100 Blocks, 100 Designs

An ongoing personal project that features my first few works! Hope you enjoy.

100 Blocks, 100 Designs is an exploration of identity, place, and memory within Singapore's rapidly evolving public housing landscape. With the adoption of the standardized three-digit-number-with-a-letter-at-the-back numbering of newer HDB blocks, those with single and double-digit units are a thing of the past - showing signs of age yet outstanding originality.

To preserve and celebrate this character, I went around to photograph these surviving estates and create a unique design inspired by each one using my own creativity. Each block and each curated design are specially different from each other.

From blocks 1-100, every block is represented through their photos and bespoke typographic marks, forming a visual archive that captures both the architecture and the spirit of these still-standing houses.

Block 4 @ Changi Village Road

One of the last surviving rural centres of Singapore since its completion in the mid-1970s.

Block 7 @ Lorong Lew Lian

Built in the late-1970s, this HDB estate consisting of 8 respective blocks became the first of its kind in the Serangoon vicinity.

Literally putting the Merah in Bukit Merah

Block 12 @ Jalan Bukit Merah, Brickworks Estate

Modeled using Blender

Block 13 @ Farnborough Road, Changi Village

Having used to be a part of a bigger colonial housing estate, its neighbors were razed due to the Changi Village Redevelopment project that happened in the early-1970s. Block 13 and its single sibling (Block 15 behind Sree Ramar Temple) continue to stand tall at a plot quietly, right next to the currently bustling Changi Village Estate.

As per the recently rainbow-colored scheme on the estate

Block 14 @ Kampong Arang Road, Tanjong Rhu/Mountbatten Road Estate

This estate was one of the first few projects immediately established by HDB since their formation in 1960, making them one of the oldest public housing estates of Singapore at a whopping 75-ish years.

Block 19 @ Joo Seng Road, Upper Aljunied Estate

Block 23 @ Haig Road, Haig Road Estate

As per the divided triangular design of the facade on the corridors

Block 24 @ Eunos Crescent, Jalan Eunos Estate 1

The conjoined H-shaped buildings have a sloped roof similar to HDBs of Potong Pasir

Block 31 @ Defu Lane 10, Defu Industrial Estate

Although not ideal or visually appealing as it is, I wanted to put in a unique entry like this. These buildings have stood for approximately 50 years since their construction in the 1970s, continuing to service local industrial firms.