Singapore — Here is a new building you might want to check out: It is made entirely out of recycled container units piled on top of one another and repurposed as multi-purpose and project studios with skylights and whitewashed walls.

Some of the studios even have a pool view — the Kallang Basin Swimming Complex is just next door. The studios are suited for art-making across all practices, and the central atrium space can be hired out for exhibitions, events, workshops and talks.

This is the new modular project studio concept, known as the Greenfield Project or “Block O” at the Goodman Arts Centre (GAC), which started construction last year.

Completed just this month, it is hosting a coming-out party as part of the first Tanjong Goodman Weekend Market this weekend, that combines the successful Great Singapore Garbage Sale now in its seventh edition with an artisanal flea market that includes a book exchange. Even the in-house restaurant La Barca Ristorante is getting in on the action and will serve burrata and mozzarella cheeses while other vendors such as Coffee Bandits and halal restaurant Word dish out java and rainbow bagels.

But Block O is more than just an event space. Tenants will move in from next month “which is intended as an extension of GAC, providing more spaces for interested artists and art groups. The former football field was left unutilised and seen as prime space for building these repurposed container studios”, said Evan Hwong, senior manager, Place-making for GAC, adding that GAC has received many requests from art groups wanting to lease a space.

“With the inclusion of Block O and with more events planned at Goodman Arts Centre, we hope to strengthen our vision as a vibrant centre for artists and art groups, as well as one that provides a wide range of art offerings that engage communities, in particular within this precinct.”

He explained that the neighbourhood has been very much involved in shaping the centre since it opened in 2011. Tenants and members of the public living nearby drop by the lush community gardens often to help GAC staff tend to it.

GAC is also home to a cat playground created recently for the many cats living in the area. GAC’s neighbour, Dakota Crescent, is one of Singapore’s oldest public housing estates built in 1958, which has been earmarked for redevelopment and residents are to vacate by end of the year. Drama Box invited some children to imagine future possibilities for the spot and one of the ideas was a cat playground installation. This was brought to life by a group of Nanyang Polytechnic students and is located at Goodman Arts Centre as part of Drama Box’s IgnorLand Of Its Loss project.

GAC currently houses a diversity of artists and art groups such as artist illustrator Sonny Liew and visual arts collective Vertical Submarine. Some of these artists and arts groups organise classes and workshops for the public, such as Asparas Arts. Most days you can walk by their studio and hear the sounds of traditional Indian dance classes in progress.

With its artistic idiosyncrasies, it looks like the former campus of LaSalle College of the Arts is becoming an even more vibrant space for the arts community.