page_title: Dakota Crescent
section_title: Architecture of Dakota Crescent
hierarchical_section_title: Dakota Crescent / Architecture of Dakota Crescent
caption_attribution_description: English: Butterfly shaped blocks
context_page_description: Dakota Crescent is one of Singapore’s oldest housing estates built by the now-defunct Singapore Improvement Trust, the government-run housing development authority before the establishment of the current Housing and Development Board, in 1958. Today, there are only 15 original blocks from that era which still remain to this day, all of which are even numbered.
  These low-rise flats are located at Old Airport Road. Many of the residents who formerly resided in the old estate of Dakota Crescent were once victims, or relatives or descendants of such persons, of several fire calamities which destroyed the numerous kampongs all across Singapore at that time, such as mainly from the so-called "Friday The 13th Fire" at Kampong Tiong Bahru on 13 February 1959 and the big fire at Kampong Koo Chye on 5 April 1958 in Kallang.
  The estate used to be part of a larger SIT estate called Kallang Airport Estate. The even numbered side used to stretch to the other end of Dakota Crescent, while even more odd numbered blocks were located on the other side of Old Airport Road. All but two of the odd numbered blocks and HDB blocks 93-99, have since been demolished.
context_section_description: Open Spaces and Red-Bricked Flats
  The design of these SIT-built flats was largely modelled after similar towns back in the UK and done by architects who worked for the British colonial government. The early public-housing estates in Singapore adapted various architectural elements of British architectural styles which were required to be suited to the tropical climate of the country. This can be seen from the existence of many wide open spaces, like that of London's Hyde Park earlier mentioned and the red-bricked flats at Dakota Crescent in the past.
  The open spaces of Dakota Crescent's estate, much of which still exist today, are pedestrian-friendly and have many uses, one of which is for children to play around in a large area at ease. Open public spaces such as these are no longer commonly found in modern housing estates of Singapore nowadays, since these newer flats are built in a more compact manner in order to save land-space. On the other hand, back in the old days, red clay-bricks were regarded as being very suitable building materials for housing and buildings in Singapore as it is a material that has the following three important properties: good fire-protection, high wind-protection and superior moisture-control. Furthermore, these red-bricked flats served as an icon of Dakota Crescent. People are instantly reminded of the Old Kallang Estate or Dakota Crescent upon hearing phrases such as “Red-bricked Houses”. Unfortunately, the flats at Dakota Crescent were eventually repainted in order to prevent erosion from the rain, termite infestation and other damaging natural elements. The flats were painted at least twice after 2002. Some of the old paint on these flats have already been seen peeling off and thus revealed the original red bricks beneath.
  Building Typologies
  Dakota Crescent now consists of 15 blocks of low-rise flats, with the highest blocks being 7 storey high. The remaining even numbered blocks have 4 types of building typologies, which are as follows:
  1. 7-storey butterfly-shaped (pi-shaped) blocks (Blocks 2, 4, 6, 14, 18, 22, 28 and 30) 
  These flats are shaped in this way, instead of the usual long blocks, so as to easily fit as many blocks as possible in Dakota Crescent. In order to keep the number of units are the same even when making the blocks compact, the center is being pushed out to create the wings. The curvature of the road might also be the reason to why these blocks are curved.
  2. 3-storey walk-up apartments (Blocks 16, 24, 26 and 32)
  3. 2-storey commercial blocks/shop house (Block 12) 
  The first storey was commercialized and used as shop houses e.g. Tian Kee & Co. Provision Shop, while the second storey was residential.
  4. 7-storey slab (straight) blocks (Blocks 10 and 20)
  There were originally many more typologies, like straight pi-shaped blocks and 3 storey 1-room blocks, but all blocks with such typologies were demolished many years ago. 
  The butterfly-shaped blocks, walk-up apartments and commercial shop houses are unique to Dakota Crescent and cannot be found elsewhere, unlike the straight blocks which are replicated and can be found in other SIT estates. However, the estates which had the straight blocks have since been demolished and the two blocks in Dakota are the last surviving ones.
  Neon Light Advertisement
  In the 1960s, the use of neon lights for advertisement billboards was first introduced in Singapore.  Even though this form of advertising only takes up less than a percent of the total advertising expenditure in Singapore, there were still a number of public supporters and companies which wanted to use neon advertisements. These advertisements are placed on the walls of prominent buildings, with those along the roads being easier to spot and hence more attractive. Places such as South Bridge Road and Guillemard Circus had these neon advertisements. Similarly, Block 6 of Dakota Crescent used to have one of these neon light advertisements as well (Figures 28 and 29). Unfortunately, neon advertisement business later died down in Singapore and hence we do not see the signboa
caption: Butterfly-shaped block  (Block 18, Dakota Crescent)
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