There are 171 malls in the 710 sq kilometre island of Singapore offering something for every lifestyle – get blessed by your pastor in a thousand-seat congregation, get serenaded by a sexy karaoke bar hostess, bring your kids to math enrichment class while you get a foot massage, or do your weekly groceries.

In 2021, research-oriented design practice Spatial Anatomy did a one-year study on Singapore’s mall landscape, largely focusing on strata-titled malls, a typology of older malls where individual units, as opposed to the entire development, are owned by different owners. These malls offer a sense of autonomy, with shopkeepers setting their own rules, and communities forming around niche cultures. Within these sleepy structures sitting on prime real estate, it is not uncommon to hear about looming land sales leaving livelihoods of tenants hanging uncertain. With multiple stakeholders and opposing incentives, a mall’s value is subjective and reflects one’s personal values and sense of belonging.

Completed in 1973 and seeing its last month of operation in April 2023, Golden Mile Complex was designed to be a self-contained city. The mixed-use complex has most recently served bus tour operators and shops frequented by the local Thai population. Together with offices, apartments, an independent cinema and foreigners arriving by bus, the building is a mixed stew of cultures. After a fierce fight by heritage activists to conserve Golden Mile, the government announced that the building would remain, even in its repurposed identity as a luxury hotel and retail development. While the iconic building would be the first modern, large-scale, strata-titled development to be conserved in Singapore, the communities within it will be displaced. Many wonder what happens to a structure when its original spirit is lost.