Blocks 497A–497L at Tampines Street 45 are currently due to undergo Repairs & Redecoration (R&R), and residents have been asked to vote among proposed colour schemes. However, the options presented would fundamentally alter one of the estate’s most distinctive architectural features: its original exposed brickwork.

We believe residents should also be given the option to preserve the brick.

For more than three decades, the exposed brickwork of Tampines Blocks 497A–497L has been one of the most distinctive architectural features of our town. Its warm brick façade, patterned detailing and monumental courtyards have become an unmistakable part of the Tampines landscape.

These blocks are not ordinary HDB architecture. The development was the result of a pioneering HDB initiative in the early 1990s to involve private-sector architects in creating more distinctive public housing, and the completed project went on to receive an Honourable Mention at the Singapore Institute of Architects Architectural Design Awards in 1995.

Today, the estate is undergoing a Repairs & Redecoration exercise. Residents have been asked to vote among proposed colour schemes, but the options presented would fundamentally change the original exposed-brick character of the development.

The question should not simply be what colour we paint the brick. Residents should also be given the choice not to paint it at all.

Painting over the brick would do more than change the appearance of these blocks. It would cover one of the defining materials of their original architectural design and permanently alter a façade that has become part of Tampines’ visual identity.

We fully support the need to maintain, repair and renew our public housing. But renewal should not automatically mean covering over the very features that made a building distinctive in the first place. Where repairs are necessary, we ask that conservation-sensitive methods be explored, including repairing deteriorated areas while retaining the original exposed brick wherever possible.

We therefore call on Tampines Town Council, HDB and our elected representatives to reconsider the proposed treatment of the brick façades and work with residents to preserve the original architectural character of Blocks 497A–497L.

Homes are built first and foremost to shelter the people who live in them. But the best homes can do more. They can bring beauty to the everyday, character to our neighbourhoods and a sense of place to the people who call them home.

If our homes can be both functional and beautiful, why should we settle for only one?

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Photo Credit: Darren Soh (IG: @darrensohphoto)
Thank you, Darren, for documenting our architecture so beautifully and thoughtfully, and for allowing me to use these photographs. Your work matters.