Behind the Wall
Visitor Interpretive Centre (VIC)
Bachelor Project | Semester 3, 2018
Area: 360 m2
Location: Leprosy Valley of Hope, Sungai Buloh, Malaysia
"A Portal to a Leprosy Patient's Isolated Emotional World."
From facing society’s rejection to adapting to a new environment, to finally establishing a new life that they long desired, and the regrets they have to face in exchange, the VIC will uncover several layers of emotions that a leper (abbreviation for leprosy patient) has to undergo throughout their lifetime. Hopefully at the end of the journey, visitors will have a better understanding towards the lepers, and initiate efforts to diminish the unnecessary barrier between us and the leprosy community, because in the end it is our ignorance and ostracism that caused them to live a life full of regrets. The VIC is a reflection of how society's attitudes and decisions had scarred their lives.
Behind the wall lies an evergreen open gallery that is perforated with landscapes from the community garden below. In the form of a plaza stairs, this open gallery is a permeable structure that represents a newfound community and a newly established life in the settlement, where the leprosy patients found a sense of belonging. Its openness allows the diffusion of local community from the garden into the gallery, in terms of sound and sight as heard and observed by visitors as they ascend the gallery.
At the highest point of the gallery, visitors can enjoy a panoramic view of the chalets that are well organised in clusters - made possible due to the discovery of dapsone which subsequently allowed marriage life. This is the point where the lepers felt a strong sense of hope as they were finally allowed to lead a life like a normal person - to have family.
Whereas the indoor gallery on the upper floor represents the inner sorrows and pain experienced by the lepers, but hidden deep in their heart. Another segregation policy later separated them with their flesh and blood. At the same time, the mainstream society was ignorant about them, therefore there were rejections from the society towards them. Despite their strong will & determination to search for their offsprings, reunite with families and return to the mainstream society, their voices remain unheard. Such hardships are translated into a dark and converging gallery space, with a tempting view that the visitors can see, but never reach: to represent the lepers’ ultimate yearning and greatest regret in life.
Rendered helpless, lepers are in a way, forced to remain in their own community. What can they do, cry on their lives until the day they die? Instead of crying, most of the lepers have chosen to carry on with their lives with a smiling face, hence the mask of happiness we see on them. So at the end of the journey, visitors will return to the ground level at the courtyard, a grey zone between the lepers’ community (garden) and the outer world (multipurpose hall), mixed with happiness, sadness and regrets.
The huge wall has been sliced open; the barrier diminished.
Now that you've known what has happened to the leprosy community, what do you plan to do?
