The Face of Public Housing

Greetings from the Lion City. I was at this building yesterday, the Pinnacle@Duxton, Singapore Housing Development Board's latest public housing. You would not believe this is public housing but of course the price of the apartment is nothing to laugh at.

To borrow the words of their brochure "The Pinnacle@Duxton is an iconic housing project in Singapore's public housing history, with many unique features that set it apart from other HDB housing projects. Located at the site where the first two HDB blocks in that area were built, it is the first 50-storey public housing project in Singapore, housing 1,848 apartments in 7 towering blocks. Born out of the first international design competition for public housing, it is also the first in the world with 2 unique skybridges linking the 7 blocks at the 26th and 50th storey. The skybridges create possibly the longest continuous skygardens in the world, offering panoramic views of the city skyline."


The view is fantastic. I asked the HDB engineer how much it cost and how much subsidy was given by the government. He said the government took into account how much the flat would have been worth minus the subsidies. He did not know but I asked how much it is on sale. It depends. The one on 25th floor came at $408,000 and that's for a 90 meter square area.

There are two gardens, one at 26th Storey where the residents can come there and enjoy themselves. Members of the public are not allowed in unless you are residents. Residents carry cards for electronic access. Each garden connects all the blocks, so you can actually run or jog from one end to the other end, that is if you are not scared of heights. The garden at 50th floor was the same thing but open to the public for $5 each per entry. There is also a VIP viewing gallery on the 51st floor and that had fantastic views.

The lift took 1 minute to go up from ground to level 50. Its speed was 160 meters per minute and the height of the building is 168 meters. Apparently the lift can go much faster at 240 meters per minute.

Surprisingly there are a few flats left over. Even though all the flats were snapped up during the launching of the building of this block, some have opted out because of family problems etc. So, if you are a Singaporean, having a household salary between $1,500 and S$8,000 per month, you can apply for a flat there and you better do it quick.

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Every now and then, one has to let one's hair down. Someone posted this up on facebook and I thought I will borrow them.

This is us taking a formal photo with the Bosses around. All primp and proper.

This is us without the Bosses around.