Art Culture

Tuesday

Restorative Architecture

The National Museum of Singapore has a dome. This contains many panels of stained glass. These panels have been erected since the building was constructed in 1849. In restoration works, these glass panels were detached, cleaned and restored. Age, weather and gravity caused deterioration and these were repaired by a professional stain glass restorer. The glass panels were numbered in sequence to facilitate the original restoration.

There is a spiral staircase that leads to the roof top. This is closed to the public for safety reasons. The staircase was restored for aesthetic reasons.

The museum is fully air-conditioned and as such, has many ventilation pipe outlets to dispense cooled air. The architects and engineers have included the appearance of the series of ventilation outlets as part of the design of the building. The outlets are lined up neatly in a straight line and fitted with artistic and somewhat futuristic looking suction cup shapes.

The photograph shows one such row of outlets set inside the retaining wall of the second level. The retaining wall is constructed from granite stone and marble composites. This type of wall is durable, perhaps until eternity and there is no or very little maintenance involved. Being a dark grey-black color, it either stains with dust, nor age and does not require painting for periodical maintenance.

There was a long line of chandeliers attached hanging down from the ceiling. These were coordinated to swing to and fro like pendulums. This was an interesting use and display of ingenuity. It was the focal point of an otherwise bare ceiling. The museum also had entire walls made of glass to allow the emission of natural light into the building. While this is good, it interferes with the camera and causes a kind of photographic blackout as light shone into the lens through the glass walls.

The bulk of restorative architecture achieved to re-invent the old look of the museum. It has also retained the integrity and preserved the historical heritage of the old building.