Southeast Asia Building – May-June 2018

ARCHITECT’S CORNER Interview with Dr Liu Thai Ker

102 SEAB MAY-JUNE 2018

Q

What kind of work did you do in HDB
and what did you achieve there?
A: Within the first couple of weeks after I
started work, everybody was talking about
HDB new towns and HDB neighbourhoods.
I asked my colleagues: “What do you
mean by new towns?” Although in the
planning textbooks, I learnt about New
Towns, Neighbourhoods, yet there was
no clear operational definition. Nobody
in HDB could tell me either. So, I went
to my boss Mr Teh Cheang Wan and
asked him: “What is your definition of
new towns?” He shook his head and said
he also didn’t know. I said: “Good I will
find out for you”. So, I spent the next 18
months or so creating the prototypes of
New Towns and Neighbourhoods that
you see today. Of course, there were
continuous subsequent refinements to
these prototypes.

A few years later, I felt that the two planning

units of New Towns and Neighbourhoods

were too big to nurture a good sense

of community and effect more varied

architectural design. So, after much

consultations within and without HDB,

I subdivided the Neighbourhood into

Precincts with clear operational definition.

That was another breakthrough during

my time in HDB. Having started the job as

a researcher, I kept up with the research

throughout my career at HDB. Although

later, as the CEO of HDB, I could not devote

too much time on research, yet I still set

up units to research on construction

quality control, productivity improvement

and property management issues. And

soon after, we also engaged a group of 12

sociologists with PhD degrees to provide

invaluable input to me. The findings of

all these research efforts were used to

improve and refine the planning and

building design of HDB estates. And that

went on for nearly 20 years. Can you

imagine, how much I learnt!

Q

So, based on your experience,

how has the concept of HDB town

changed over the years?

A: Admittedly most of the complaints were

quite self-serving or impulsive. There are

two ways to treat the complaints: one is to

throw them into the wastepaper basket

and the other is to get my various research

teams to sieve out the gems and use the

findings to keep refining our planning

and design works. Some gems would tell

you what mistakes we might have made,

while others would suggest good ideas

that we might have missed out. After you

get the findings, you sow them back to

the next New Town plans, Neighbourhood

ARCHITECT’S CORNER Interview with Dr Liu Thai Ker

“What I hope is that every city achieves the 5 Es:

Ecology, Environment, Education, Economics and

if you have all these four, you will get Esteem - the

world will respect you. Nowadays, when you say

you are from Singapore, people respect you.”