THE PUZZLE BOX
Kenneth Koh

What makes a space fit for inhabitation? This is perhaps the fundamental question that architects seek to address in their work. The pandemic has revealed the inadequacies in our foreign worker dormitories, calling for a new type of dormitory that is more habitable. But, what would that mean? Is it enough to allocate more space per person, or does this space need to be crafted with more empathy and consideration?

The needs of the people living in workers’ dormitories do not differ from the needs of any other person. These are human needs defined by our everyday rituals: eating, pooping, bathing, sleeping. These are also needs circumscribed by our behaviour as social creatures: to talk, to play, to cook, to groom. And finally, there are the needs rooted in our spirituality: to pray, to dream, to breathe.

To forge a habitable space is to identify these patterns of life and to assemble them in a configuration that respects them, even if it seems impossible with restrictions of space, technology, budget or imagination. It is a puzzle box, with pieces that fit together imperfectly but beautifully.