SINGAPORE – Peace Centre was meant to go by August, but the old mall in Sophia Road has been given an extended lease of life.

Built in 1977, Peace Centre was sold in a joint collective sale to CEL Development, Sing-Haiyi Crystal and Ultra Infinity two years ago, and was slated for demolition in August 2023.

But its owners decided to postpone the demolition to 2024 after hearing about the building’s potential to house community-building efforts – an idea raised by good friends Gary Hong and Yvonne Siow.

The pair then mooted PlayPan, a social movement to transform the 400,000 sq ft retail space into a vibrant playground for creative collaborations, businesses and events driven by positive change.

In October, PlayPan took over the building and can use the space until January 2024 for non-profit, community and social engagement activities.

Mr Hong, who founded car-vending machine Ten Square, said that PlayPan is a social experiment that aims to drive positive change through “play for good”.

Ms Siow said: “In this space, we all come together and collaborate to reimagine how we give back.”

She said she hopes their new way of engaging the youth can train them to be leaders who are empathetic and compassionate.

PlayPan has offered its space to various social enterprises, and worked with about 50 collaborators to host events such as World Sight Day, where eye screening has been offered to more than 120 elderly residents.

Central Singapore District Mayor Denise Phua attended the event and said in a Facebook post on Oct 13 that PlayPan’s different collaborations were the “best kept secret” at Peace Centre.

She also encouraged her followers to visit the repurposed mall.

Street art

PlayPan has also invited local artists to use the mall for mural and street art.

Mr Mohamed Iqbal, who goes by the artist name EBAO and co-founded street art crew DPLMT, seized the opportunity and turned one of Peace Centre’s toilets into what could be Singapore’s first “glow in the dark toilet”.

In October, he and his team covered the walls of the toilet with extensive artwork using UV spray paint.

He said he appreciated the opportunity to do street art in an abandoned shopping mall, as such spaces are not easy to come by.

In Singapore, street art is usually commissioned and allowed only in designated spaces.

In the coming weeks, Mr Iqbal will be partnering Lost SG, which offers escape rooms, to create a glow-in-the-dark escape room at Peace Centre.

Starting this Friday, DPLMT will also be running weekend spray-painting workshops for those who want to learn about street art.

Thrift shop

Peace Centre is now also home to social enterprise Thryft, Second Story: Peace Edition, which is the online thrift store’s bricks-and-mortar outlet.

Spread out over three curated units previously occupied by music retailer City Music, Thryft sells pre-loved clothes, books and vinyls.

Founder Eddie Lim, 26, said he joined PlayPan as he was excited by the scale of the space, which could showcase Thryft’s inventory of more than 50,000 books and 20,000 pieces of clothing.

People can donate books and clothes to Thryft in exchange for store credits, which they can use to buy items from its shop.

They can also ask Thryft to donate the monetary value of these credits to charities such as WWF Singapore and Lakeside Family Services, with Thryft donating an additional 1 per cent of its profits.

Mr Lim said Thryft and PlayPan have similar goals of creating positive social and environmental impact through business.

He added that he is grateful that PlayPan has given businesses with social-impact driven visions a chance to thrive.

Horror house

Peace Centre also hosted the Rest.In.Peace Centre Horror Experience from Oct 13 to Nov 13.

The idea came about when Ms Gina Pang, a friend of Mr Hong, thought it would be fitting to turn the building, which has a reputation of being “haunted”, into a Halloween horror house.

Ms Pang, chief marketing officer of Oceanus Media Global, eventually organised the event in collaboration with different interested communities.

For instance, students from surrounding schools pitched in to write ghost stories based on Asian horror lore, and a recycling company provided various pieces of furniture to build the set.

Priced at $23 per person, the event was a hit, getting more than 1,000 visitors.

A Klook user who went for the event said the atmosphere, complete with a “musty smell”, was great. He also lauded the creative use of an old building for a horror event.

Mr Michael Ng, executive director of CEL Development, one of the building’s owners, said he was impressed that PlayPan could achieve so much in a short time and with little resources.

He added that allowing PlayPan to take over Peace Centre is also a good way of “saying goodbye to the over 40-year-old landmark building that has stood tall in the cultural and historic district”.

“It is also in some ways preparing the property for a significant transformation to an entirely new development that we hope will add to the vibrancy and multi-faceted fabric and rich heritage of the vicinity.”