Workmen's Flat at Kampong Silat by Jeremy San

Completion: 1949

Architect: Singapore Improvement Trust

The austere economic situation after the end of the Japanese Occupation placed a severe strain on the colonial government’s ambitious social welfare programmes in housing, education and healthcare. Prices of basic construction materials such as steel, granite and timber skyrocketed due to their scarcity. An architecture of economy – of minimum means employed to maximum effect – guided the hand of the public sector architect. The three-storey Workmen’s Flats at Kampong Silat are entirely constructed of lightweight hollow concrete blocks, with only four different block sizes used in building each housing block.

This high degree of standardisation went down to the smallest detail, such as planning of window and door openings in relation to the exact sizes of hollow blocks to minimise material wastage. The structural frame was formed by pouring cement into cavities inserted with steel reinforcement bars, doing away with timber formwork needed in conventional in-situ concrete construction. Finishes, one of most costly aspects, were also kept to minimum acceptable standards through alternative construction methods. Concrete floors cast on smooth plywood shuttering did away with floor and ceiling rendering altogether.

Wall plastering was also omitted, as the use of hollow blocks allowed paint to be directly applied on. Today, this rigorous approach to design, driven by great constraints of a difficult time, is evident in the faintly discernable blockwork on the walls and the hollow steel tube railings, in the stairwell of a typical block.

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Approximate Size: 1 m x 1.476 m. Framed.

This is the original print that was exhibited at “Moderns in Our Midst: A Photographic Tribute to Singapore’s Modern Architectural Heritage” in 2015.

UV Printing on 3 mm white DIBOND with 10 mm square aluminium channel on 4 sides. Print does not feature the artist's signature. No other framing options available. No certificate of authenticity provided.

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