The Social Memories of a Voiddeck
“downstair” Directed By Diya Tan Produced By Quek Hui Min, Helmi Ali Director of Photography PK Tan This film was produced as a final-year project in the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information (WKWSCI), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. All Rights Reserved 2008. downstair. A colloquial and affectionate term used by many when referring...
Whose void deck is it anyway? Not here then where?
Recently, the communal beauty that the void deck represented has been tainted with a case of ‘NIMBY’ or ‘Not in my Backyard’, a concern recently raised my our own Prime Minister. A couple of months ago, residents in Woodlands and Toh Yi petitioned against the construction of elder case facilities in their own estates, claiming that it was not that...
The Politics in Public housing : the ideology driver of the government
Pinnacle @ Duxton. Topped out with a viewing gallery soaring 50 stories above ground only open to VIPs, is THE crowning glory of Singapore’s Public Housing Development Since the inception of Singapore, the PAP government has never strayed from its commitment to provide public housing for the whole nation. To them, continuing support for public...
Community in a high rise environment
Enjoying the last few moments together before it walks into history – Block 9 Ghim Moh Road Appreciating the obstacles to its emergence, the need for community in high-rise residential housing estates has always been an important concern of planners and architects. Invariably, every architectural drawing of a single blocks of flats will provide...
Queenstown – the cradle of Singapore’s housing development
Queenstown MRT Station signage and HDB flats flanking the MRT station in the background Picture adapted from : http://shutterventures.wordpress.com/ Queenstown was the first Satellite new town to be proposed in Singapore. It the proposed site for Queenstown was an amalgamation of acquired land from the Commissioner of Lands in 1926 and the villagers. The...
Community gardening – Community ungardening
Clementi Makeshift Farm getting the boot, literally. Copyright © Matthew Allen, WSJ A community garden is a single piece of land gardened collectively by a group of people. ...
Place making and identity in housing estates: who murdered public spaces in HDB estates?
Almost Void Deck – HDB Serangoon © Übersee ‘Void decks’ or the vacant space on the ground level of each block became an architectural feature of HDB residential blocks from the 1970s onwards – as the ‘sheltered space in the ground floor’ of most blocks [Ooi and Tan, 1992], designed to fulfil a number of different functions....
The Disappearing Voids
A void deck is an essential part of each an every HDB heart lander. The void deck, is the only other shared facility within HDB estates that promote spontaneous and Incidental happenings to happen. With the removal of the void deck, the residents living in this “pigeon-hole” configuration apartment blocks have one less...