Roaming the Block is conceived around a 60-year-old HDB slab- block, Block 50 in Bukit Ho Swee, an area scarred by the historic fire of 1961. Currently, it has a specific configuration where all of its units are only single-bedroom apartments. Some of these units are being used as rental flats, indicating a diverse occupancy that includes both owner-occupied and rented living spaces.

 

‘The roaming block’ refers to a series of transient infrastructural additions that create a new public housing typology, inculcating flexible room and block reconfigurations. The aim is to facilitate the creation of temporary event spaces for celebrating work, community, and the estate’s practices that are rapidly forgotten. For this, the project situates itself within the temporal space of the Hungry Ghost Festival. It reimagines how the old block can be activated by a new generation of occupants, the majority of whom work at home. It reimagines how an estate steeped in sociocultural and historical significance might animate the contemporary landscape of home-based work- life.

 

The project investigates the following questions: How can the design of transient infrastructural additions in public housing, foster community interaction among a diverse mix of residents who are increasingly working from home? In what ways can the temporary spaces proposed serve to preserve and celebrate the cultural heritage and history of a place especially in the context of modern urban living and the Hungry Ghost Festival?