TEXT & PHOTO: DARREN SOH
(For Thai, press here)
One of Singapore’s greatest successes is its public housing programme which completely transformed how its citizens lived over a span of 64 years. The government agency overseeing this programme is the Housing & Development Board (HDB). The HDB was formed on 1 February 1960 and has been in charge of building affordable and liveable homes for the population of Singapore since. Over 80% of Singaporeans live in public housing that is subsidised and developed by the HDB for the people.
HDB Public Housing architecture has evolved with the times as well, and I have attempted to show this evolution through the 20 images shown here that are arranged chronologically from some of the first apartments built in the early 1960s to the latest projects completed just last year in 2023. From 1991 onwards, the HDB started to work with private sector architects instead of designing all projects in-house. This has contributed strongly to a larger diversity of building designs after the 1990s. Along the way, the HDB also went from building standard “slab” and “tower” blocks to a Postmodern phase of ornamental embellishments to super high-rise living and today a strong focus on biophilic design.
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A sociologist by training, Darren Soh is an architecture and landscape photographer. Darren’s personal works are an extension of his curiosity about how we live and the spaces we create as well as leave behind. He has a particular interest in modernist architecture as well as public housing and is a founding member of the Singapore chapter of DOCOMOMO. Darren is currently working on a volume documenting the Housing & Development Board’s architectural work in public housing spanning the last sixty four years.
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