elevated slightly relative to Armenian Stree/Queen Street. Once the potted plants are removed, it's going to be impossble for anyone to miss it. Sigh. The Stamford/Bras Basah area has so much history and so much potential, but the tunnel is going to be another aesthetic monstrosity like its neighbour, Fortress SMRT.

[1] Apart from the public lending library and reference library, the site also used to house Singapore's Legal Depository. Under the law, publishers are required to deposit two copies of every book published in Singapore with the National Library.