Welcome to Tanglin Halt.

A quaint little estate in the middle of Redhill and Queenstown, the neighbourhood of Tanglin Halt holds many a sight to see. As one of the first estates built by HDB in the 1960s, the colour palette is pastel and dream-like - what seems to me like a reflection of the aspirations of its then-residents.

The flats here are earmarked for demolition, in lieu of the increasing need for affordable public housing in Singapore. In particular, these blocks will be replaced by new housing earmarked for stand-in rental flats that will house families awaiting their building-in-progress BTOs in other estates.

Here, you will find a mix of old and new - the clear differences between old and new-style architecture, design and society. There are large communal spaces, such as playgrounds, amphitheatres, exercise corners and small pavilions for families and people to gather, chief of which includes the Tanglin Halt Market.

In our short time there, we witnessed the changing of times - the moving of items out of the individual houses, the little notices for residents to leave, the mementos left behind, and the ‘abandonment’ of a HDB service centre, and a childcare centre.

The lifts were mostly not working, except for this one block, where there remained a resident who had yet to pack and leave, despite his neighbours moving out. Resisting change.