Construction nation.

• Main Author: Lim, Meng Jin.
• Other Authors: Shyamsunder Rewachand Tekwani
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Photography
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/19303
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Somehow, no matter where we go we are surrounded by a ‘built’ environment, it is all around us – from the roofs over our heads, to the roads we take to go to work, to the schools our children study in. Yet this is an industry that many people take for granted, that we assume that will always be there. True, we don’t have to build our own houses or roads, the same way we don’t have to produce our own electricity in order to flip a switch; yet there is an increased reliance on these projects to provide the infrastructure for us to live our daily lives. In this day and age, of busy schedules and ‘instant’ gratification of our needs, we want everything fast and to be available at the snap of our fingers. The construction industry has followed that trend, with roads that can be re-surfaced within a few hours, and pre-fabricated flats that can be built within a year or two. However, most Singaporeans do not know the work that goes behind the actual construction of these projects that often provides more of an eyesore and a hinderance to them. Yet, this is something that has touched a raw nerve with Singaporeans from all walks of life. We were angry, when the countries around us, began to shut down the exports of sand which is vital to the industry; we are disturbed, when the increasing number of foreign workers, mainly used in the construction industry, begin to take up spaces that were normally empty. And we are up in arms, when the Government decided to build a temporary housing for workers right at our doorstep. So it is something that matters to us, an industry that’s both controversial and raw. That this project aims to reveal – the raw beauty, the raw feelings and the raw talent.