Monotonous High rise Housing in other parts of the world has generally gotten bad press. Something that was once a vision for ambitious urban planners resulted in the residualisation of many towns in the west. In Singapore however, it seemed to work out perfectly.

The Housing Development Board (HDB) (the equivalent of council housing) was introduced after Singapore gained independence in 1965. Ordinary as these flats appeared, the planning and consideration it took to make mass housing development in Singapore successful differed greatly from the west.

“The Singapore model stands out as a highly efficient alternative in a landscape of near universal pessimism about a makeable future, a pertinent can-do world of clearly defined ambitions, long-term strategies, a ruthless determination to avoid the debris and chaos that democracy leaves in its wake elsewhere,” But why was it so successful?

As mentioned in the ISOCARP Congress in 2008, “The transformation and modernization of Singapore epitomizes to an even greater degree than Brasilia, the modernist tenants outlined by Le Corbusier and others…but perhaps more alarming are the rapid social transformation of the habits and lifestyle of most Singaporean citizens. Unlike Brasilia, the recent transformation of Singapore is rarely connected to the modernist ideology… much of the transformation was not promoted under modernism, but instead under the guise of ‘creating a green city’,”

“The ring plan for Singapore, with its planned dispersal of population to outlying areas, was not unlike the 1944 British New Towns Strategy.”

Despite being an extremely young country who had recently received her independence, Singapore took a risky yet ambitious twist – following the Le Corbusier plan for a contemporary city.

“URA proposals for housing developments for the future have included high-density developments…the concept of a vertical city by Le Corbusier may just be the solution to Singapore’s problem of land and scarcity,”

Like Le Corbusier, Lee Kuan Yew rejected a model that would improve upon or retrofit the existing city to make it better and demanded instead that the only solution was a completely fresh start.

Le Corbusier believed that people prefered to live in suburbs rather than in cities, and therefore basesed his theory of urban planning on the idea that the center should be for commerce and some public services, and that it should be surrounded by two belts of residential areas – one with “blocks of dwellings on the ‘cellular’ system”, and one outer garden city.

He stated in his book, ‘The City of Tomorrow and his planning’, “My objective was to construct a water-tight formula to arrive at the fundamental principles of modern town planning… for desire to rebuild any great city in a modern way is to engage in a formidable battle… we must have the fundamental principles for modern town planning,”

Singapore on the other hand had the same idea. “Singapore has a tightly controlled centralized planning. This sees the steady release of land for land development,”

"The concept plan is a massive blueprint of Singapore making visions for the next forty to fifty years. The master plan translates the concept plan into detailed plans for implementation in the next ten to fifteen years. We comprehensively spell out the planning intensions for every plot of land in Singapore. The master plan is one that transforms our city that is busting with growth and bursting with life,"

Tampines New Town located in Singapore was awarded the “United Nations World Habitat Award” for having a model human settlement. “The largest proportion of land in Tampines New Town is set aside for housing and about one third is used for roads, utilities, industrial and commercial developments. The rest is reserved for schools, institutions, sports facilities, parks and gardens. High-rise housing is juxtaposed with low-rise schools, neighbourhood centers, large institutions and parks,”

Le Corbusier believes that modern toil demands quiet fresh air, not stale air. As the modern world become more intensified, it affects our nervous system that can become dangerous. “The towns of today can only increase in density at the expense of open spaces which are the lungs of the city, therefore the city must be constructed vertically. Build urban dwellings away from the streets, without small internal courtyards and with windows looking on to large parks,”

Tampines New Town possesses this theory. Houses are raised and set away from the streets which provide fresh ventilation, overlooking large open spaces which cater to the social needs among communities. Because of the available amenities integrated within these houses estates residents can lead a healthy lifestyle despite the intense modern society. The picture I have provide below shows a comparison between Le Corbusier’s vision and the current structure of Tampines New Town, which shows how successfully Le Corbusier’s ideas inspired the housing landscape.

Le Corbusier also mentioned that human beings are affected by our surrounding environment and close human contact. “We are fond of the crowd and the crush because we are human beings and like to live in groups… with a denser population than that of any existing cities, there would be ample provision and opportunity for close human contact; there would be trees, flowers and spreading lawns, and houses with receding terraces for the eye to feed on,”

Tampines New Town is divided into a number of similar neighbourhoods. Within each neighbourhood is a centre for retail shops, eating and market places that provide the residents with their daily needs. Every neighbourhood centre is just at most a ten minute walk from the residential areas. Planning by neighbourhoods ensures that facilities and amenities are easily accessible. This helps avoid the problem that currently occurs in the west – urban sprawl. “The neighbourhood is then subdivided into smaller components known as housing precincts that are intended to foster the growth of smaller and more intimate communities,” This allow people to live in groups with close human contact which reflects on Le Corbusier’s point above.

“In designing my Blocks of Dwellings with set-backs, I have provided wide vistas to right and to left, and by constantly getting back to the longitudinal axis my composition takes on an architectural character; the hitherto dull lines of the corridor-street now become a series of prism forms which give emphasis to the recesses or to the projections; and the depressing facades of the corridor have been replaced by geometrical shapes juxtaposed, or set far apart, or brought together in a monumental and urban lively landscape,”

Tampines New Town adapted the idea of setbacks and maintained the longitudinal axis within the blocks. This estate was formed with geometrical shapes juxtaposed to bring intimate community, and being set far apart to provide room for green spaces. These put together creates a lively urban landscape.

Tampines New Town has been an established town where it is peaceful, away from the city, and where most town dwellers who work in the city reside. This is a part of the group within the population that Le Corbusier has mentioned:

“This consists of the citizens proper; of suburban dwellers and those of a mixed kind… citizens who work and live in the city, suburban dwellers who work in the outer industrial zone and who do not come into the city live in the garden cities, and the mix sort who work in the business parts of the city but bring up their families in garden cities,”

Le Corbusier believes that an ‘organ’ that is compact, lively and concentrated is required – which is the organized city. Next will be another organ which is supple, extensive and elastic – which is the garden cities.

“Lying between these two organs, we must require the legal establishment of that absolute necessity, a protective zone which allows of extension, a reserved zone of woods and fields, a fresh air reserve,” Here is another comparison between Le corbusier’s vision of a garden city and Singapore’s current ‘garden city’ known as the ‘heartlands’.

The garden city, like Tampines new town, shows the point Le Corbusier has made; A protective zone to provide room for extension – a reserved of woods and fields.

Le Corbusier states that in the plan of the city, there is a need to decongest the centers, augment their density, increase means of getting around, and increase the parks and open spaces. In Tampines town center, is occupied by gardens, parks and avenues. Within these parks, are the F&Bs, shops, housed in buildings with receding terraces.

“A great open space…occupied by gardens, parks and avenues. In this parks, at the foot of the and round the sky scrapers, would be the restaurants and cafes, the luxury shops, housed in buildings with receding terraces,”

Following two great axis of the city, Le Corbusier proposed below the roads for fast traffic, would run tubes leading to four furthest points of the garden city suburbs. “The only space for a station is the center. It is a natural place for it and there is no reason for it to be anywhere else. The railway station is the hub of the wheel. The station would be subterranean with its roof which is two storeys above ground form the aerodrome for aero-taxis. This must be in close contact with the tubes, the suburban lines, the main lines, the main lines, and the administrative services connected with all these,” Though in Singapore, these tubes run on both levels – underground and on the aerodrome.

“These main lines would end up at the Central Station, or better still might be connected up by a loop system,”

“In contemporary buildings emerges from their circulation of information that in-forms and sedimentizes even as it circulates, following the Le Corbusier plans…the vision of Singapore as an “intelligent island” makes clear this point,”

Singapore started off as a poor country in the sixties; poorer than any European country during the time. In just less than fifty years, Singapore was able to transform from a developing South East Asia country to one of the leading cities for education, the arts, and the economy. Some would even say Singapore is an ‘economic miracle’. And without the country’s careful planning, and being able to shape people’s lives through its urban intensions, Singapore would never be where they are today.

“As we approach nearer there is seen the repetition against the sky of twenty-four sky-scrapers…suddenly we find ourselves at the feet of the first sky-scrapers. But here we have, not the meagre shaft of sunlight which so faintly illumines the dismissal streets…the whole city is a park…low buildings of a horizontal kind lead the eye on the foliage of the trees…here is the city with its crowds living in peace and pure air, where noise is smothered under the foliage of green trees,”

In the heartlands this is where you see the ‘set-backs’ of the vast architectural perspectives. There are gardens, games, sports grounds and the sky, bordered with the verdure of hanging gardens.

Although Le Corbusier’s ideas have been criticized by architecture critics world-wide, it is such an honour to see his ideas come to life so successfully in the present day. I felt his approach was driven through forward thinking, which is the key of a successful leading city that is sustainable for future generations to come. Singapore is a fine example of a Corbusian city.

“This is no dangerous futurism, a sort of literary dynamite flung violently at the spectator. It is a spectacle organized by an Architecture which uses plastic resources of modulation of forms seen in light,”