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Windows
Windows are mirrors of the soul, they say,
and this is especially true in Singapore.
The country's cultural background, social
history and development are very well
reflected in the colorful and diverse
windows that adorn the different residences
and shop houses found around the island.
There are Chinese shop houses with their symmetrical
arrangement of doors and framed with
their airy, full-length windows; stately
black-and white colonial bungalows of the
British and European merchants with their louvered
window shutters; and the flamboyant
window shutters; and the flamboyant
Peranakan (Straits Chinese) houses, with
their unique architecture and grand window
designs.
In the colonial period window with
typical arched fanlight and louvered
shutters was the design. These days, the
predominant type of residential architecture
can be seen in the thousands of high-rise
apartments spread across the island.
Their windows - a signature look of
modernity, convenience and comfort.
Shop House
Distinct shop house styles are still found
in Chinatown, Little India and Arab Street.
Houses were relatively simple and unadorned
before Raffles' arrival, but as the
prosperity of the population blossomed, so
did the imagination of its people.
The "Shop house" evolved
from business premises on the ground floor
with the residence on the upper level, and
its distinctive covered passageway, called a
"five-foot-way" still
exists today. This was a Raffles innovation,
created to provide a continuous covered
passageway against the elements of nature.
Traditional
Singapore's early Chinese shop houses-squat,
two-story buildings with minimal
ornamentation-can be seen in Kampong Glam
and particularly along North Bridge Road.
The Malay Village design replicates
life as it was in a traditional village.
With timbered houses raised on posts
one meter above ground, high pitched
"hipped" roofs and full-length
louvered windows.
These wooden houses remain surprisingly cool
throughout the day. The Malay Village at Geylang
Serai replicates the traditional Malay
lifestyle with a combination of Kampung
architecture, eateries and cultural shows.
Malay children watch the world go by from
the window of their colorful kampung house.
The more elaborate facades of Peranakan
shop houses evolved in the late 19th
century with great attention paid to design
details and motifs. They drew inspiration
from some of the best neo-classical styles
of the West while preserving their ethnic
character.
European
The British and Europeans
preferred sprawling gardens and bungalows
that were simple in design but spacious.
These characteristic "black and
white" single - and double-story
bungalow, built at the beginning of the 20th
century, can still be seen along Chatsworth
Road, Nassim Road, Goodwood Hill, Cluny
Road, Dalvey Road and Mount Pleasant.
Modern
More than 80 per cent of the Singaporean
population now live in public housing.
The Housing & Development Board (HDB)
has been building thousands of blocks of
"flats" (apartments) since the
1960s. From basic, utilitarian homes in the
1960s and '70s, the HDB apartment dotting
the island have since evolved their own
character as a result of the unbridled
imagination of Singapore's new-generation
architects. Each "new town"
has as many as 45,000 units. These precincts
sport an interesting mix of high-rise and
low-rise blocks, and have a range of social
amenities.
Arab Street
The Muslim community dominates the Arab
Street district and the architecture here is
mystifying. Central to the area is the sultan
Mosque or Masjid sultan with its golden
dome and minarets commanding the
skyline. The pace of life is more relaxed
here, allowing visitors to meander along
streets whose names evoke an Aladdin's
Arabia - names like Baghdad, Kandahar and
Bussorah.
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