METHODOLOGY
“这里不可以拍照。
整个购物中心
也不能拍。”
(You can't take photos here, you can't take any photos in the entire building.)
There is little to no in-depth information, both in print or online about Orchard Towers. Most articles available are centered around their conception in 1975 and its handover in 2017, or of scandals and arrests in the area.
The first time we entered the mall with our (large) cameras, it seemed as if the entire mall reacted to our camera lenses. Tinted glass doors started shutting. Clusters of scantily dressed women started to stare with their arms folded defensively. Businesspeople approached us and warned us to stop taking photographs within the building, especially during the evening to night time. In the day time, barely any shops were open to be able to offer us any information. For the shops that were open, most were quite wary and did not want to be interviewed.
We had to change our approach.
Most of night-time photographs and video footage on this website were taken surreptitiously with phone cameras. Faces of the ladies of the night and their guests are blurred to protect their identities beyond a “need to know” basis in their field of work.
The management of the building ignored our calls and emails, and few shopowners were willing to speak to us. We did, however, manage to get hold of interviewees from Project X, a local organisation for sex workers that runs a help center in Orchard Towers. Through them, we were directed to shops that were willing to participate in our open interviews.
Finally, to capture the sense of antiquity and a time gone by, we physically went down to the National Library Board to acquire archived newspaper articles the way they were originally printed. They can be seen throughout this website -the stain of a dark past lingering in the background of every thought in the present.
WHO WE INTERVIEWED
Our interviewees include Shop owners of retail and services, food store operators, a representative of a welfare organisation and even a 'beauty parlor' owner. It was essential to gather perspectives from every stakeholder at Orchard Towers, because the community makes the building.
These people are living storybooks that document how the building has fallen to where it is today.
Although the management was unable to provide essential information, we were able to piece together parts of its history from research from the National Library as well as online resources.