Dawson Estate in Queenstown will be the new face of public housing - flats done condo-style by top home-grown architects
GARDEN TWIST: Surbana International Consultants plans to extend a linear park so that it becomes a rising, winding landscaped path around the blocks. -- PHOTO: HDB
UNDER ONE ROOF: Flats under SCDA Architects' housing concept will be designed such that they can be easily joined to let different generations of a family live together.
'It's not going to be expensive housing, just smarter in design'- Woha Architects founding director Richard Hassell. His firm's concept lets owners customise their homes' facadesGROUND-LEVEL parks extend to the doorsteps of residents’ homes and flats come with ceilings tall enough for lofts to be built.
These perks are not the latest offerings of swanky condo projects but new ideas for public housing in Queenstown.
Conceived by top local architects and unveiled at the Housing Board’s (HDB) ongoing Remaking Our Heartland exhibition, the new concepts also promise to bring high-rise communities closer and promote an environmentally sustainable lifestyle.
At the heart of all this future action is Dawson Estate, a 60ha district in Queenstown bounded by Margaret Drive, Tanglin Road, Alexandra Road, Commonwealth Avenue and Queensway.
This former housing and entertainment hot spot was developed in the 1950s by the HDB’s predecessor, the Singapore Improvement Trust.
It now has just 3,000 flats and tracts of land ripe for redevelopment after blocks of flats were cleared in the 1980s and 1990s.
It is expected to house about 10,000 more apartments in the future.
To bring a fresh spin to public housing, the HDB took the unprecedented step of commissioning Surbana International Consultants, Woha Architects and SCDA Architects earlier this year to conceptualise three separate precincts comprising 3,100 homes.
The brief: to introduce flats with seamless access to greenery, waterscapes and surrounding facilities, and promote closer ties, all on a tight budget.
While the HDB was tight-lipped about the construction budget it gave the architects to work with, SCDA’s design principal Chan Soo Khian estimated that he had to design flats that could be built with roughly half of what it would cost to put up luxury condos fully fitted with items like wardrobes and cabinets.
Most HDB flats do not come with fittings.
The HDB said it will work closely with the private architects to develop a cost-effective design.
Each firm had its own ideas: Surbana extended a future linear park into a winding landscaped path around the blocks; SCDA gave the bigger flats enough vertical space for lofts; and Woha envisioned a block facade reflecting individual home owners’ tastes.
Said Mr Chan: ‘Doing a public-housing project means you have to work within tighter constraints. It means, in a modern way, your design is purer.
‘You don’t depend on embellishments to make it a good project. You’re not worried about the inside, what kind of fitting is going where. In some (private) projects, you spend so much time just worrying about the kitchens and fittings.’
But certain private-housing elements are likely to pop up in the Dawson projects.
Woha, which recently won a prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture for its private project 1 Moulmein Rise, wants to offer the monsoon window it introduced there as one of the options for Dawson home buyers.
This contraption is a bay window with a horizontal opening that lets the breeze in but keeps out the rain.
Woha’s founding director Richard Hassell said: ‘It’s not going to be expensive housing, just smarter in design.’
Work on the first of these Dawson flats is expected to begin in the next three to four years.
The upcoming estates will give new families a higher chance of living near the city centre, said head of HDB’s urban design unit Kathleen Goh.
Currently, new flats near the central areas tend to be built only when existing residents in the vicinity are being resettled, leaving a limited number for newcomers.
The upcoming 3,100 homes in Dawson are likely to be fully available to new families.
Ms Goh revealed that families buying separate homes in the same housing estate would be able to buy adjoining units.
These units could also be combined sideways or even vertically to encourage different generations to live together. Their layouts will be flexible so that families can make adjustments if their needs change.
So far, the exhibition has drawn 62,000 visitors. One of them is architect Khoo Peng Beng, who designed the first 50-storey public-housing blocks here, now under construction in Tanjong Pagar.
Back in 2002, when his firm ARC Studio Architecture + Urbanism proposed having high-rise gardens and sky bridges link seven towers for the international design competition for that project, such ideas were still relatively novel.
He said: ‘HDB has come a long way. For a long time, the evolution of HDB design was very functional. This time, I think there is a more emotional and integrated approach to how we look at public housing.’
If the Dawson proposals are well-received, the HDB will consider inviting private architects again to conceptualise future public-housing projects.
The Remaking Our Heartland exhibition is held at various housing districts until Oct 3. Check out http://heartland.hdb.gov.sg/ for details.
‘It’s not going to be expensive housing, just smarter in design’
Woha Architects founding director Richard Hassell. His firm’s concept lets owners customise their homes’ facades
Lofty Ideas
SHADES OF STYLE: The perforated concrete covering central staircase cores lets sunlight cast changing patterns on the block at different times of the day, and provides shade for pedestrians and privacy for residents living in flats around the stairs (Left). -- PHOTO: HDBWHO: SCDA Architects
Where: Off Dawson Road
Number of flats: About 800 on 2.2ha of land
Tall ceilings in living rooms with enough space for lofts can be found in the bigger flats in this project.
SHADES OF STYLE: The perforated concrete covering central staircase cores (Left) lets sunlight cast changing patterns on the block at different times of the day, and provides shade for pedestrians and privacy for residents living in flats around the stairs. -- PHOTO: HDBThey are stacked in an interlocking manner with smaller flats so that entrances between them can be created easily if owners want to join the units. This makes it easy for different generations of a family to live together or near each other, or for people to run home offices.
Central staircase cores covered with perforated concrete shield users from the sun while giving privacy to residents living in flats clustered around them.
As the sun moves throughout the day, its light will cast changing patterns through the perforations in the wall.
Carpark space for the five blocks will be provided under a green deck and lit by natural light to save energy.
The cascading landscaped terraces are designed to merge seamlessly with a linear park in front of the project.
Rent a 'shed' for business
VIEW FROM THE TOP: Flats will be built such that residents can look into the sky villages, which come with facilities like playgrounds.WHO: Woha Architects
Where: Dawson Road
Number of flats: About 1,000 units on 2.7ha of land
Communities of about 70 to 80 households each will share a high-rise space called a 'sky village' with greenery and other facilities like playgrounds.
Homes in each cluster will get a clear view of that communal space, so parents can keep an eye on children at the playground.
Within this village, there will be about 10 'sheds' the size of a master bedroom each that flat owners can rent to run small businesses or jam with their garage band.
Buyers get to choose the facade of their flats in the precinct's six blocks, so the buildings start 'showing the personality of people living in it', said Woha's founding director Richard Hassell.
They get their pick of balconies, planter boxes as well as Woha's special monsoon window, which consists of a bay window with a horizontal opening at its base, which can be left open even when it rains.
Woha also proposes its housing blocks be covered with solar cells so that the buildings can generate enough energy to run themselves and even feed power into the national energy grid in the future.
Market gets new lease of life
DOUBLE DUTY: Surbana's proposal has service-related outlets on the ground floor of the market and a multi-purpose hall will occupy the upper level.WHO: Surbana International Consultants
Where: Commonwealth Avenue
Number of flats: 1,300 on 3.3ha of land
You will never know where the park ends and where this neighbourhood begins.
An upcoming linear park near the site will be extended six storeys upwards via a gentle ramp covered with greenery.
This green link will meander 600m in a figure-of-eight shape around the lower levels of the 12 48-storey blocks, giving visitors a tree-top experience of the old angsana specimens in the area.
The site incorporates the central part of the old Queenstown town centre, a bustling location in the 1960s and 1970s where three cinemas, a bowling alley and the Emporium and Golden Crown Restaurant once stood.
Most of the facilities have been phased out or demolished but the market with its distinctive parabolic-shaped roof still stands.
In Surbana's proposal, the market will get service-related outlets on the ground floor and a multi-purpose hall on the upper level which can be the venue for dances, weddings and art exhibitions.
An alfresco dining area will be created by the old market where residents can relax under the shade of the many mature trees.
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