Entrance at ISEAS

The place I’ve chosen for my blog entry is the entrance at NUS Institute of Southeast Asian Study (I think it was designed by my AR1326-module tutor). I happened to find the building on an afternoon when it was quite hot outside. It was not a trip on purpose. The reason was that: I had never known how the Lee Kwan Yew School of Public Policy looked like, and I was trying to get there and have a look. However on my way there, my eyes were drawn towards the right side of the road, where stood a mysterious red tile-roofed building, hidden peacefully behind a row of coconut trees. I proceeded, and found the building’s name engraved very beautifully on two strips of wood: ISEAS - Institute of Southeast Asian Study. I was quite amazed by the opening entrance and decided to get in (forgetting my own purpose of visiting the Lee Kwan Yew School earlier on). As I passed through the long roofed-entrance, turning on the left, I found the scene that I have here in my picture. It was a really unexpected encounter, full of sensation and wonders. I couldn’t define my feeling at that very moment, although there were many words that I was able to use: warm, intimate, mesmerizing, mysterious etc.(?) But it was true that I really found myself rested by that space. I felt some breeze on my face. I heard the splashing on the water. I saw these koi fish freely swimming around, forgetting all about their outside world. I saw that palm tree casting shadows on the white wall. I saw reflection of the water… No doubt, it was a perfect scene for a hot and humid afternoon! I thought I had fallen in love with the space!
Then naturally, I wanted to proceed and sit down by the pond to watch the fish swimming as usual, but the cleverly designed wooden-floor prevented me from doing so. After a while, I found myself instead rested on the nice-looking chair already placed there, watching the shadows of the roof and the trees on the wall slowly fading out in the late afternoon. For a moment, the space reminded me of some garden in Mexico by one of my favorite architects – Louis Barragan, with the same mesmerizing shadow cast on a white wall, at the end of a long, long water feature. They must have given me the same precise feeling – this feeling, of calm and peace (although I had never been to Barragan’s garden in Mexico). Yes, “they must be the same”, I guess - a feeling that belongs to the tropical’s.
Lingering around the entrance for a while, regretting the peaceful feeling that the space had given me, I reluctantly enter further and explore the other parts of the building as I often do…
Lately that afternoon, the guard saw a young guy trying to climb out of the building from the rear door, hurrying towards the Lee Kwan Yew School of Public Policy, while the sun was going to set so quickly.
No one was left. The front entrance had long been closed for the day...

Tran Thanh Duong