Duxton, A Look Into The (Ugly) Future

I was at Keong Saik road looking for a Christmas party venue having a flat battery in my handphone (hence not being able to call anyone at the the party to ascertain its location, but that's another story). I walked up past the start/end curve of Keong Saik road and lo and behold, this amazing sight lay before my camera lens to pounce upon. Neck craningly spectacular. The 50 storey megaliths of future HDB at Duxton against the 60-plus year old low-level shophouses, the latter eclipsed by the sheer size of the new neighbourhood giant. Seeing this stark contrast, the realisation of how hideous the Duxton flats are dawned on me. Their encroachment into the skyline, casting an immense shadow both literally and figuratively, on the old, dying Chinese neighbourhoods next door seemed like a stain on Singapore's progress. I know we have to build up to ensure we house our people but seriously, this ugly, grandiose slap in the city's face looks good only from the other side. The city side where everything blends in. From Outram Park end, it's like a slab of wall smack dab in the middle of the sky. The price of progress I guess.

More pixes at my Flickr