The New Vernacular:
A Three Scale Heritage Intervention for Brunei's Water Village
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Year 6, University of Nottingham
Known as being the first area of settlement, Kampong Ayer in Brunei carries with it the country’s rich history and culture in its conglomerate of self-built wooden houses sat on stilts in the Brunei River. Recent developments due to issues pertaining fire and safety hazards saw the government of Brunei attempting to build a modern take of the vernacular housing in Kampong Ayer. 541 families were displaced as a result of modernisation projects in the water village from which we unfortunately witness an erosion of culture and abandoning of local typology.
‘The New Vernacular’ is a polemic against generic development that aims to create a solution by analysing and celebrating the existing culture and architecture of Kampong Ayer to create a healthy spatial, social and economic environment for the area. The project sees an intervention for Kampong Ayer on three scales, a micro scale looking at housing typologies, a medium scale looking into the creation of a cottage industry hub and a community hall, and both these scales combined are proposed contribute to the improvement of Kampong Ayer on a overall macro level.
