This project was a follow-up to a prior assignment, in which I designed a path based on my experience, memory and emotions. In essence, the path was a result of my reactions, and its vistas and experiences were designed for the effect they would have on the pedestrian.

In this project, we were told to design one of the buildings standing on the path. I chose to design a shophouse, a terraced building with a store below and a residence above. My rationale for choosing a commercial frontage to meet the street, was that it adds to the path and makes traversing that path more interesting. The residential aspect was incorporated to take advantage of the activity and the views: all of this is interesting to observe.

The building style was described by the professor as being fairly "vernacular". I attribute this to my attempt to make this a building that I would like to walk by and notice, something that would fit in my subconscious memory as being pleasant and comfortable. Vernacular architecture, steeped in tradition, is the sum of past wisdom; in that sense, it is acceptable because it has had time to soak into the collective memory. While I may not have formed all this theory into words at the time, I think it was a subconscious understanding of the relationship between Man and Place that drove me to adopt this form over what might have been something more exciting or avant-garde.