🏙 Cities in Mind is your go-to destination to learn about cities, technology, innovation and the people behind them. All that through an Asian perspective.
About me: 👋🏻 I am Fabien, an urban planner based in Singapore since 2015. I write this regular newsletter and host a podcast series, that you can find on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
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In this episode, we’ll discuss about innovations in public housing design in Southeast Asia, looking at the examples of Singapore and Vietnam.
“Many future generations of Singaporeans will continue to grow up in HDB (Housing Development Board) townships, and their collective experiences will continue to be a major part of our national identity”
Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
I meet with Manuel der Hagopian, a Swiss architect, partner at G8A Architects, a design and architecture firm operating in Geneva, Singapore, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
From the pergola of G8A Architects’s agency set in the trendy neighbourhood of Tiong Bahru, we explore the interlinkages between public housing production, architectural breakthroughs and collective identity building and discuss the iconic Punggol Waterway Terraces, a public housing complex in Singapore that Manuel and his team delivered in 2015.
Enjoy!
Some resources that I have used to prepare for this episode:
Building across East and West Swiss architecture firm makes its mark on Singapore landscape.
A century of public housing: lessons from Singapore, where housing is a social, not financial, asset
“Building Dreams, Housing Hopes”, Singapore’s Housing Development Board Roadmap to Better Living
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