Despite its name suggesting that it is a park for the people, exploring People’s Park Complex is by no means a walk in the park.
Brimming with life, the three most visible business models in the complex are:
- the travel agencies
- the mobile and electronics shops, and
- the massage shops.
Rolling back to the 1960s, the area was not just an overcrowded enclave. Housing was affordable but shophouses were run-down and living conditions poor for the mostly migrant worker population.
After a 1966 fire destroyed the People’s Park Market, which was a popular public park with outdoor stalls, the same site was sold for redevelopment by Singapore’s first Urban Renewal Department Sale of Sites in 1967.
People’s Park Complex was a game-changer. It was a pivot in a time when Singapore’s architectural model turned from low-rise to high-rise. It marked Singapore’s transition from street-based food and sundry vendors to an air-conditioned shopping mall.
The complex contained Singapore’s first central atrium that was designed as a public living room for social activities.
Better known as Zhen Zhu Fang to the older Chinese generation in Singapore, the Chinese characters, 珍珠坊, are clearly imprinted on the narrow façade facing Eu Tong Sen Street.
The complex was designed by a local company called Design Partnership, spearheaded by chief architects Tay Kheng Soon and Koh Seow Chuan.
According to architectural experts, the design of residential block was injected with British Brutalist element, which was hugely popular in the sixties and seventies. Buildings with Brutalist concept usually expose large areas of concrete on their exterior.
It resembles some of those residential blocks found in Hong Kong.
To learn more about People's Park Complex, watch the XTV video. 