Chophouses

 Almost every part of Singapore retains some traits of the British influence in Singapore. Although, some might remember them as those who failed to defend us against the Japanese occupation during 1942-1945. Or as the people who colonized us and turned us from a village island into a successful international free port. 


 But no one can deny they had a very strong influence on our local architecture. Which we now try so hard to preserve with the lack of land and demand for housing. We still see these "Chinese-British look" old structures along the roads. Be it the shop houses in Joo Chiat and Chinatown to the Fire station at Hill street. 


 I grew up in the Joo Chiat area. But since I was young these buildings never seemed to take my attention as more then mere old houses. They used to be seen everywhere in Singapore as the main form of housing. Small as they may seem, these shop houses were meant to accommodate the rising number of immigrants from china. Each of these little houses were housing as much as 50 to in worst cases 200 people. Which of course caused it to be claustrophobic and suffer poor sanitation. Lots of people died to diseases and lack of space and food. 

Due to these issues a large majority of these houses had been taken down and replaced with HDB's. As our population continues to grow I do believe it will only become a harder and harder decision for the government to keep these structures. They have outlived their practicality and become just a part of history.

Name: Wayne Er Chin Wei
Group: DA0902
Admin No.: 095071X