“Kampung” in Malay refers to village. Singapore has all but transformed its kampungs into high-rise districts. Today, there is a recognition that something is lost in this urbanisation. Knowing your neighbours, for one. Informal networks of care – looking after the kid next door, leaving your door unlocked to the community – are less common in the city where housing is dense and schedules are packed. Can we revive these tendencies of kinship in a single building?
Kampung Admiralty (KA) is an 11-storey public housing estate intended to work like a kampung, with 100 flats for the elderly, a medical centre, an active ageing hub located next to a childcare centre, shops, and dining outlets. These offerings are meant to bring to life a vertical village, with enough space for encountering old and potential friends, as well as to find personal headspace. Where they are placed and how they are linked play a crucial role in their intended social outcome.
Likening the vertical village as a “club sandwich”, KA designer Mun Summ Wong of WOHA Architects hopes future developments will be less dependent on the ground. “Land is so valuable, how do we make better use of it?”
