5. NEIGHBOURHOOD LANDSCAPES

The three studios in this section reimagined neighbourhood landscapes, paying close attention to questions of place identity and community participation.

AY12/13-1 LA4701 Studio

Reimagining HDB Landscape

Tutor: Hwang Yun Hye

(With support from Jurong Town Council)

Key Themes

Tangible and intangible cultural heritage; Community-based participatory design process; Environmental ownership; Landscape services of residential housing estates; Place-making in Singapore’s public housing estates

Students: Yap Lai Fong Anna, Fu Mao Ying, Heng Juit Lian, Pham Le Anh, Mak Ronnie, Darne Shamy Vivek, Wong Ruen Qing, Yeo Jia Hao, Zhang Rong

AY 16/17-2 LA4702 Studio

The Cultural Landscape of Whampoa

Tutor: Diehl Jessica Ann

Students: Chandra Amanda Jennifer, Bai Zhuhui, Dai Junwei, Sun Hao Jen Ashley, Wu Yitong, Yan Ran

AY18/19-1 LA4701 Studio

Landscape Services in the HDB Heartland

Tutors: Endo Kenya, Yip Melissa

(With support from Housing Development Board)

Students: Bao Lixia, Chai Tianqi, Chan Wing Fai, Chen Beifei, Chen Nan, Dai Yuke, Dong Yitong, Eingeel Jafar Khan, Hou Yanru, Isabel Villegas Molina, Jiang Jiahang, Li Ziheng, Liu Ye, Manasi Prabhudesai, Mitali Kumar, Muhammad Rahmat Bin Khairudin, Radha Waykool, Tang Mengjiao, Toh Zi Gui, Vinamra Agarwal, Yang Xiaowen, Yu Xi, Zhang Qinqin

Since the early 1960s, Singapore’s Housing & Development Board (HDB) has provided affordable public housing. Today, over 80% of Singaporeans live in HDB flats. However, today’s changing socio-cultural context requires the rejuvenation of HDB landscapes to consider rapid economic growth, greening policies, and innovative technologies. At the same time, there is a need to celebrate the diverse multicultural heritage of Singapore residents through landscapes designed to avoid the anonymity of a global city: landscapes must have meaning and also ground us. Neighbourhood landscapes are not isolated patches but are embedded in larger ecosystems. These landscape connections are easily overlooked, as ever-increasing densities and building heights decrease human engagement at ground level, reinforcing residents’ negative mindset about the effects of tropical climate, noise, and other environmental discomforts on outside activities. There is a need to develop new socio-ecological strategies to bring residents outside and connect them with nature and their neighbours.

RESILIENT LANDSCAPE IN HDB by Jiang Jiahan (MLA’20) was proposed with a vision to treat and retain stormwater on site in the short-term, then mimic the natural water cycle to create a better microhabitat in the long term. This was a result of having identified that the site had an extensive area of hard surface and many channelized drains.

MULTIFUNCTIONAL SPACES - TRANSFORMING HDB CARPARKS by Mak Ronnie (MLA’13) considered underutilized and thermally uncomfortable car parks in HDB as potential design site, and proposed a multifunctional spaces with large canopy trees that can be used for day markets and sport fields in the daytime.

Three design studios between 2011 and 2018 studied three resident housing estates in Singapore. Built in the 1980s, Yu Hua HDB estate (MLA’13) was Singapore’s first green neighbourhood. Teck Ghee (MLA’20) was built in the 1970s. Together, they represent two typical housing estates in the Singapore heartland. Centrally located Whampoa (MLA’18), one of the oldest residential neighbourhoods in Singapore, is a mix of HDB, condo, and landed houses and has a large aging population. Common questions investigated in the studios were the following: Can the increased intensity of neighbourly interaction increase environmental ownership? What is the best way to enhance environmental qualities while meeting various demands? How can we provide more customized space to enhance the quality of the place? Can landscape contribute to change residents’ indoor-centred life style? How do we mediate between centralized policies and ecological vision to achieve genuine sustainability? How do we re-imagine the HDB landscape at different scales? How do we enable more people to enjoy their neighbourhood area? How do functions, meanings, values and histories create visible and invisible layers in the landscape? Can we look to our landscape and the places around us to tell us who we are? What innovative methods / technologies are available to optimize limited land spaces? Will the space be friendly to wildlife as well? Will the proposed schemes or principles be flexible enough to be implemented in other estates in Singapore?

The neighbourhood studios began with a conceptual and technical understanding of planning and demographics in Singapore through readings, lectures, and guest speakers. Students focused on collecting, interpreting and presenting the diverse social life and rich cultural heritage of each community. There was an emphasis on informal interactions and observations and formal survey data collection to learn about the needs and preferences of the local residents. MLA class of 2018 also leveraged “Curating Whampoa” a concurrent interdisciplinary community project (Tsao Foundation, National Heritage Board, Dr. Thomas Kong). The second half of each studio focused on the development of feasible social and ecological strategies for improving the place identity of the HDB estate setting. Final projects ranged in scale and scope, including heritage trails, void deck interventions, and biodiversity forests to increase human-nature contact. explored the historical land development changes in Singapore with emphasis on the development of the HDB from the 1960’s through to the current development.

Related Outcomes

Student Dissertation

Goh Weixiang (MLA’15) Potential of Domestic Gardening in Public Housing to Contribute to Biodiversity

Fu Maoying (MLA’13) Everyday Landscape in Transitional Urban Space: Integrating Nature and Architecture as a Singular Seamless Landscape

Mak Ronnie (MLA’13) Green Spaces in Public Housing in Singapore: A Precinct Level Documentation of Their Evolution Between an old and new housing estate

Zhang Rong (MLA’13) A study of Urban Green Spaces in Singapore’s residential towns

Student Awards

2012 SILA Student Design Awards, Best Design Showcase (Silver) & Innovation Construction Award (Gold), Multi-functional space, Mak Ronnie (MLA’13)

2012 SILA Student Design Awards, Contextual Analysis & Investigations Award (Gold), Reimaging HDB Void deck: in & out, Zhang Rong (MLA’13)

Published Papers

Cook [Diehl], J.A. (Editor), 2017, MLA studio: The Cultural Landscape of Whampoa, NUS.

Hwang Y. H. (Editor), 2012 MLA studio: reimagining HDB landscape, CASA, NUS, HDB, and Jurong Town Council, ISBN 978-981-07-0953-2