This series captures a typical design of an HDB 4-Room flat built in the 1980s. In this typical design, each floor has only 2 units which are supported by a common service staircase. It is commonly known as a “Door to Door” unit. Each block has 3 common service staircase and is 14 floors high. It has a common corridor connecting all service staircase on the 5th, 9th, and 13th floor. Level 1 being the void deck which is designed for social interaction. The whole block is supported by a common lift and stops only on 1st, 5th, 9th and 13th floor is located in the centre of the block.

This design is common in most developing estates in Singapore in the 80s like Clementi, Bedok, Ang Mo Kio and Woodlands. It caters to the middle income largely then. 

Being a heartlander since birth and witnessing our country progress, common space has always been an interest in me. When I started this series, I visited this site a few times to determine my visual approach. Space was tight from the service stairs leading to the units. It is approximately about 1.2metre from the staircase hand rail to the step of the common space. The last flight of stairs does not connect seamlessly to the floor unit.

Though I can use a super wide angle lens like 17mm lens for this series considering the narrow space, I decided on a 24mm instead. As at 24mm, I feel it gives a better far and near rendition without too much distortion.

Keeping the lines in correct perspective is another key objective so I employed a 24mm tilt and shift lens with about 5mm shift. Due to the limited space, setting my camera on a tripod is not possible as such I mounted my camera via a super camp on the staircase hand rail. The height of camera was maintained at 80cm throughout the series. 

These block of flats have since been demolished in 2015.