In the post-independence years of the late 1960s, Singapore’s Chinatown was one of the most densely populated and tradition-rich enclaves in the nation. By means of Singapore’s first Urban Renewal Department Sale of Sites in 1967, the land – once home to the well-known People’s Park market at the foot of Pearl’s Hill in Chinatown – was sold for redevelopment, an action determined to fuel urban regeneration while perpetuating the region’s deeply rooted Chinese community. In following, the architects of People’s Park Complex sought to build upon the established patterns of pedestrian movement across the site and its environs when designing a new social space.

Opened in 1973, the People’s Park Complex became Singapore’s first multi-use building with shopping, residential, offices and car parking facilities within a single structure. It is programmatically divided into two realms: a public retail and commercial podium at ground level, and a private residential zone in the tower above. Both zones are planned about central shared spaces: commercial spaces within the podium are organised along a wide concourse and atrium, while residences are arranged along ‘streets in the air’ — wide outdoor recreation corridors. The podium’s large internal atrium was the first of its kind in Asia. A city room, it was to become a people’s living room, a public domain where residents of the surrounding neighborhood could socialize, eat, shop and perform the activities of everyday life.

Established businesses in Chinatown purchased shop units in the complex, moving from the crowded streets into the modern, sanitized and air-conditioned spaces. These served as a magnet for residents, helping to transform the People’s Park Complex into a focal point for the Chinese community and one of the first successful urban revitalization projects in the nation.