Singapore Housing: Past, Present, Future at the HDB Gallery

Museum geek alert! Now that I’m working at the HDB hub, I have many opportunities to check out the HDB gallery. This gallery showcases the development of the Singapore public housing over the years and is open to the public. (frankly, I probably wouldn’t have known of this place if it wasn’t for a fellow museum geek. And he doesn’t even work at HDB!) With approximately 80 percent of the Singapore population living in flats, HDB has come a long way since forming in 1960. Today, HDB also plays a consultant role in housing issues to countries such as Hong Kong and those in the Middle East. The first display that visitors see in the gallery is this pin model. It has a panel of metal pins placed upon a giant book. At the touch of a button, the book slowly lowers, leaving behind several “blocks” of pins in varying sizes and heights. They reveal the shapes and designs of HDB housing blocks. It actually looks pretty neat! The colourful map shows the various housing estates in Singapore. Each estate lights up when you press the corresponding button on the input panels. This “memory lane” passageway is lined with television [...]