Uncovering Bukit Brown
UI/UX | Proposal
The Bukit Brown Municipal Cemetery was announced in 2011, researchers, archivists and volunteers have taken part in documentation of the tombstones affected. The exhumation which began in earnest in 2013 affected 5% of the 100,000 graves spread across a 213-acre site. The cemetery officially opened in 1922 and closed in 1973; with one of the oldest tombstones discovered, date back to 1833.
Although the area affected to make way for a new highway is comparatively small, it is still a dent in understanding Singapore's forefathers. The fate of the remaining plot has yet been decided but it is only a matter of time before more of it makes way for new developments.
Inspired by a recent tour, the team put together an idea for a website repository that seeks to A) combine the various Bukit Brown websites , B) allow researchers to geo-tag tombstones, which translates into C) a map that allows users to appreciate the sheer scale of 213 acres, and 100,000 graves and the reclaimed area. D) this website offers an alternative exploratory mode similar to how Pokémon Go or Ingress works—that allows visitors to actually tour the site on their own and recover information about the tombstones they're seeing via GPS.
