Mario Lee Blog

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After all the nerve-racking flight chaos of the past few days, it felt incredibly good to simply stay at home all day today. A real, private home is just not the same as an impersonal hotel room. In the evening my mother-in-law spoiled us with a wonderful warm meal: fresh vegetables, braised ribs and fried fish. A piece of normality that we badly needed.

Fortified after dinner, we set off to explore our neighbourhood of Hougang on foot. When people in Germany think of Asian high-rise estates, they often immediately picture dreary prefab blocks like those in Berlin-Marzahn, Leipzig-Grünau or Rostock-Evershagen. Anonymous, grey, boring. But anyone who walks through Hougang will learn otherwise. I saw it for myself today: absolutely nothing here is boring. Singapore’s high-rises are alive.

The kampong spirit: The heart of Teochew culture

Hougang (“Au Kang” in dialect – “end of the river”) was historically the centre of the Teochew-speaking community. Where pig farms and traditional villages (kampongs) once stood, residential blocks now rise into the sky. But the old spirit of helping your neighbours – the “kampong spirit” – has survived. You can feel it in every street here, far away from the polished tourist world of Marina Bay. Politically, Hougang is special too: the Hougang constituency has been won by the opposition Workers’ Party without interruption since 1991 – most recently in 2025 with around 62% of the vote. That is very rare in Singapore.

The architecture of society: Reading Singapore like a book

Walking through the streets of Hougang, you can read the social architecture of this city-state like an open book. Three completely different housing worlds exist here right next to each other:

1. The foundation: Raw functionality

The backbone of the neighbourhood is the classic, simple HDB block (Housing & Development Board). These are massive, tall functional buildings. Their facades are dominated by a dense grid of windows, countless humming air-conditioning units and laundry poles sticking out of the windows. This architecture is not designed for luxury, but for housing thousands of people efficiently.

2. The middle: Identity in concrete

But simple does not necessarily mean anonymous here. Just a few streets further on, an often identical HDB block shows how standardised concrete can become a home with character. Huge murals covering the entire side of a building – for example a block in rainbow colours with stylised trees and floral patterns – break up the strictness of the architecture. The basic structure remains public housing, but the facade tells of the effort to anchor identity and a sense of community in the vertical.

3. The glass ascent: Exclusive isolation

The real break in the cityscape shows itself in direct contrast. Not far from the functional HDB blocks, shiny glass and brilliant white concrete suddenly push into the sky. The modern condominiums mark the luxury class of living. Here there are no more air-conditioners hanging on the facade. Instead you see stepped terraces, flowing lines and tinted windows. But this luxury comes at the price of isolation: behind secure fences and barriers lie private swimming pools, their own gyms and designer gardens. Simply walking in? Impossible. Access controls and security staff make sure these oases stay shielded. Space is not shared here – it is sealed off.

The social hinge: Democracy between the blocks

The most fascinating part of Hougang, however, is not up high but on the ground of the simple and mid-range estates. The space between the buildings is not just a transit zone, but an activated space.

There are modern outdoor fitness parks for strength training, football and volleyball courts, and covered badminton courts that protect against sudden tropical downpours. Under the trees there are quiet corners and benches where older residents get together. There are barbecue areas for meeting friends and open spaces for morning tai chi. What is special: these sports facilities are located right between the simple and the mid-range blocks. Residents of both levels use them together and do sport together. These facilities are not just made of concrete and metal; they are the social hinges of the neighbourhood that keep the kampong spirit alive.

The green lung and the village on the ground floor

None of these meeting places would work in the tropical climate without nature. Hougang is criss-crossed by dense greenery. Old, sprawling trees cast deep shade over the playgrounds and benches, break the symmetry of the concrete and act like a natural air-conditioner.

When you take the lift down, you stumble straight into a buzzing microcosm – the city of extremely short distances:

• Everything on your doorstep: between 4:30 and 5 pm, mothers pick up their children completely stress-free from the kindergartens built right into the blocks.

• Pure infrastructure: there are small bakeries, fruit shops, traditional massage parlours and even 24-hour GP clinics.

• Shopping and food from all over Asia: on the ground floor of the colourful blocks there are many small private shops and restaurants with cuisines from different Asian countries. You can eat somewhere different every evening – without even crossing the road.

• The big food halls: the heart of it all are the kopi tiams and hawker centres. If you don’t feel like cooking in the evening, you just go downstairs and get something cheap at the open, lively food stalls, where the clatter of the woks never stops.

This whole ecosystem is connected by kilometres of covered walkways. Like a protective system of veins, they link residential blocks, shops and bus stops. Whether the sun is beating down mercilessly or the monsoon is raging – you always move in the shade and stay dry. You don’t need a car here. A pair of comfortable slippers is all you need to get through everyday life in this lively village of skyscrapers.