The city state of Singapore is home to many iterations of modernist-inspired architecture (the famous being the HDB estates that are littered all over the island). One building in particular that has been drawing my interest for years has got to be the Pearl Bank Apartments. Taking lots of cues and references from Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation, Tan Cheng Siong created an architecture that was uniquely one of a kind – almost like the towers in The Matrix where humans are bred. Being the tallest residential building in Asia during its early days, the Pearl Bank Apartments was an architectural icon. Today, poor control and management of its residents and facilities has led the building into a pretty messed up state. This however, gave the building a unique character of its own (think it as a sort of more sanitised and orderly version of the Kowloon Walled City) which I definitely feel is worth preserving.

This is my journey to Pearl Bank Apartments and its surroundings…