FUTURE
"All the good places go down."
The reputation of Orchard towers as a red light district has eclipsed the entirety of decent businesses in the building. The culture of sex and hedonism has eradicated any memory of the retail and service hub it once was. Few goes into the towers looking for anything other than sex. The few that do are regular customers of tailors and hairdressers that have been there for decades, whose properties chain them to the place. As the reputation of Orchard Towers decline, the sleazy businesses strangles the decent establishments, starving them of new customers that stay clear of the red-light district.
As all the non-sex related businesses are eventually run into the ground, Orchard Towers will become what our police force has intended it to be: A place where “those kind of people” congregate for ease of regulation. With this in mind, en bloc dreams of the few remaining shop owners there are unlikely to be realized.
The only possible light at the end of this tunnel is the expansion of organisations like Project X, offering help to sex workers of all nationalities and ages, providing them with more security in their line of work.
Project X
Vanessa Ho, Project Director of Project X
"Our message to the public is that entertainment, massage, and sex workers are humans too and they deserve equal rights. They are just trying to make a living just like everyone else. Nobody deserves to be harassed or abused. "
Click on image below to go to Project X's webpage
"The centre is like a community centre for entertainment, massage, and sex workers. We provide sexual health collaterals as well as testing; but on top of that, we're most concerned for the safety of the workers in the area. We have a team of pro bono lawyers who provide aid for sex workers who face abuse (physical, sexual, financial, emotional). In our time here, we've had cases of date rape, physical assault, scammers who promise fake visas to workers, police brutality, harassment, theft. You can check out our annual report available on our website for more details of our cases.
The centre was established in August 2016 and we chose the venue because it is considered a red-light district. In fact, it has been known to be so since the 80's. In the past, we were told through oral history that escort agencies operated in the basement, and since this was pre-internet, there would be big binders filled with pictures of women, and clients could come and choose whom they wanted for the day. A phone call will then be made to the escort. With the advent of the internet, such businesses have moved online, but the clubs and pubs continue.
We did not have the budget to renovate the space -- if you know anyone who's happy to help with that, do let us know!
Do note that we do not operate the centre at Geylang (our partner organization does so), and the stations at Joo Chiat and Golden Mile are merely outreach desks, not centres. What differs between the areas is really the demographic of women and clientele.
Our message to the public is that entertainment, massage, and sex workers are humans too and they deserve equal rights. They are just trying to make a living just like everyone else. Nobody deserves to be harassed or abused."
THE TOWERS' PLACE IN THE FUTURE
In this entire commercial strip, Orchard Towers sticks out like a sore thumb in both infrastructure and services provided. Orchard Towers stands in stark contrast to Claymore, the shopping centre right across the road. Claymore's progress over the years only accentuates how Orchard Towers has been left behind in the dust, and this contrast only grows more pronounced the further one walks down the commercial strip. The erosion of legitimate businesses and limited government response means that Orchard Towers will continue to be an anomaly on Orchard Road. The reality is that red-light districts like these allow law enforcement to contain illicit activities in a single building for easier regulation. This is why there will always be a police presence at the towers, but never a true crackdown.
Orchard Towers is already irrelevant as a commercial building on the commercial strip, and it is doomed to decline further.
In our inexorable march of progress, and pursuit of a 'clean' city image, we leave Orchard Towers and its inhabitants behind.
DAY/night
Seemingly resurrected at night, yet falling to its doom