Tiong Bahru is architecturally rich and vibrant with its art deco walk-up apartments. It is the first public housing estate in Singapore and holds 20 blocks of 2- to 5-storey pre-war public housing flats built by the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) in the 1930s.
Features
Nazurah Rohayat – Hari Raya Haji reflections
Designer and founder of Tapestree enjoys the coming together of food, community and meditative thoughts on this special Muslim holiday
Designers make their mark
Local talent take on the world
The Pulse of FURA
CHRISTINA RASMUSSEN AND SASHA WIJIDESSA have created a pioneering food and drink bar founded on a philosophy of sustainability and environmental responsibility. Their latest offering, Future Food, Volume Two, is a bold new menu that pushes the boundaries of culinary innovation. It features ingredients such as invasive jellyfish, seaweed, cell-cultured meat infusions, and grasshopper croutons—all chosen for their potential to reshape the future of food in a more ethical and ecologically sound direction.
The Secret Life of the Pencil
Authors ALEX HAMMOND and MIKE TINNEY produce beautiful visuals of the pencils used by creative personalities in this hardcover book
Paula O'Callaghan – Ethnic Spaces
Partner and Designer at Hirsch Bedner Associates (HBA) speaks to the locals
Spaces and poses
Interior designer SARA GRAAV uses her skill as a yoga instructor to become more self-aware and calm, and teaches others how
The New Science Centre
Zaha Hadid Architects – A lesson in play
Lorong Buangkok
The last of kampung life
Wohabeing
A sense of place
Cris Cela – From architect to interior designer
Barcelona-based designer delves deep into colour for Noa Lounge Singapore
Allenby House
128 Jalan Besar
What attracts your attention is the building’s wooden shutters in pastel and the four-storey facade in cream that curves gently away from the main thoroughfare of Jalan Besar. These are not the original colours and is not the original elevation when architects Westerhout and Osman built Allenby House in 1928.
It was originally a 3-storey shophouse with a Neo-Classical style – built for the owner known only by the name Chittiar. You can see the European elements in the form of Classical details lifted from colonial architecture typical of Singapore shophouse design during this time frame – Doric pilaster at the ground floor, Ionic pilaster for the floor above and Corinthian pilaster for the upper storey. These were structures to show off your status and wealth. The higher, the better. The more decorative, the better.
The Classical Corinthian pillaster is gone when a fourth storey was added later as a new Georgian scheme was to be the prevailing design of the building. Allenby House is the first 4-storey building along Jalan Besar as well as the first lodging house in the district.
Food
Homegrown gin
Locals and expats brave the road less travelled by creating gin
Char kway teow
This popular local dish has origins in Guangdong in China, where it was a simple meal with noodles and ingredients fried together to fill the working man’s belly. Good Singapore char kway teow has a distinct wok hei or breath of the wok, as giant flames hiss and flare as they meet tossed flat rice noodles, lard oil, egg noodles, garlic, egg, Chinese sausage, beansprouts, caramelised soy sauce, chilli sauce, and broth. It is topped with fresh, barely-cooked cockles and plated. The whole process takes minutes, and control of the flames is key to the cook’s expertise.
Makan Kampung
Malay food at its best
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