Dakota

Being one of the older public housing estates in Singapore, Dakota has been attracting droves of people to catch its last moments ever since the government made plans to develop the area. While I am not particularly attached to this estate, I am intrigued by the layouts of older public housing estates. In my humble opinion, older housing estates (those built in the 20th century?) seems to be more spacious and aesthetically interesting than those built in the 21st century. Seriously, the housing blocks in Sengkang and Punggol (completed in the 21st century) bore me because all the blocks are just mere repetitive of their neighbours. Or perhaps it is just the close adjacency between the blocks which may me feel claustrophobic and disinterested.

Anyways, my mom brought me here to kaypoh around and to appreciate the design of this aged area. The seal playground seated in the midst of the sandpit is one of the highlights of this estate, since this type of playgrounds have been phased out due to hygiene and safety concerns. Heh I am totally not a fan of sandpit playgrounds since stray cats like to treat this as their sand tray (ewwww) so I am for the phasing out. However, the main structure itself does not seem too dangerous for children... I doubt a child will sustain an injury if they were using the equipment correctly? I particularly like the idea of having a small private balcony (yay sunlight for laundry #aunty) but the retro lifts make me anxious every time I use it.

This area is said to be scheduled to be torn down by end 2016. Given its low building height and its close proximity to town, redevelopment would just be a matter of time. Will it be too much to hope that this space not to be taken over by another cookie-cutter estate?