This cheerfully designed recreational centre is situated at the void deck of a HDB block in Marine Parade, with a communal kitchen as its nucleus and recently refreshed with the addition of a café. It aims largely at reconnecting stay-alone elderly to the wider community and facilitating multi-generational exchanges. Due consideration was paid in the design planning to meet the emotional, psychological and social needs of the growing aged community in Singapore.

Leveraging Singapore’s rich food culture – mainly through cooking and dining, senior residents will have opportunities to interact and socialise in a social setting that is at once inclusive and intimate. To achieve this, spaces for preparation and partaking of food are organized around the heart of the Goodlife Makan, the kitchen. Activity areas are then clearly demarcated through colour and explained with universally-designed signages and pictograms, cutting across different language and ethnic backgrounds.

The design also capitalised on the porous setting and spatial quality of the HDB void deck to create an open and fenceless compound. This experimental design shifts away from conventional gated elderly activity centre models to create an inviting communal space.

As a pioneering model, Goodlife Makan reinterprets social settings in a cost-efficient and easily maintained manner for the elderly; effectively reducing social stigma and addressing the psyche of stay-alone seniors.