Voids in the Deck
Once, where the void deck stood as one of the primary requirements and characteristics of public housing blocks in Singapore, and part of the pillars of community bonding, today, new typologies experiment with creating a community, without the void deck. One such example is the Treelodge @ Punggol. Comprising of several blocks with 15 storeys...
Void Deck Community in Transition
In Singapore, blocks of Housing Development Board(HDB) flats make up much of the urban grain of the city. Community spaces are designed for; nothing is left to the imagination or to spontaneity. Context The speed at which urbanization and development has taken place in Singapore has had largely positive impact on the economy and quality...
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...
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...
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....