PlayPan social movement finds new home at Far East Square

It hopes to transform domed venue into space for events with social impact focus

- Christie Chiu and Kolette Lim

The social movement that took over and rejuvenated the historic Peace Centre mall in October 2023 and postponed its demolition now has a new space to call home.

Almost a year after leaving the Sophia Road landmark in January, PlayPan itself was given a new lease of life when Far East Square mall offered up one of its underutilised spaces for PlayPan's next project.

Dubbed the Glass Dome and situated in the heart of the Central Business District, the venue had been vacant for around six years before PlayPan moved there in November, said PlayPan founders Gary Hong and Yvonne Siow.

Speaking to The Straits Times at a celebration on Dec 6 to mark the big move, the founders said they had no intention of continuing a long-term physical version of the movement.

Mr Hong, 51, said: "Peace Centre was just meant to be a passion project to prove to the public that there are social movements like this... but when we saw the Glass Dome for the first time, we couldn't believe such a nice place could be so underutilised."

Despite calling the space a "utopia", Mr Hong said preparing the Glass Dome - which boasts 8,176 sq m of space across two floors and is more modern than the 1977-built Peace Centre - to be a home for PlayPan's activities was "not easy".