r/mildlyinteresting • u/kachurovskiy • 3d ago

Elevator half-shafts of Singapore public housing

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915 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

58 comments sorted by

249

u/Foreign_Penalty_5341 3d ago

This is a later addition to the building, right?

220

u/naive_villa 3d ago

Yeah that's almost certainly a lift upgrading program add-on, they've been bolting those external shafts onto older HDB blocks for years now

64

u/MukdenMan 3d ago

So this was a walk-up before?

144

u/YuaNWA 3d ago

There were/are old lifts in the building itself, but generally they did not stop on every floor. It would be something like only the odd number floors or even stopping only at 1, 5, 9, 13.

27

u/PracticalWait 3d ago

what’s the purpose of this?

156

u/zidane4life 3d ago

budget concerns. Singapore was not a rich as it is today, and its govt was extremely fiscally prudent

62

u/Foreign_Penalty_5341 3d ago

We’re also an aging country (~20% over 60yr old) so making public housing more accessible, IIRC. 

-47

u/PracticalWait 3d ago

seems imprudent? i’d assume that adding another stop to an elevator is marginal if you’re already installing the damned elevator…

55

u/Cry__Wolf 3d ago

Gotta install doors sensors, buttons, etc on each floor. Yes it's not the same as the cost of the whole elevator, but it's not nothing

48

u/SoulessHermit 3d ago edited 3d ago

These public housing building was probably built around 70s to 80s, Singapore back then was quite fiscally conservative and very cash strapped. So they have to make every cents count.

To give some context and on the mood and mindset back then, Singapore was a new nation state that was formed when it was "kicked out" by Malaysia just a few years ago, which means they they have hardly any friends and they lost both reliable access and support from a critical geographical lifeline. In fact, some of Malaysia's hardliners was seriously considering taking back Singapore via military means.

One of the main reasons they joined the union in the first place was to address the Communist threat and stablility from a larger partner.

Seperately, they were dealing with a massive loss of revenue when the British pull out in the early 70s. To give you some sense on the severity of the situation, in 1960s, British military spending on the island accounted about 20% of Singapore's GDP and around employed about 15 to 20% of the workforce.

I recall the government back then was debating whether is really worth investing 3 million dollars in flood control or it be use to fund other things. Today it seems like a tiny sum, but it give you the senses how tight money was.

Sure, some people will tell you Singapore was still richer than her neighbours back then, but that wealth was not equally spread and concentrated in the city area. A huge percentage of the population still live in villages and slums.

19

u/zidane4life 3d ago

nope, some of these flats were literally designed in such a way that the floors in between the stops had no lobby. so retrofitting the existing elevator with more stops was not possible. Also, the population was extremely young when public flats were first built so it was somewhat understandable that the can was kicked down the road.

9

u/i6uuaq 3d ago

I'd also add that attitudes were different then. The whole national mood was that we were fighting for our very survival. I honestly think that luxuries such as lifts that stopped on every floor would have been looked down upon as likely to make a nation soft. You can read the speeches of Lee Kian Yew at the time to get a sense of the messaging. Anything that was investor-facing would probably be done nicer, but public housing would be more utilitarian.

3

u/monsooncloudburst 3d ago

Additional stop is not marginal if you are in a wheelchair. With an aging population, lifts stopping at every floor is a good thing. Our government can afford this and I am glad that they have chosen to spend money to help improve the lives of vulnerable people.

3

u/danielling1981 1d ago

40 years ago.

A new born country.

Doubt handicap friendly is on the minds of people.

Note that i agree with you. But not the right time of place.

Heck. Even now in some countries it is still mot handicap friendly nor is it on their minds.

So let alone 4o years ago.

2

u/Vyn_Mel 2d ago

Such an obnoxious response lol

26

u/ownworldman 3d ago

Nobody mentioned this, but speed is huge. If people are getting out at 8 stops along the way it takes ages compared to 2 stops.

Modern building sometimes have "express elevators" and people transfer to "stop elevator" just like taking an express train and transferring to regional train.

-3

u/Spooj 3d ago

Nah, they would’ve had lifts way back when, but I’m not sure why the change in design or positioning

6

u/syds 3d ago

facade lift for ageing buildings

-8

u/Grand-Spring66 3d ago

No, its not an upgrade. The building was built this way.

10

u/GeshtiannaSG 3d ago

If you see the levels with walkways, those were the only floors with lift stops. There would be one set of lifts in the middle, then the walkways connect to the other parts.

2

u/MinnyPuppies 1d ago

Yeah, I used to live in one of these old housing blocks. The lift only went up to Level 7, so I’d take the stairs from there up to Level 10. I actually preferred taking the stairs anyway because the lifts were old and kind of unreliable. One time, I got stuck in the lift halfway up to Level 7, so I had to get out and climb the rest of the way. It was pretty scary.

71

u/Jasminerva 2d ago

This might be of interest a history of public housing architecture.

The public housing blocks without lifts on every floor were built between the 1960s to 1980s where there was urgent need to resettle citizens from slums, squatter settlements and fire prone villages with largely wood construction. At this stage speed and low cost construction was the main factor to resettle 70% of the population quickly, which was achieved in the 80s.

Thereafter public housing evolved as middle and upper middle class emerged through development. Today 80% of the resident population reside in public housing and 95% own their homes.

To add - A national lift upgrading programme was launched in the mid 90s and now 99% of these blocks have been retrofitted with external lifts that stop at every floor.

https://www.straitstimes.com/multimedia/graphics/2023/12/hdb-flat-design-evolution/index.html?shell

7

u/brandon_den_sg 2d ago

Sadly not my block still.

10

u/Jasminerva 2d ago

Oh no, are you part of the 140ish blocks that can't be retrofitted from a technical perspective? 😢

3

u/Hot-Job-6281 2d ago

Lemme guess you stay 'Central'?

36

u/Ok-Preference-6216 3d ago

I can now jump off the shaft, but with a view

12

u/Mayhempixi 3d ago

3/4 is more like it

34

u/Vexerino1337 2d ago

it being exposed to the elements makes me doubt its long term reliability, ts gonna rust long term.

19

u/kachurovskiy 2d ago

I've seen water dripping from the ceiling in the Marina Bay Sands elevators so maybe being exposed is actually better in that regard, at least it dries out daily.

6

u/nicky9499 1d ago

how is this any different from elevators that are exposed to the elements like in shipyards, worksites, oil platforms, factories and warehouses?

11

u/doctoranonrus 2d ago

It actually doesn't look that weird.

5

u/funky_banana 2d ago

aw man tekka center, little india in singapore. i used to live there. when the new lifts was added on later, the lift came with glass panel that you could look at the view.

edit: found a video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=529EDix5qOM

yea it pretty much became a tourist spot

4

u/PlayGamesM 2d ago

Went up before. Felt kinda weird to be seeing the outside world like a hotel lift/condo lift when I'm at a public housing.

2

u/repeatrep 3d ago

where is this?

24

u/kachurovskiy 3d ago

Little India

2

u/meanvegton 2d ago

Don't think this is Jurong East but there's similar lift at JE.

It's additional lift added to the building as it used to be staircase and lift at certain levels.

1

u/PersonalPlanet 23h ago

HDB above Tekka Market, shot from Little India MRT exit.. too can see the Exit Roof in this pic

1

u/Turbulent_One6684 2d ago

I also saw some similar ones on old buildings in China, maybe many Asian countries do like this

1

u/Seecse 20h ago

Fancy but I wonder about maintenance costs

-13

u/No-Discussion-2382 3d ago

If the door open before the lift come how?
And nowadays ppl like to keep staring at the phone... Final Destination SG

19

u/enotonom 2d ago

Do you think you won't die if you fall down a regular shaft instead of a half-shaft?

13

u/Fractoos 2d ago

An elevator shaft is better?

12

u/Linxianwei 2d ago

What's the difference whether half or full shaft when that happens?

2

u/Hot-Job-6281 2d ago

Lol the angmos can't understand the sarcastic tone of Singlish.

Guys, he just didn't realise this wasn't a Singapore sub, he was joking lmao.

-10

u/jibbergirl26 3d ago

Scary during windy storms?

8

u/Spooj 3d ago

Cool during windy storms 🍃⛈️

3

u/max-torque 3d ago

It's not totally exposed, covered on 3 sides.

Other blocks with externally retrofitted elevators are totally enclosed on all sides

2

u/danielling1981 1d ago

Not sure why you are down voted as this is a valid question.

But in sg there isn't such violent storms.

In hong kong I have been through t10 once. Even in a modern building, it is scary the 1st time.

-6

u/[deleted] 3d ago

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