My relationship with Golden Mile began academically, as I was aware of its position in the architecture discourse in Singapore. Golden Mile Complex was built at a time of post-independence optimism, as architects ought to find a new architecture for a new country. Fifty years later, it had allen on hard times, as the architecture avant garde dreams of the past save way to lost futures, bad maintenance, economic shifts, and cultural changes. I begun a photography project of Golden Mile Complex really late, in March 2023, two months before closure. Back then, tenants were starting to move out. In the increasingly empty building, the party carried on as the nightclubs lit up the night for one last month, and residents enjoyed one last sea view.
As April approached, the building emptied out, the shutters came down, the building went dark, crowds slowed to a trickle as photographers like myself explored the labyrinthine corridors for one more time. The denizens of the Complex bade their goodbyes, a sense of scale of the building emerged as all distractions fell away. Multitudes of pockets of spaces created a rich scale of spaces and sightlines, a cavernous slanted atrium carved into the building cast deep shadows in the afternoon, while an elevated communal deck looked over the city.
As the building slowly emptied; the overloaded waste disposal, the dripping sanitary systems, and the humming air-conditioning would be shut down.
As the organs of the building shut down, the building went to sleep. As the last few tenants moved out, the building went dark. The penthouse residents were the last to move out. Four unique double-storey penthouses, originally designed specially for 3 top Woh Hup executives and Golden Mile's architect William Lim, loomed over the dark mishmash of units underneath, their long balconies largely covered up by illegal additions over the decades.
In the last month, the sensation of the grittiness of the building height-ened. Water puddles, cobwebs, dust, and litter became more obvious; and the fluorescent lights cast an uneasy glow on the walls. Photographing the building outside and inside at night, I got acquainted with the textures, interventions, and grime which made the building well known. In the quietness of the night, the soft hum of the air-conditioning, the laughter (and shouts) of the last patrons, and the footfalls of mice inhabiting the false ceilings became evident.
Climbing the slanted staircase from the 16th floor to the first floor, one descended from the brightly lit heavens to the belly of the megastructure, going deep into the chasm created by the atrium. In the afternoon, deep shadows would be cast, highlighting and enriching the architecture of the place. We felt the temperature and space change as we reach the 5th floor, located at the bottom of the atrium. Evidently, it was also a spot rumoured to be haunted. Traversing through the one door linking the heavens to the belly, we are greeted with an elevated view of the mall atrium, with a view of the denizens of the mall.
The last nightclub would hold out until end April, while the last office moved out on 10 May 2023. Golden Mile Complex is our biggest heritage protected building, and awaits an uncertain future after its restoration.