SINGAPORE – A new outdoor amphitheatre where the public can gather to enjoy traditional Indian fine arts performances will open beside Prinsep Street in the second half of 2025. The amphitheatre is part of the Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society’s (Sifas) new home at 250 Middle Road – a conserved building built during the Japanese Occupation to house the Doh-Jin Hospital, which was later renamed Middle Road Hospital.Sifas is the latest arts group to move into Bras Basah-Bugis – Singapore’s arts and heritage district. The 75-year-old group’s move is among a slew of recent and upcoming changes in the area, in addition to major government announcements for the area during the recent Budget debate.Culture, Community and Youth Minister Edwin Tong announced on March 10 that the old St Joseph’s Institution building – home to the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) from 1996 to 2019 – is being assessed for a new Singapore Design Museum.He said the new museum “could become a centre of gravity for designers, practitioners and creatives in the district, coming together as a hub, drawing energy and synergy from the surrounding arts, culture and heritage institutions”.The Singapore University of Social Sciences will also have a new campus just outside Bras Basah-Bugis by the mid-2030s at the site of the former Rochor Centre, which was demolished in 2019.In 1988, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) published the Master Plan for the Civic and Cultural District, laying the foundation for the 95ha Bras Basah-Bugis area to be turned into an arts, culture and education district.The district’s identity has been reinforced in recent decades, with arts schools such as the School of the Arts, Singapore (2010), Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Nafa) (2004) and Lasalle College of the Arts (2007) establishing campuses alongside other cultural institutions such as the National Library Building (2005) and the National Design Centre (2013), which now houses the University of the Arts Singapore.Recent and upcoming changes in Bras Basah-Bugis, which have largely centred around the Selegie and Bras Basah areas, have taken place since 2022, when life in Singapore started to return to normal after the pandemic.SelegieSifas executive director Menaka Gopalan said the group is delighted to be moving to a more central location from its home of more than 30 years at the former Rangoon Primary School campus at 2A Starlight Road in Farrer Park.“Middle Road really feels like the right place for us to be, at the heart of the arts district, giving us opportunities to spread awareness about what we do,” said Ms Menaka of the organisation that has about 2,000 students and members, and 40 staff.She said Sifas is looking forward to showcasing its arts to the public, as “dance, music and visual arts transcend language and cultural boundaries and can be enjoyed by all”. An artist’s impression of Sifas’ Middle Road campus, which will feature an outdoor amphitheatre for live performances.PHOTO: SINGAPORE INDIAN FINE ARTS SOCIETYAs construction hoarding is removed at Sifas’ new campus, new hoarding will soon go up 80m away, for photography art centre Deck’s new building at 120A Prinsep Street.Ms Gwen Lee, Deck’s co-founder and executive director, said construction is scheduled to begin in 2026 with the building slated to open in 2027.It will replace Deck’s – an acronym for discovery, engagement, community and knowledge – container block home in the same location from 2014 to 2021.Ms Lee said the new building, which will have three galleries, a blackbox theatre, a library and a cafe, aims to “offer something to the neighbourhood”, where people can encounter art while living their everyday lives.An artist’s impression of Deck’s upcoming building at 120A Prinsep Street.PHOTO: LAUD ARCHITECTSFor instance, parents waiting to pick up their children from enrichment programmes in schools nearby can hang out in the building’s “green belt” – a plant-lined pathway connecting Prinsep Street to a back lane of Bencoolen Street.Changes in Selegie have been so common that Mr Wesley Leon Aroozoo, a film lecturer at Lasalle, fears there will be an irreversible change in the identity of the area, leading to the loss of its history. Deck’s executive director Gwen Lee at the Prinsep Street site where the photography arts centre’s container block facility stood, and where its new building will be constructed.ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO“Since Rochor Centre was torn down, it has felt like there’s always some form of construction around the school,” said Mr Aroozoo, who has lectured at Lasalle since 2012. “In the process of change, I don’t feel confident the old buildings in the area will last,” he said, citing Sim Lim Tower as an example.At least three buildings, built in the 1970s and 1980s, near Lasalle were recently sold en bloc, and have either been redeveloped or are in the midst of redevelopment.Golden Wall Centre has been replaced by the 530-room Hotel Mi Rochor since 2023, while Selegie Centre has been torn down for a 128-room boutique hotel. Peace Centre is being demolished to make way for One Sophia, a mixed-use development.Selegie Centre, which was sold en bloc in 2019, is being replaced by a new 128-room hotel. PHOTOS: ST FILE, GAVIN FOODiagonally opposite the One Sophia site is Ten Square, an eye-catching car vending machine with a large LED display screen. Completed in 2022, it replaced what was known as the Tiger Balm building, which dated back to the 1930s.Ten Square’s founder Gary Hong and his friend Yvonne Siow are behind PlayPan, a social movement that took over Peace Centre for four months from October 2023, before it was closed for demolition.Peace Centre’s demolition progress as at March 13, 2025. In the rear are Wilkie Edge (left), car vending machine Ten Square (centre), and the conserved David Elias Building (right).ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOOFurther changes may be in the works, with Lasalle yet to build a planned 12-storey expansion on a vacant site next to its McNally Street campus.An about 4,600 sq m plot of land opposite Sifas’ new campus that has been zoned for education use since 1998 also presents new development possibilities.Bras BasahMeanwhile, the planned Singapore Design Museum in Bras Basah will likely be accompanied by other changes.A Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth spokesman told The Straits Times it is considering how 8 Queen Street – a former Catholic High School building used as SAM’s annexe from 2008 – “can complement the proposed design museum”.He said the National Arts Council (NAC) is onboarding a team of consultants “to determine the scope of work and design requirements for the space at 8 Queen Street”.Two other former Catholic High School buildings that pre-date World War II – 222 Queen Street and 51 Waterloo Street – were taken over by NAC from April 2022, after they were previously rented out for use as an arts centre.A council spokesman said the buildings “were then closed, and preparation for pre-development work was carried out along with stakeholder engagement”, without giving further details.The exterior of the former Catholic High School building at 51 Waterloo Street, which is currently managed by the National Arts Council. PHOTO: ST FILEIn November 2024, NAC launched a tender for consultants to oversee the refurbishment of the two buildings, while addressing “potential URA conservation requirements, if imposed”.While noting that the buildings are not conserved, a URA spokesperson said “guidelines are in place to enable the existing buildings to be sensitively and creatively adapted for arts, culture and community uses”.About 70m from 51 Short Street, a new 502-room hotel – to be operated by Accor under its Handwritten Collection brand – will open in late 2025 on the former site of Min Yuan and Waterloo apartments. An artist’s impression of an upcoming 502-room hotel in Waterloo Street that will open in 2025.PHOTO: ACCORBuilding identity and communitySocial-cultural geographer T.C. Chang said SAM’s closure in 2019 was “a significant loss” as it “helped to consolidate the arts and heritage identity of Bras Basah-Bugis when the museum opened in 1996”. The museum has been located at Tanjong Pagar Distripark since 2022.Dr Chang, a professor at the National University of Singapore, said the proposed design museum – if executed – will reinforce the district’s identity, as will the presence of new arts groups, such as Sifas.Similarly, Mr Alvin Tan, founder of board games business The Mind Cafe, said having the museum hoarded up since 2019 has been a dampener for the district, with the disappearance of an icon. Mr Tan, whose business has been at 60A Prinsep Street since 2005, said recent construction works in the Dhoby Ghaut area – including the refurbishment and expansion of Temasek Shophouse and The Cathay’s renovation – have affected footfall in his cafe from that direction, with most coming instead from the direction of Bencoolen and Bras Basah. The expanded Temasek Shophouse is slated to reopen in 2025, while The Cathay is set to open in April after closing in August 2023 for renovations.Even as these properties reopen, more construction work in the Dhoby Ghaut area is in the pipeline. From later in 2025, the Istana Park will be expanded, while a 500m stretch of Orchard Road will be pedestrianised, resulting in road diversion works.In his two decades in the area, Mr Tan said, he has seen multiple trendy cafes come and go, although nightlife establishments have consistently fared well.He noted that many stores selling mainland Chinese food have sprung up in Selegie Road in recent times.Mr Michael Ng, executive director at SingHaiyi Holdings – the developer of One Sophia – said the Selegie area is “under-appreciated by Singaporeans”.“Foreigners know this place better, partly because a lot of foreign students are in this area,” he said, citing private universities and the arts schools.Mr Hong, who envisions Ten Square as a space that brings the local community together, said he realised from conversations with young people in the area that many feel isolated within their own communities.PlayPan’s co-founders Yvonne Siow (left) and Gary Hong posing in front of Peace Centre in November 2023 before the building was demolished.PHOTO: ST FILE“There are so many creative resources here, but the challenge is that everyone is disconnected. Everyone is doing their own thing and everyone is tired, because there is no sense of community,” he said, adding that he has been talking to stakeholders in the district – schools and social organisations – on how to bring its diverse communities together.Such efforts are important, said PlayPan’s Ms Siow, as they create a sense of belonging.“When that happens, people take ownership of the country, and ownership of the space – that’s when the community becomes very ‘sticky’, because we all have a common thread,” she said. “I think Singapore is now facing the fact that we don’t have a common thread. Many interactions are digital and people don’t come out, we don’t talk.”To this end, Ms Lee said Deck’s green belt will be a physical connection between Nafa’s Campus 3 and Lasalle, allowing their students to visit each other and interact.Mr Tan of The Mind Cafe said large-scale public programmes such as the Singapore Night Festival – organised by the National Heritage Board, which is in charge of enlivening the Bras Basah-Bugis district – have helped to strengthen its identity and boost business.A light installation in Queen Street that was part of 2023’s edition of the Singapore Night Festival.ST PHOTO: SHINTARO TAYBut Mr Ng noted that community and identity-building efforts cannot be wholly government-led, as it risks being top-down.SingHaiyi is in early conversations with PlayPan to see how the social movement’s spirit can be realised in One Sophia. One possibility, said Mr Hong, is having arts students work with future retailers to design their shops.Dr Chang said such initiatives will integrate young people into the neighbourhood in which they study.“The very act of ‘leaving one’s mark’ in the landscape bonds people to a space, in a way that enlivens the place and brings in even more people to leave their own marks,” he said.Dr Chang noted that while the entire district “does not always convey a coherent theme and image because of the inevitable mix of non-arts/heritage activities and services”, non-arts and heritage buildings and sites can still “intentionally take on an artistic flair”, such as through facade murals, as well as creatively designed public seating and architectural motifs.Bollards at the junction of Middle Road and Prinsep Street bear the Bras Basah-Bugis district’s branding. Their design was inspired by ceramic bowl artefacts from The Peranakan Museum.ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOOAs changes in the district take root, Mr Aroozoo hopes its layers of history will not be forgotten. For instance, not many people remember the pre-war Japanese community in the Bugis area, or the origins of street names such as Selegie – likely named after a Bugis seafarer or a wooden spear used by the seafarers.“As we look for ways that current generations can connect to the district, we should embrace the past of these areas as well, which will give us a more textured understanding of our heritage,” he said.More on this TopicJoin ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.Thanks for sharing!